IPA Freshness Hype

Discussion in 'Beer Talk' started by haknort, May 7, 2013.

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  1. charlzm

    charlzm Initiate (0) Sep 3, 2007 California

    I haven't measured and done verticals and so forth, but whenever I have had an IPA with off flavors, they more often than not turn out to be over 90 days old. That's now become my rule of thumb: 90 days from bottling date. Older than that? Pass. Will give a little slack for double/imperial IPAs.
     
  2. BeerTwigs

    BeerTwigs Initiate (0) Jan 8, 2009 New York

    A lot to read here... Excuse me if I am repeating anything. My problem is a lot craft beer stores in NY (Hudson Valley) tend to over order IPA's to keep a large variety in stock and the eventually get old. While other styles have no problem sitting in the shelves I have come across many core IPA'S (Stone, Avery, Captain Lawrence, Lagunitas, etc) which were over 6 months old and were basically more malt than hops. I love my IPA's fresh so I do check the date's on bottles but prefer anything fresh from the local breweries. Its inevitable that these beer stores are going to end up returning a lot of beer if they keep up with these practices.
     
  3. Bradley_BizKutZ

    Bradley_BizKutZ Crusader (451) Jul 7, 2014 Arizona
    Trader

    I have had a couple ipas that I noticed were passed the date and it is a noticeable difference to me. I have had a Ruin Ten and an Enjoy by fresh and you get massive fruit. Then when I bought more a month or so later it had gone to more of an onion/garlic herbal flavor. Not complaining because I enjoyed them but I have noticed a difference.
     
  4. rails

    rails Initiate (0) Nov 8, 2012 California

    Some guy on here wouldn't do a trade because the Swamis I had was a week old. By the time it traveled across the the country it would of been 2 weeks old tops. He said couldn't do it that's just to old for him.


    The really funny part is that was a really dank batch I got the next batch that was 3 days old and older one I was going to trade was still drinking way better.
     
  5. IpaBeerDrinkers

    IpaBeerDrinkers Initiate (0) Mar 3, 2014 California

    ^ his loss. Swamis is amazing
     
  6. rails

    rails Initiate (0) Nov 8, 2012 California

    It was such a dank batch like coat your mouth resiny goodness. 5/13/2014 Bought 2 cases :slight_smile:

    "Two weeks old bro? I can't take that risk man"
     
  7. Evahflow

    Evahflow Zealot (689) Aug 13, 2013 Pennsylvania

    It depends on the beer. Hopslam seriously has a shelf life in a bottle of maybe 3 weeks. After that it gets all kinds of honey/malty. Almost no hops. As a general consensus I tend to avoid any IPA over a month old. Fat heads head hunter is one I've had a few months old that was still very good but a shell of its former self when fresh( when fresh you get a lot more grapefruit/ berryness happening, when aged you get just mostly pine with some citrus but nothing as vibrant as new) Canned IPA's seem to last a bit longer. I've had 2 month old heady topper that tasted pretty much identical to 2 week old. Most IPA's start falling off at about a month or so though.
     
  8. Zhiguli

    Zhiguli Initiate (0) Jul 12, 2012 California

    a big aroma matters to me
     
  9. IpaBeerDrinkers

    IpaBeerDrinkers Initiate (0) Mar 3, 2014 California

    I'm all for asking for freshness in trade...denial based on a week or 2 is just idiotic.
     
  10. SenorHops

    SenorHops Initiate (0) Aug 10, 2010 Rhode Island

    Ummmm, hoppy beers taste better when, ummm, hoppy? Next thread.
     
  11. Belthorm

    Belthorm Pundit (938) Aug 14, 2014 Pennsylvania

    I started to check bottle dates after buying a few mix 6's of ipas and at least 2 of them having no hop flavor left in them. It was even worse spending $7-$15 on the larger bottles with the hop flavor faded out. I don't buy an IPA for the malt flavor so its necessary to check the dates so I don't waste my money.
     
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