Just put my American Pale Ale homebrew (Marris Otter/Oats, Conan yeast, loads of late/dry Amarillo & Simcoe, unintentional pellicle) up against a 3month old Hill Farmstead Edward growler in a blind taste test. Somehow everyone preferred mine.
Not saying I brew better beer than HFS, I definitely don’t, but it shows how critical freshness is in pale ale/IPA and why we should buy our beer local instead of from California or Germany… unless you’re a Californian or German.
Couldn’t agree more.
+2
well said. Now I’ve just got to find time to drive over the hill to Greensboro to test your theory.
+1.
This is a big frustration of mine. There’s a wide variety of craft beer available in my area, but often of questionable freshness. Even beer from local Maryland breweries can be pretty old.
When I started home brewing a little over a year ago I quickly learned just what fresh beer tastes like, and what I’ve been missing out on.
I’m starting to think of brewing beer like I do baking chocolate chip cookies. Have you ever purchased cookies from a store that taste as good as the ones just out of your own oven?
I feel a lot like you do. I’m not going to claim my beer is better than most of the well-known brands you can buy. And yet, I’d rather drink my own brew than 90% of what I can buy in bottles, and more than half of what I can get locally. Most of this hobby is about keeping your stuff as clean and sanitary as you can manage, putting fresh, quality ingredients in, and giving your beer a stable and favorable environment in which to work. Past that, just get out of the way.
To torture the cookie analogy, buy fresh butter and eggs. Get chocolate chips that you like. Nuts or no nuts are a personal choice. Set your oven temperature where it ought to be, and take the cookies out when they’re just the way you like them. Your friends will swoon, but it’s mostly just paying attention.
I agree.
This is especially true for hoppy beers. I rarely buy commercial IPA’s any more, just because they are so hit or miss when it comes to hop character since it fades so fast.
When I buy IPA’s anymore, I almost just buy the beers that are new to my area, or newly released. This way I know that they are fresh. Sometimes it’s hard to find dates on the bottles. Last year, I bought a lot of New Belgium Ranger when it came to Ohio. Stone Delicious IPA is new altogether. The Stone Enjoy By’s are filtering in here and there. And dammit… I will find SN Hop Hunter packaged!
On the other hand, I landed a 2013 Three Philosophers at a discount price at my local Giant Eagle because it wasn’t “fresh”… Heck! It’s two years closer to being amazing!
Yep, I love to scavenge the bottle shops for “pre-cellared” gems like that.
I love having the excuse: “Love, I know I’ve already had a few but you kinow I have to drink hoppy beers fresh.”
Yeah, I’ll take a ‘non-fresh’ Quad any day o’ the week. Maybe trade them some fresh for it. Hilarious.