I've been noticing that my APAs and IPAs go through a dumb phase after they are on tap. Just to head off questions, my routine is to ferment for a few days then ramp the temp up gradually and let that sit for a couple of days, dry hopping for 2 days then cold crashing, for a couple of days. After which I keg and force carbonate for a week or so. So all in all this process typically takes the better part of a month before I think about tapping the keg.
Then when I do taste it, it usually tastes acceptable but 'acceptable' isn't. For example, I brewed a single hop IPA with Idaho 7 hops Feb. 15. It was reasonably good, but I was underwhelmed. As a consequence it has been languishing for some time. Until this weekend. Now I find it quite good. As I said, this seems to be a well established pattern - at least with my beer. So is it something I am doing or not doing, or is this typical?
It could be that my darker beers go through the same phase, but I intend to drink them later, so I haven't noticed it as much with them.