Old IPAs - What to do about this problem?

I would love to have the opportunity to go into the average grocery store and have a selection of (nonimperial) porters, stouts, kolsch, steam beer - but what I see are tons and tons of IPAs and pumpkin beers (which replaced the summer seasonals). I mean some breweries only make IPAs or over-hopped whatever style beer so I don't have alot of hope that more variety will come anytime soon.

 

That's how I feel!

 

Surly used to be very particular about that, but not anymore. Not sure what changed. 4 packs sitting on shelves here in Chicago for months.

 

That is why we homebrew!

My Equinox IPA is at the one week mark with dry hopping!

Nothing like fresh hoppy beer!!

Cheers!

 

I'd be happy if I had a choice between 5 IPAs all under 5 weeks old.

 

Because of this reason, I almost always stick with local made IPAs. I use to trade for highly sought after IPAs, but quit because a lot of them just were past their prime and I would have much rather had something local. Today I was craving a Hop Stoopid and I went to 4 different local stores to find a fresh one and the freshest one was dated 127 5.

 

Wicked weed sits on shelf?!

I am with @JackHorzempa drinking a delicious homebrewed mosaic and Columbus IPA I kegged two weeks ago. They rarely last past 3 weeks. And It's been stored at 38 degrees all the time.

 

This is why Tony at Lagunitas is such a genius. The U.S. Market is over saturated so he partners with a global company and now he'll be putting lagunitas in Mexico, Argentina etc. 95% of the worlds population lives outside the U.S.

 

Bottle shops need to keep on top of their distributors, and reject cases they try to fob off. As of last week, we were still getting sixers of FW Easy Jack bottles from 3/25/15. That is unforgivable, especially when the cans are so much fresher (and more stable).

 

I'm an NC native spending a couple of weeks in CA, and if you think the freshness issue is bad there, you should come here. I've looked at 6+ specialty beer stores plus grocery stores and can't find any of the Firestone Walker--a brewery ~100 miles from where I'm staying--IPAs even remotely fresh. I did manage to find some of their Easy Jack that was ~1 month old at one store, but everything else (Hoppy Pils, Easy Jack, Union Jack, Double Jack, and Wookey Jack) is mostly 3-4+ months old with some stuff nearly a year old. I can't wait to get back to Asheville where I can get Two Hearted under two weeks old and local/regional IPAs with less than a week on them even at a lot of grocery stores.

 

I've gotten so fatigued with checking dates that I must admit I'm almost by default reaching for the Stone products now with just a quick glance to confirm.

I'm tired of squinting at the Ballast Point date and having to use the Julian calendar app on my phone so I can get an idea of when it was bottled. Founders is getting hard to read with the placement on the label lately.

 

I though the IPA scene here was bad, looks likes it's worse most everywhere else. I'm kinda shocked to be honest, just stop buying shit old beers. Vote with your wallet, I'm drinking more lagers, Pils, etc., I won't buy old stale IPAs.

 

sculpin is basically the only beer i would see 6 weeks and put back on the shelf. any IPA made by sierra nevada, port, lagunitas, bear republic, stone, and plenty of others is good for much longer than that. i have become somewhat of a snob for dates because yes, when you're paying craft prices you want to get exactly what you're expecting, but 6 weeks seems like a harsh line to draw to me.

 

do what boneyard does, only keg your beer. Don't bottle. It ensures that the customers will be drinking it fresh instead of sitting on the shelf.

 

South Carolina is the worst that I've seen for this. Most of the beers on the shelf from COAST (an SC brewery) are more than a year old. I don't know if it's a distribution issue but it's absolutely bizarre

 

30 days is your limit? Lol. I'm happy to find IPAs under three months.

 

I knew you were from Texas before I looked at your sig. We are a dumping ground for old Lagunitas products. I have found the freshest at HEB's. For some reason they have bottles that are around a month old whereas Specs and WF have stuff bottled back at the first of May

 

Another reason I'm glad I don't enjoy IPAs. Getting fussy about a month to three month old beers? Wow.

 

Yemen, Founders has a new bottle date system. It is printed clearly on the back of the label. Just a heads up!

 

Probably the worst I have seen was earlier this year. I stopped by a store in Greensboro and saw and end cap display full of dusty Founder's Red Rye. I looked at the date and it was Sept. 2013. It wasn't even marked down. If you are going to put up a display old 1.5 year old IPAs to try to move them, at least dust them off lol