It's a feature not a bug of modern IPAs that you can set up a vertical within only a few weeks of the first beer being released, but there was the best part of a year between these two: one an original summer '17, the other arriving the following spring, so only a few weeks old when opened. How would the ravages of time have differentiated them?
The fresh one smelled of cheese and tasted of garlic, toffee and yeast dregs, all pumped up by a near-spirituous 10% ABV burn. I've got a can full of new clothes, fetch me an emperor. The older one was more settled and comfortable in its booziness. I got notes of Pedro Ximinez sherry: a dose of rum-soaked raisins in with the toffee, without any of the garlic or anything else hop-derived. While nothing at all like an IPA, Chubbles the Elder was a very tasty beer.
Now obviously if you've spent a wodge of your own money on a can of Chubbles, you'll probably want to drink it fresh and as the brewer intended. But if you got it inadvertently, and aren't a fan of the hot-garlic school of IPA formulation, it might be worth sitting on.
Many thanks to Simon for a most enlightening evening.
You're very welcome. For the record, OG Chubbles was a September '17 release, obtained via Drinkstore, and the '18 was direct from the May 1 launch on Cloudwater's web store and kept chilled. Both were showing marked differences from my original Untappd checkins. (Mango & Pineapple concentrate for v1 vs. Mango Lassi for v2).
ReplyDeleteThanks for the details! For those of us who follow the calendar of the Superior Courts, September is still the summer :)
Deletefresh and as the brewer intended
ReplyDelete!!!
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