OT: IPAs

So, after loving IPA's for most of my 30's and early 40's, my palette tired of them...especially after quaffing all the way-over-hopped varieties available out here on the left coast. So I gave them up about a year ago.

Yesterday, I had my first Racer 5 in a long time and it tasted freakin' glorious. Today, at a bartender's suggestion, I'm sipping a Wolf Among Weeds from Golden Road Brewery. It's great too. I see it's from LA.

Any of you SoCal folks know its story?

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It's an only in America thing. The best bitter in England isn't anywhere near as bitter. It's actually lovely stuff, but I digress.

Life is too short to have to endure bitter beer face.

And if I want to prove I have hair on my chest I only need to take off my shirt. But that would give everyone else bitter beer face, so I don't.

The best IPA I've ever had is Alexander Kieth's from Halifax, Nova Scotia. I'm told that wouldn't qualify as an IPA in the US because it's not hoppy enough. Who decided that? IPA wasn't even invented in the US, why does anyone have the temerity to decide what it is?

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is like comparing apples and oranges. They're completely different styles. English IPAs are closer, but far maltier than the West Coast IPA style.

And there isn't a thing wrong with different styles of IPA.

Craft beer in the US has generally always been about pushing the boundaries of beer and not necessarily appealing to every palate everywhere. Which is why we have so many new and interesting offerings these days. And I don't think anyone would argue that is a bad thing...would they?

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My wife loves hoppy beers. I like them too but she is more of a hophead than I. There are some excellent IPAs out there, and it is the most popular selling style of craft beer in the country. I get why some folks don't like them, but they certainly don't give me bitter beer face. It is my favorite style of beer, but I drink all kinds of beer (I'm a huge fan of oatmeal stouts, breakfast stouts, etc.) I don't like weak tasting beers...lagers, except for some Czech pilsners, tend to bore me. The same goes for paler ales. It is a matter of taste.

And it isn't just an American thing. There are plenty of craft brewers in Ireland and the UK (and even some other parts of Europe) making hoppy IPAs.

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The Oregon IPAs jumped the shark. These 80+ IBU beers are crazy. I won't touch anything over 49.
The west coast hops arms race, like nearly all arms races, is a bad thing.

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I can't remember the exact name, but it had an overwhelming flavor of pine needles. The IPA arms race that you mentioned became too much for me. I buy less and less IPAs.

In the interests of full disclosure, my favorite type of beer is a Russian Imperial Stout.

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but I steer clear of most of the "HOP JIZZ HOPOCALYPSE!!!!1" type varieties; in fact, I find them pretty dumb.

I like a nice bitter flavor to balance the malt, but the octupling down on one ingredient makes it all but unpalatable. It's like making a cake that's 90% icing.

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It earns its name by being smoother than a typical IPAD and having much less alcohol at under 5% ABV.

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Pales, blondes, reds for me.

I just found a new one at a pizza pub in Chula Vista, Bonita Blonde from Bay Bridge Brewing, which just opened last fall. Pretty tasty.

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Started by a guy who owned a bar in Burbank called Tony's Darts Away. Kind of a dive that started serving a great beer selection with a good bar menu. He was frustrated at the lack of local LA beer options for the bar so started GR.

It's a fun place to visit too. They have a restaurant/bar/brewery in Glendale with a few rotating restaurant-only beer selections on tap and will refill growlers. Good menu. Very kid friendly restaurant too.

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You can find their regular offerings in cans at Vons and Gelsons and Whole Foods (at least, at Vons with bigger craft selections). I think they're in LA but over near the zoo and the river near Glendale. Most good bars around here (Pasadena) will have one of theirs on draft, and the better beer bars will have ones like the one you mentioned - their sales people work with the better beer bars to get good stuff out there.

How have you found it going without IPAs? I've been thinking about it, because of the same hop overload you describe. But what are your go-to beers? I think I would like it if I cut down on the IPAs and had maltier or smoother beers, with an IPA now and then, but our market is so overloaded with hops that it can be hard to find other options.

--
The 2007 ND-UCLA game was a once in a lifetime experience, I hope

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Being in Fla. I don't think we get a lot of the non-mainstream beers from out West. My favorite IPAs are Dogfish Head's 90 Minute IPA and Cigar City's Jai Lai.

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Their IPAs are very good. Ballast showed up in Atlanta about 6 months ago. Check out Sculpin. You have to get Sierra Nevada, right? Torpedo is my go-to IPA, and I love Celebration and Ruthless Rye (both seasonals). I've also seen Green Flash around here but not that often. I'm a fan of Palate Wrecker. And I do like Jai Alai....good stuff.

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They stopped making my favorite beer in the world, one of their seasonals, Wilco Tango Foxtrot. It was a malty copper ale.
I am crushed. Haven't had time to find out why they dropped it or research a substitute.
Maybe I need to let it go and try their new Brown Sugga.

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Give it a try, it is similar (American Strong Ale) and really good.

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But I consider them mainstream now. We get Sierra Nevada, Northcoast, Rogue, etc. I'm just starting to see Ballast Point. Haven't seen Bear Republic. I don't hit our specialty beer stores that often, because they're not that convenient for me, but I think I need to go again.

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I never get a cart because then I'm limited to buying only what I can carry.

Even some of the ABCs have been majorly revamped. The one across from the Winter Park Village, for example, has a respectable selection and growler station.

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but I rarely get out there.

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breakfast at Se7enbites and then a stop at Total Wine afterward. Trust me on this one.

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which is weird to say, but true. I saw where Stone is opening a brewery in Germany and SN has one near Asheville, NC. I don't think Bear Republic or Russian River distribute much to the east, which is a shame.

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BrewDog, out of Scotland (you may have seen their show on Esquire called, appropriately, Brew Dogs) is opening a brewery in the US (I think the east coast).

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First Racer 5 and yet you loved IPAs? C'mon man. That's my "go to" IPA...well at least it was until some BS water issue in Northern California deprived the Midwest of any Bear Republic beers.

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-beer-water-conservation-20140730-story.html

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Ballast Point Sculpin has dethroned it recently.

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you can drink some of the best and it will set you back less than run of the mill wine.

It's relatively affordable to upgrade from mass produced beer to some great ones. With wine, the upgrade from Two Buck Chuck to a great Barolo on a regular basis can seriously impact your finaces

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the Polo Grounds

I don't get the attraction to overhopped IPAs

Comparing English bitters to West Coast IPAs is

It has nothing to do with machismo.

I gave em up too; need some malt balance

I had a similar experience with a Stone IPA

I like 'em enough

Try Founder's All Day IPA....

can't do IPAs either

Golden Road is great

Golden Road does some fun stuff

What are your favorites?

You don't get Stone or Lagunitas?

I'm mad at Lagunitas

I like Brown Sugga even better.

Yes, quite a few from lagunitas. Getting more from stone.

Total Wine on Colonial, near Bumby

I like Total Wine a lot,

Make a morning out of

Sounds good.

I guess they have become mainstream,

Green Flash is opening a brewery in Va somewhere

Virginia Beach. Stone is opening up in Richmond, Va.

Wha? Wha? What?

Racer 5 was my go-to beer for a great while.

Oughta be at $9 a bottle. I like it too, but jeez, it's beer

That's the great thing about beer

Of course, then there's THE great thing about beer:

Not here. I think I paid $14 for a six-pack.