As we roll out our first batches of Good N’ You and other New England IPAs to distribution you may notice that we have adjusted our codes dates on the bottom of the can.
The stamp on bottom will now include:
- A packaged on date
- A best by date at 60 days
- A reminder to keep the beer cold
While most beer is best stored cold, the issue is particularly important to NEIPA. Hops are highly oxidative, one of the main reasons that large quantities of hops were added to IPA in the first place. During the travel to India, the hops would oxidize first and allow the remaining beer to survive the trip without turning to vinegar. It’s unlikely that your average IPA drinker would appreciate original IPA. Today most IPA drinkers crave the fresh juicy, fruity, piney, and citrusy flavors of these beers.
Over the past year the Springdale and Jack’s Abby team have performed extensive testing on every batch of IPA we have produced. Testing included: yeast strains, hop varieties, dry hopping techniques, in addition to long term shelf life testing. We were pleasantly surprised with how well these styles can hold up when stored cold but were discouraged with how short the shelf life could be if stored warm. With the sheer quantity of hop particulate in this style of beer the oxidative potential increases and causes the beer to change flavors quickly at warm temperatures.
It’s been known for a long time that filtering, clarifying, and potentially pasteurizing beer lengthens the shelf life of beer. NEIPA takes the opposite approach in order to achieve new flavor profiles even if the shelf life is short lived.
Due to this limiting factors, we’ll be carefully launching these products to ensure they are stored cold throughout distribution and consumed within the best by dates. Watch the video above to learn more!
