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McMalty · 04-06-2012, 01:56 AM

Ok, so i've been drinking beer for a long time (not always good beer, but none the less), and IPAs were always my last choice. Not only that, but i had contempt towards what i thought was a national community that was just hopping on the next fad. To me, hoppiness was not a desire, it was a nuisance. I wanted to taste a lot of malt in my beer, not all the bitterness (which is typical of many american style brews). Well as it turns out, my palette was just not yet refined. The reason I didn't enjoy IPAs previously was the same reason kids don't enjoy hot wings. The turning point was Lagunitas Undercover Investigator Shutdown (and every other Lagunitas brew since then), it's a very balanced brew (and it's not an IPA btw), so you can appreciate the sweet maltiness with the hoppiness. From there, the spark started a fire. Now 3/4 of the beers in my fridge are IPAs. I enjoy my stouts and porters just as much as i ever did, but my world has opened up with the addition of IPAs. Sometimes I just crave that sweet hoppiness that makes u feel like ur actually drinking something. So I strongly encourage all the IPA haters out there to venture off into higher IBU brews.....(pretty much anything Lagunitas makes), b/c you might figure out something you've been missing all along.

For all the people like me, what was the brew that turned you...or at least put you in that particular direction?

pm5k00 · 04-06-2012, 02:22 AM

Ahh the good 'ol Lupulin Shift, welcome to the club brother. Your story is how it works out for a lot of people. I personally used to think Sierra Nevada Pale Ale was a touch too bitter, and now I can drink a 100+ IBU IPA and love every sip.

LoneWolfPR · 04-06-2012, 02:37 AM

Terrapin's India Brown Ale is what turned me around. Had all the malt of a brown, but got me appreciating hop flavor and bitterness. You're now open to a whole new area of beers.

Interestingly enough, my palette went from all malty, to very hoppy, and now I'm all about sours.

McMalty · 04-06-2012, 02:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pm5k00

Ahh the good 'ol Lupulin Shift, welcome to the club brother. Your story is how it works out for a lot of people. I personally used to think Sierra Nevada Pale Ale was a touch too bitter, and now I can drink a 100+ IBU IPA and love every sip.

....yeah....SNPA used to be way to bitter for me...now it's more or less a 4th beer (a beer i drink once i drink 3 good beers and don't really care as much about the taste of the 4th)

logdrum · 04-06-2012, 02:42 AM

Great Lakes Burning River was my gateway hop shift beer.

**scrambledegg81** · 04-06-2012, 06:17 AM

I was basically thrown in the bitter end of the beer pool, so to speak. I first became interested in craft beer after I moved to San Diego about 7 years ago. One day my landlord/roommate saw that I had stuff like Stone IPA, Red Stripe and Gordon Biersch in the fridge (being the only "decent" stuff I could find at the local Albertson's), and he asks if I knew that I lived about 10 minutes away from Stone Brewery.

Needless to say, the open patio became my weekend hangout rather quickly, and my craving for all things hoppy & mouth-puckering increased a hundred fold.

brewski08 · 04-06-2012, 06:21 AM

Short's Liberator.

i don't care what anyone says, i'd take a Short's over a Bell's any day.

you michiganians take your beer for granted, i tell ya!

Tamarlane · 04-06-2012, 10:33 AM

I have always enjoyed IPAs much more on tap at the pub than at home from a bottle. Not sure why that is but the bitterness just seems smoother on tap.

BradleyBrew · 04-06-2012, 11:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by McMalty

Ok, so i've been drinking beer for a long time (not always good beer, but none the less), and IPAs were always my last choice. Not only that, but i had contempt towards what i thought was a national community that was just hopping on the next fad. To me, hoppiness was not a desire, it was a nuisance. I wanted to taste a lot of malt in my beer, not all the bitterness (which is typical of many american style brews). Well as it turns out, my palette was just not yet refined. The reason I didn't enjoy IPAs previously was the same reason kids don't enjoy hot wings. The turning point was Lagunitas Undercover Investigator Shutdown (and every other Lagunitas brew since then), it's a very balanced brew (and it's not an IPA btw), so you can appreciate the sweet maltiness with the hoppiness. From there, the spark started a fire. Now 3/4 of the beers in my fridge are IPAs. I enjoy my stouts and porters just as much as i ever did, but my world has opened up with the addition of IPAs. Sometimes I just crave that sweet hoppiness that makes u feel like ur actually drinking something. So I strongly encourage all the IPA haters out there to venture off into higher IBU brews.....(pretty much anything Lagunitas makes), b/c you might figure out something you've been missing all along.

For all the people like me, what was the brew that turned you...or at least put you in that particular direction?

+1

I moved into IPA bombs and now I have really been experimenting with large hop additions for flavor & aroma with moderate bittering. I love the citrus smells as much as the bittering.

downtown3641 · 04-06-2012, 11:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by brewski08

you michiganians take your beer for granted, i tell ya!

Indeed. When I was in Michigan last summer, we stopped at a liquor store on our way out and picked up as much beer as we could fit in the car with all of our stuff and our two dogs. It wasn't enough.