IPA Freshness Hype

no but I was kind of hinting in that direction in #192...and I think the cola study whose mention has riled a few up was, I think, based on blind triangle tests... I agree with your point.

 

There is no doubt that fresher IPA are better. There is nothing wrong with consumers wanting the best possible product. Two recent examples to me of beers falling off the cliff are Sucks and Flower Power. Huge difference once they hit a certain point. Its not hype.

I have never done a vertical or a blind taste test. But did one for the first time tonight. I had a bottle of DFH 60 minute dated 3/4/2013 and one 4/12/2013. I smelled both , had an idea of which was fresher , then I tasted. Sure enough I was able to pick out the newer one. Now one can argue I had a 50/50 chance, but I got it right. And this is not a hoppy beer. The same taste test with much hoppier beer would surely be easier.

 

has anyone posted this? if so, sorry, I wasn't going to read every post...

http://www.boston.com/lifestyle/food/blogs/99bottles/2013/04/watch_the_alchemists_john_kimm.html

 

I drank Zombie Dust side by side, one four months old, one only days old, and could not tell a difference.

I'd like to let one sit for longer, but unless one gets lost in the fridge, I'm drinking the ZD as quickly as I get it.

 

I recently had a blind test with four week and six month old Two Hearted. All five reviewers had no trouble distinguishing them. No trouble. I don't think I could add anything to all that was said here before so I won't. I might just say this: It might not be a big deal to you, but it sure is one for me! Who's right? Nobody!

 

Wow, Zombie Dust is another one that changes noticeably over time.

 

I haven't done a blind taste test, but I DID do an inadvertent hops decay experiment
I bought my first pack of sucks (fine a DIPA, not IPA)... It was merely a baby! Bottled less than a week earlier... OMG it tasted amazing.
Stored my sucks in the garage (was about 50 degrees in Feb)... had another bottle a couple weeks later and the hops bite was greatly diminished. I was so sad. I knew hops were delicate, but didn't realize it was so fragile.

 

Thing with most 6+ month old beers I run across is a lack of control in how they've been stored. Saw some IPAs today. They were on store shelves exposed to direct sunlight. Not going to even bother trying. However, that stash of Hoponius Union I just moved from the deep portion of my cellar to the shelf by the stairs I will absolutely be getting into.

 

youre just wrong bruh, deal with it.

 

my green flash west coast ipa are 4-5 months old is still good, but def syrupy vs. a fresh batch... this is all annoying because i like to collect beers like baseball cards, and an awesome IPA in the cellar just isnt nearly as awesome

 

Lagunitas IPA, for some reason, most definitely does not age well. Beyond 2 months I refuse to buy it. Other than that, I have seen no other "age" issues with the other IPA's I'm fond of (60, 90, Harpoon, Two-Hearted, etc).

 

I had a SN torpedo bottled in february of this year(roughly 7 months old) the other day and me and my 2 friends agreed that it was generally bad and I love torpedo. I can drink ipa's that are up to 3-4 months old but once certain ipa's hit a few months old they're just too malty and bitter with not enough of that bright hop fruityness. If you like the heavy malt taste then you won't mind the age but it just isn't for me.

 

I'm not making a judgmental statement, but rather an ironic comment, that a beer that was designed to survive long ocean voyages, and storage in a humid climate, needs to be consumed rapidly. Like most thing's in life freshness is welcomed.
Nebbie

 

I've heard a lot about Jai Alai not being good unless it's super fresh. When I had it it really wasn't that great and it was probably a few months old. I'd like to try it fresh because I wasn't impressed by it at all.

 

As a general rule, I try to drink them soon after acquisition. Over the years though, I've learned that some do not hold up as well. Some IPAs seem to fall off on hop flavor faster than others. Some that I have had 3 months or more that are not good after this time include Zombie Dust, Pliny, Pseudo Sue, Lagunitas, Saga, and some less notables.

Some I've had that held up well include most Founder's IPAs, Sierra Nevada, and also a New Glarus Thumbprint IIPA (not Scream) which was over a year old and one of the best IPAs I've ever had. These were all stored appropriately in the same conditions while in my posession, but I cannot account for temperature fluctuations during storage and transport and other factors prior to when I had them. The best way to test is side by side, even though they may be different batches.

 

The origin stories are highly romanticized, but if I remember correctly, (supposedly) a crazy-hopped beer wasn't even the purpose of an IPA. The effects of time, temperature, humidity, etc... on beer were all well-known, and increased hoppiness was for preservation purposes; thereby providing a sanitary water source that would eventually be given to British officers, by which time, the flavors would have been muted to the point of being akin to what was being served in British pubs at the time.

The IPA itself became popular because of intense marketing campaigns hawking their 'exotic' nature, and eventually became what we know today.

 

At this point, that story is just folksy marketing. The English weren't using todays experimental, unnamed hops to dry hop for aroma. Modern American IPAs are not the same beer as the IPA in that story. They weren't shipping the Enjoy By recipie to India.

 

Many have reflected this already, but I'll chime in here with my 2 cents too... In my personal experience, there is definitely a change in the flavor of an IPA/DIPA as it ages. Here are some specific examples where I feel the brightness and especially the distinctness of the hop flavors (especially citrus and tropical flavors) falls off considerably, and becomes more of an undesirable bitterness that I would describe as old pungent cut grass and spoiled pith. Additionally, the normally balancing sweetness becomes sort of cloying, syrupy buttery/butterscotch-like in flavor. These are the beers I've had beyond 90 days where I've experienced the changes I've described above to some degree:

Lagunitas Sucks
Lagunitas Maximus
Ballast Point Sculpin
Bell's Two Hearted
Bell's Oracle (I aged one myself just to see what would happen - DON'T age this beer)
Bell's Hopslam
Sierra Nevada Hoptimum

With that said, I'd also like to add that none of these had been refrigerated, i/e they were on store shelves. With refrigeration, it may be possible to extend the life of your IPA's.

My conclusion - I really do feel that when it comes to ipa's, the fresher the better. I have taken the time to understand the date codes and locations on the locally available ipa's that I enjoy. I now make it a point to purchase them at <60 days old, and have not had a "bad" ipa since. *I've had a few retailers look at me kind of funny when I'm holding up bottles of Lagunitas products against a white/light background, and then looking up into the air counting as I try to determine what the difference is between the first three digits of the first number on the left on the bottle, and the numbered day of the year that "today" is - Lagunitas fans will know what I'm talking about here Cheers!

 

I've accidentally bought a few IPAs that were past their best by dates and enjoyed them. But I also love malty beers.