Pliny The Elder

[markaberrant]

Fair enough Stephen.

The original discussion was regarding Pliny the Elder, so I may have jumped to the erronious conclusion that we were talking agressive, west coast style DIPA. In my humblest of opinions, freshness is king in this particular style (I am sure I just opened up another can of worms by referring to DIPA as a "style"... please don't tell Ron P on me). Anyways, it is much easier to consume uber-fresh DIPA at home, and much easier to maintain that uber-freshness at home (additional dry hops can be added to a keg just about anytime your heart desires, and the cost of using massive amounts of hops is much easier to absorb on the home scale). As such, agressive, west coast style homebrewed DIPA has the POTENTIAL to be better than agressive, west coast style commercial DIPA (subject to the skill of the homebrewer and commercial brewer in question). *** Unless of course, you are drinking fresh commercial DIPA straight out of a keg, cask or serving tank loaded with hops, which I have done on occassion, though I certainly do not have regular and affordable access to such pleasures.

Hope this clears up any confusion I may have caused for you earlier. My original point was merely to suggest that most beer (including agressive, west coast style DIPA) tastes best closest to the source and you cannot get any closer than brewing your own. I personally feel that investing the time to become a successful homebrewer is far more satisfying and rewarding than blowing your cash trading for stale bottles of Pliny the Elder. Cheers!

[TheSevenDuffs]

Fair enough Stephen.

The original discussion was regarding Pliny the Elder, so I may have jumped to the erronious conclusion that we were talking agressive, west coast style DIPA. In my humblest of opinions, freshness is king in this particular style (I am sure I just opened up another can of worms by referring to DIPA as a "style"... please don't tell Ron P on me). Anyways, it is much easier to consume uber-fresh DIPA at home, and much easier to maintain that uber-freshness at home (additional dry hops can be added to a keg just about anytime your heart desires, and the cost of using massive amounts of hops is much easier to absorb on the home scale). As such, agressive, west coast style homebrewed DIPA has the POTENTIAL to be better than agressive, west coast style commercial DIPA (subject to the skill of the homebrewer and commercial brewer in question). *** Unless of course, you are drinking fresh commercial DIPA straight out of a keg, cask or serving tank loaded with hops, which I have done on occassion, though I certainly do not have regular and affordable access to such pleasures.

Hope this clears up any confusion I may have caused for you earlier. My original point was merely to suggest that most beer (including agressive, west coast style DIPA) tastes best closest to the source and you cannot get any closer than brewing your own. I personally feel that investing the time to become a successful homebrewer is far more satisfying and rewarding than blowing your cash trading for stale bottles of Pliny the Elder. Cheers!

There is no question that your point is a valid one. Freshness is king with DIPA. I learned that recently with Hopslam. Had one that was 2 weeks old, then tried it every month for 6 or 7 months. The deterioration of the hops was noticeable each time.