Dates on commercial IPAs

Unlike most beer styles, in my experience, IPAs and APAs drop off in hop character and overall quality pretty precipitously. One of the local ABC liquor stores here is still trying to move Toppling Goliath IPAs(Pompeii) that are from March 2019 !

Just curious, what is your cutoff when buying hoppy beers?

The brewers I know give their hoppiest beers a 3-month shelf life.

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Not only do hops drop off… How about the yeast sediment growing? I had one not to long ago… Lots and lots of yeast sediment…
Sneezles61

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My personal “line in the sand” for IPAs is 4 months, and that is only if it is something that I really want. For local Florida IPAs it is more like 8 weeks.

I had some ipa from the local supermarket. Way past date. But hey. Can beat. 1.50 dollar. Taste good. But some other ones. Way nasty. And they where week past due. Over here. Its the transport of products. Dont know if they keep it in a cooling container. Know for a fact at a local beer pup. Kegs go from belguim to rotterdam. Than on boat. Ones on island. 3to 4 weeks further with out cooling. Ones in brew pup. Lots of carbonation. And some times weird taste. Did explain him purge kegs a bit. So carbonation right. Let thèm stand. For a week than ready to drink. But its like speaking to a deaf person

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I will not buy any beers that are 2+ months from canning date. That being said, I’ve had beers in my fridge that have been 6-7 months old and still drank fine. Definitely not like having them fresh, though.

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