Fresh IPAs?

[onetoeddogbrewery]

When did a beer style that was designed to sail halfway across the world, change to fresher is better? Do English IPAs taste different as they age?

 

[hoppyhoppyhippo]

As IPAs age they lose most of their aroma.

As the aroma goes so does many of the flavors.

 

[Thunder_Chicken]

It changed when we weren't concerned with getting a safely drinkable and palatable beer across the planet and actually wanted to fine tune taste. The hops were originally there for preservation, not flavor or aroma.

Fresher IPAs retain more aroma and flavor. As they age the aroma and flavor fades, rather quickly, leaving mostly just the bittering.

If you want an authentic English IPA experience, brew it up and store it for 3 months at 80F. You'll probably have a good beer, but mostly bitter. Young English IPAs are not what was drunk in the colonies, but fresh EKG smells and tastes wonderful.

 

[eltorrente]

Old IPA's are better than old Pale Ales. People discovered that, especially with American IPA's, drinking them fresh means you get that mouth full of fresh hop flavor before it fades away. The hops simply preserved the beer for longer for their long journey, and the goal wasn't necessarily intended to be drank fresh for the hop flavor.

 

[lumpher]

in other words, do you want authentic or do you like hops? i LOVE fresh hops. i just brewed up an IPA and an APA today. i'll dry-hop both. done some lagers recently, and been diagnosed with lupulin-deficiency.

 

[eltorrente]

in other words, do you want authentic or do you like hops? i LOVE fresh hops. i just brewed up an IPA and an APA today. i'll dry-hop both. done some lagers recently, and been diagnosed with lupulin-deficiency.

I'm the same way as you are. I just LOVE hops. APA and IPA's are my first loves, and when I brew other styles, even if they are actually "good" - I often feel like they need more hops.

I LOVE Bocks and Dopplebocks, but those never feel like they need hop flavor because they are all about the malt flavor, of course. Same with Stouts. When I brew a style that is light in color though, I often feel like I should have dropped a couple ounces of hops in after the boil - screw the style guidelines.

 

[onetoeddogbrewery]

If you want an authentic English IPA experience, brew it up and store it for 3 months at 80F. You'll probably have a good beer, but mostly bitter. Young English IPAs are not what was drunk in the colonies, but fresh EKG smells and tastes wonderful.[/QUOTE]
It's funny you say that, my brew buddy and I started brewing about a year ago, and fairly early on we talked about putting a batch in a barrel and placing it in his car while he delivered pizza through the fine streets of Houston, our wives thought we had gone over the deep end

 

[eltorrente]

It's funny you say that, my brew buddy and I started brewing about a year ago, and fairly early on we talked about putting a batch in a barrel and placing it in his car while he delivered pizza through the fine streets of Houston, our wives thought we had gone over the deep end

I'm dying laughing lol - that sounds like a great experiment, and I think you should do it. I can see how others would think you guys are a little nuts.

 

[onetoeddogbrewery]

I'm the same way as you are. I just LOVE hops. APA and IPA's are my first loves, and when I brew other styles, even if they are actually "good" - I often feel like they need more hops. I LOVE Bocks and Dopplebocks, but those never feel like they need hop flavor because they are all about the malt flavor, of course. Same with Stouts. When I brew a style that is light in color though, I often feel like I should have dropped a couple ounces of hops in after the boil - screw the style guidelines.

We're pretty much the same way, we've brewed around 15 different beers this year from brown ales to stouts. We keep going back to IPAs , RIPAs, and hoppy brown ales. If I'm in the mood for a malty beer I go buy a 6er instead for trudging through 5 gals of not hoppy beer.
I'll let y'all know if we ever try the great pizza run IPA

 

[strambo]

Heh, the whole fresh IPA thing is totally a first world problem! We're lucky to live in such a great time for beer.

That said, you should totally do the English IPA in a pizza delivery vehicle simulation. That would be great. Or maybe that's just the 10% DIPA I'm drinking talking...wish it was fresher. 😉

 

[Black Island Brewer]

When did a beer style that was designed to sail halfway across the world, change to fresher is better? Do English IPAs taste different as they age?

Too funny, I hadn't considered this. But it just goes to show, historic styles are one thing, but what sells best today may be completely different. I remember when they started selling "Imperial IPAs" or "Double IPAs", and my thought was "There's no such thing", but fortunately even if there's no historical precedent, we can still buy them or make them!!

When it comes to judging, though, I can help but think that the commercial expectation of "fresher is better" will skew the winners to the less accurate historical version (although I can't say I know anyone who's actually tasted the beer shipped from England to India in the 1800's to know what "accurate to style" is...)

 

[eltorrente]

I'll let y'all know if we ever try the great pizza run IPA

I used to deliver pizzas in Carlsbad, CA back in the mid-nineties, and I wish my roommate/brewmate and I had thought of that, because we would have done it for sure. Throw a keg in the back of my old CRX and have it slosh around for a few months or so, and see what happened.