IPAs/DIPAs with decent shelf life

Dark Horse Double Crooked Tree is fantastic with over a year on it. Becomes a DIPA/BW liquid delight.

 

In your post I definitely agree that Flower Power, Union Jack and Sculpin ‘fall of the cliff’ in a relatively short period of time.

In my opinion, several of the Sierra Nevada hoppy beers seem to hold up well. In particular, I think that SNPA and Celebration Ale are still fairly tasty beers even with 3-5 months of age on them (I don’t have much experience with Torpedo in this regard).

It was asked: “Any explanations (different types of hops, brewing process, etc.)” I have a theory that IPAs/DIPAs who rely on dry hopping to ‘define’ their flavors are the beers that experience the most hop fade in the shortest period of time.

The other aspect that effects how long a hoppy beer like an IPA/DIPA holds up is how well the beer is packaged; you want minimal oxygen ingress during the bottling or canning operation. Part of hop fading is an oxidation process so if the brewery has a ‘top of the line’ canning/bottling line, which introduces minimal oxygen into the package, the slower the oxidation processes will occur and slower hop fade.

Cheers!

 

Yeah, I've really noticed that Hop Wallop does a good job of not deteriorating into nothing after a length of time. Not sure it can go a year and still be good, but I've had a 6 month bottle that I really liked.

Hop Wallop is bottle conditioned - maybe that has something to do with it?

 

Kern River Citra is King for me with 5+ months on it! I have yet to have one I didn't truly enjoy!!
Lagunitas Sucks. Has held up pretty well for the past 3-4 months, I still find it tastier than most other IPA's!!

 

I did not realize that Hop Wallop was bottle conditioned. Bottle Conditioning does indeed help a beer resist staling. The presence of the yeast in the bottle scavenges oxygen as part of the bottle conditioning process. Less oxygen present means that oxidation is minimized and consequently hop fading is minimized.

Cheers!

 

I definitely agree that Smutty and Ruination (two of my favorites) can withstand a few months without losing any of their great taste. I often buy way too much torpedo when and goes on sale and find that it can hold up pretty well too. 90 minute and Southern Tier 2X IPA hold up pretty well also.

 

Columbus IPA

I believe the malt bill plays a role in addition to hop additions and bottle conditioning. I think IPAs which rely on added sugars to boost alcohol levels will not hold up as well as IPAs which are all malt. Just a personal theory. I would also think that higher doses of flavor hops will help an IPA's shelf life as well, but this may also contribute to vegetal flavors in the long run.

 

Def 90 min.

 

“ …know-how to execute something like their bottling operation flawlessly…” Well, it is often a matter of economics vs. knowledge. For example, Victory made a business decision to buy a state of the art Krones bottling line which has the feature that it performs a double evacuation of the bottles with CO2. Purging the bottles twice with CO2 greatly displaces the air (oxygen) so the next result is a very small amount of residual oxygen in the bottles.

Even with this super-duper bottling line, Victory has a fairly short best by timeframe for their core beers: 5 months for Prima Pils, Lager, HopDevil. Headwaters, etc.

I am not in the beer industry but I am sure that the Krones bottling line that Victory purchased costs a ‘pretty penny’. Other breweries may not have the money to purchase a bottling line like that or they simply make the business decision that it is not worth it to them.

Brewing is a business at the end of the day.

Cheers!

 

Hoptimum tasted awesome at 1 year old.

 

Out of the bottle, I actually think Two Hearted is best around the 1-month mark, and can last with good flavors at/beyond month #2. I'm very critical about my IPAs being fresh, so I'm always surprised that it seems to hold up so well. I've probably bought Bell's their entire Black Note barrel supply through Two Hearted sales over the past couple years.

 

Abrasive for sure. Had one recently that was canned in February and with 4+ months on it, it was still superb!

 

Just had a Sucks from January and it was just as good as I remembered.

 

Lake Eerie Monster - First time I had it, I thought the "Best By" date on the bottle was the bottling date....
I took it home, popped it open and thought it was one of the best beers I've ever had...I then carefully read the label to see the "Best By" date passed nearly 2 months ago......

It is also bottle conditioned, which probably is quite a good chunk of the reason it holds up so well.....

 

Are you aware that Bell’s states that Two Hearted has a best by timeframe of 6 months?

Cheers!

 

I agree Double Jack drops off. I had one recently that was bottled in march and thought it was ok. Felt like it lost a little something. Jai Alai also loses some of its hop bite after a couple months.

 

I'm not, but I am aware that it tastes sorta shitty after 4-5 months compared to 1-2.