What's the general consenus on IPA dates/age as extras?

If I don't know the age, I'll generally get one for myself to first test the waters. If I'd still drink it myself, I feel fine sending it off.

 

I would say it depends on just how old they are, otherwise it's really no big deal as long as they are still drinking fine. Columbus Ipa doesn't bottle date and I always taste one out of the sixer before sending just to make sure they are still good to go , I have only once had a bad sixer, they tend to sell rather well in these parts..

 

This is a good question. I don't tend to drink many IPAs so I am not as familiar with the "24 hour drop off period." Since I am not a great judge of freshness and hops in general, I will send anything that is less than 6 weeks or by the "drink before" date. I could have made some people upset I guess. But they are extras.

 

As long as it's within the best by date or within a few weeks of the bottled date, you should be a-ok.

 

I wouldn't send anything that I wouldn't drink myself.

 

I agree with most of what has been said so far. Although, I recently sent out an IPA I'd aged over two years, why?!

Cuz it was the bomb. It was DFH 60 min.

 

for receiving, i don't really care (i love the "extras" practice and i always include extras unless specified not to, but i still consider what i get as a bonus). obviously i'm more excited if the beer is fresh, but free beer is free beer.

for giving, definitely < 1 month. i'm not a huge IPA guy so i don't usually send mega hoppy beers anyway, though some NEBCO offerings might start making it into boxes (their revamped sea hag IPA recipe is excellent). if no date information, i'd do as suggested above (drink one, send if good).

i'm firmly on the "freshness freak" side of the silly "freshness debate" on BA. i think people posting about "OMG you only like IPAs if they're a day old!!" are mysteriously overreacting to people caring about freshness, AKA caring about their beer tasting as good as possible.

 

after 3 months, don't send. After six weeks? What are you, a supertaster?

 

If it wasn't bottled the same day the box lands it's a drain pour.

 

Its an extra. They cant be mad about a free beer. If you want to impress them, just taste it first. If youre not sure, dont send it. I had a bottle of Sculpin to ship out, but it was like 3 months old. Couldnt do it.

 

It largely depends on the beer. Some hold up better than others, and some beers are just easier to get fresher than others. For example, one time I sent a pair of 2 month old Heady Topper cans. HT holds up quite well for about 3 months IMO. Now on the one hand I wish I had fresher stock to send, as it is not as good as perfectly fresh. But, on the other hand, I'm pretty sure they appreciated getting to try Heady Topper more than some other random fresh local IPA I could have sent instead. I'd certainly feel similar about receiving some Alpine rarity vs something much more easily gotten.

Generally I do try to pack it with less than a month though. By the time it gets to them, and they get around to drinking it, it could easily be 6-8 weeks.

I have received a couple of 6 month+ IPA's in BIF's, which is a bit more of a no-no. Even as a trade extra, that's pushing it.