Do IPA Beers or Hoppy Beers Last Longer?

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IPA beers, or India Pale Lagers, were developed to allow beers to survive the harsh, and very hot, conditions of shipping from Britain to India during the British occupation there. Basically, barrels of beer were loaded up with hops, which have a preservative quality. These resultant extremely bitter beers were probably not like the craft IPA’s you know today, but they survived the trip. So, a hoppy beer or an IPA will last longer than a regular beer, right?

It would seem reasonable to assume that a hoppy beer can be stored for a longer period of time while still being good to drink. But here is where the trick in the question is revealed. While hops are a preservative, the compounds in hops are very vulnerable to breaking down and creating all sorts of off-flavors. In other words, when you add an herb with a lot of volatiles in it, more volatile things happen. So, ironically, a very hoppy IPA beer will NOT hold up well under room temperature conditions, compared to a regular beer, especially a higher alcohol one.

Aging or Cellaring IPA Beers

This is important as the story of how IPA beers came to be has created confusion in terms of aging or ‘cellaring’ beers. In reality, most beers you buy at the liquor store are not meant for aging nor will they remain tasty if you attempt to age them, let alone get better with age. Most beers are meant to drink when as fresh as possible. They are at their best right after they are bottled or kegged. IPAs are no exception.

IPA Beers, Hops, and Bitterness: Getting Past the BS

Hops Are a Preservative

The addition of hops to beer was really all about extending shelf life. It was not for taste. This was much more important for the beers of old since the brewing methods did not prevent contamination like today’s methods. A beer would not simply skunk or taste bad, it would go bad due to bacterial contamination. It would, essentially spoil. Fresh beer was still cleaner to drink than contaminated water, but it was not a permanent way to store water. Hops, mostly due to the acids, have antibacterial properties and so can help prevent this spoilage.

Bavaria, during the 1500s, even had a law requiring that hops be added to all beer, the Reinbeitsgebot law. Bavaria later became part of Germany and in 1871, Germany also adopted this law. This way, the quality of the beer was more assured. This law wasn’t repealed until 1988!

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Hops Today are Used for Flavor and Aroma

But let’s be clear: Hops are no longer added to beer as a preservative. Modern sanitation has all but eliminated the need. They are added for flavor and aroma.

Hop Flavors Fade Over Time

These bitter flavors, fruity aromas, etc. fade over time. Depending on storage conditions, they will fade more quickly. Cellaring or aging a hoppy beer, out of the misguided notions that such beers last longer and so are meant to be aged, will likely result in great disappointment. As the hoppy flavors fade, the beer left behind will probably be unbalanced and quite crappy. As the hops fade, their compounds undergo changes leading to a stale flavor. Overall, the result could be a plain tasting unbalanced, and stale tasting beer with weird or off-flavors.

Ironically, as author Patrick Dawson explains, a hoppy beer stored for too long may still taste quite bitter. As some of the bitter compounds fade with oxidation, other compounds that are more stable will remain and, over time, will oxidize to become bitter. The primary bitter compounds in hops are isomerized alpha and beta acids that come from lupulin. Alpha acids oxidize quickly and lose their bitterness, converting to other compounds such as trans-2-nonenal, that awful wet-cardboard flavor.

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Over time, the beta acids, which are more stable in the first place, can oxidize into hulupones, a more stable, and bitter compound. So, an oxidized and old IPA may seem bitter even though it’s well past its prime, having lost a lot of its taste and having added a lot of bad flavors. Or, on the other hand, it may be good. It all depends.¹

Brewers brewing hoppy beers have done as much as they can to alert consumers to this fact. Hops do not improve with age! A hoppy beer is not a beer to store for long periods. Drink it as soon as possible for maximum enjoyment.

It is Possible to Age Certain Hoppy Beers

This is not to say that it is impossible to create a hoppy beer that is good for aging. If just the right kind of hops are used, this can be achieved. For example, choosing a variety of hops with more beta acids than alpha acids could help it retain its bitter flavors and result in fewer off-flavors due to the decreased presence of alpha acids. And since beta acids are more stable over time and oxidize to create bitter compounds in their own right, the aging process, if all the balance is right, could result in a beer that has developed certain desirable flavors and aromas. You may also find some of the qualities not so desirable. The enjoyment of an aged beer is certainly a subjective experience.

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Don’t Try to Age Just Any Beer

So, hoppy beers do not automatically stay fresher longer and they do not usually age well unless they are created more specifically for aging. Do not try to age an IPA or other hoppy beer because you think that such beers are meant for aging. They are not. You will have wasted your money, and your time.

If you would like to try aging beers, you should seek out expert guidance on how to store it. However, some of the best types of beers to age are (or may be) barley wines, barrel-aged beers or stouts, beers with high alcohol content, and sour beers. It may seem odd to mention aging a barrel-aged beer, but, in this case, the desire is to mellow out the contribution of the barrel. For instance, a beer aged in a bourbon barrel can be harsh or ‘hot’ because of the bourbon.

Good aging can mellow it out and will probably be needed in many cases. How long to age them and what results you can expect to get may require years of experimentation. If you just want to try such a thing once, seek out a beer that is recommended by its brewer for aging, and heed the brewer’s instructions. ¹,²

Do not try to age, again IPAs. Also do not try to age pilsners or any low alcohol beer.

For more information, I recommend Vintage Beer: A Taster’s Guide to Brews That Improve Over Time by Patrick Dawson