Last year I wrote a post querying whether Stone Brewing’s Enjoy By… IPA series was a legitimate attempt to have their product consumed at peak flavour or a bit of marketing spin. I offered a fairly positive review of the version at the time – and I was enjoying it before the end date. In hindsight I realized I should have brought back (I had just been to San Diego) two bottles for tasting before and after.

Well, now that Enjoy By can be found in Alberta (proving I am lousy at predictions – see my prognostication in the original posts comments section), I got a second chance to explore the question of the need for a enjoy-by date.

Over the summer I picked up two bottles of their Enjoy By, dated July 4, 2015. I drank the first bottle on June 30 and put the second away in my beer cellar (a cool, dark corner of the house). I opened the second bottle on September 16, about 9 weeks after the suggested date, and about 14 weeks after bottling – well within most breweries’ freshness timeline. I did not refer to my first set of notes when creating the second set – so the two descriptions are independently created (short of any lingering memory of the first bottle).

On June 30, I described the beer in this fashion:

Dark gold with great clarity. A thick white head lasts, offering a tight blanket with pocked craters. The aroma is big with resin and pine. Some soft malt lays behind but it really serves as a counter. This aroma is about hops. Accents of light fruitiness, some citrus of lemon and grapefruit, and a touch of earthy woodiness complement. The  start has a light toffee, toasted bread malt, but quickly overtaken by a resiny, piney, grapefruit hop. It is a multi-layered hop that offers fruitiness, sharpness, earthiness all in one. Some alcohol warming is clear, as is a sharp graininess in the background. The linger is complex. Resin, citrus, both sharp like grapefruit and softer like passionfruit. and a piny-ness dominate. The hops don’t get overpowering, but they are noticeable and clearly this beer is for hopheads only. The linger grows and grows and creates a sizable pine and resin hop character. I consider this a strong, assertive DIPA. Dry complexion over all but bitter and hoppy.

I then described the September 16 tasting like this.

Pours dark gold with slightest of haze. Forms a big, thick white head that hands around and offers good lacing. I get a strong piney, resiny aroma, with traces of citrus in the background. Some fruit esters and an earthy, almost musty malt balances the strong hop aroma. The beer starts with a light toffee, toast and a bit of biscuit combined with a light fruitiness and an earthy character at first. The hops rushes in fairly fast. It is piney, grapefruit and some earthiness. There is a resin linger to it as well. The hops still take charge, but the malt never fully goes away, creating a bitter, hoppy yet drinkable beer. Alcohol warming comes through at the end. This is a strong, assertive, formidable DIPA. It is not too sweet, but doesn’t lose balance overall.

So, from my reading, it is, in its broad strokes, the same beer. However it underwent some significant changes over those weeks. What I notice first is that an earthiness arises in the beer that rounds out some of the flavours. The hops lose some of their complexity, in particular the fruitier aspects. There may be a bit of bitterness loss, allowing some of the quieter malt characteristics to come through. Yet, it remains big and hoppy.

The beer held up well but it is clear to me it changed noticeably. Is the fresher one better? Hard to say. If I were forced to say, I think my preferred version would be the June 30 tasting, but memory can play funny tricks on someone so I don’t entirely trust that thought.

I must also acknowledge that the results may have been different had I stored the second bottle in the fridge rather than my cellar – a decision made entirely for practical reasons (fridge space). However, I argue that would have just slowed the process, not altered the fundamental point being demonstrated.

Ultimately I think for big, hop-accented beer, Stone might be on to something. It most certainly is also marketing spin, but that does not mean the brewery doesn’t have a point. At a minimum it is a reminder that beer is designed to be consumed fresh. It also tells us that a big, hoppy IPA or DIPA from New Zealand or even Europe sent to Alberta is simply not going to be in its best condition.