Stone IPA Vs. Hop-Ottin
 

ok its not really a battle, just 2 beers i havent had in a while...

hop-ottin: i used to drink this beer alot when i lived in cali, first thing i noticed was the lack of hop aroma in my east-coast sample. Very bitter though just as i remebered, harsh clinging bitterness(chinnook?). Pretty good considering the couple of thousand mile journey, nothing to brag about though. (i blame this all on travel, and/or older sample, this beer is awesome on draught in a bar in cali.)

Stone: Good hop aroma, not overwelming like dogfish, but decent. Really bitter, a bitter fullness if you will, the bitterness hits you from the tip of your tongue and follows through to your stomach...crazy! Excellent beer, nice body with good amount of risidual sweetness to balance the alcohol and hops. Bonus: this beer produces very enjoyable hop-burps...:drunk:

p.s. i noticed both these brews use oxy-barrior caps, is this standard? a new thing? or i just never noticed?

Who makes Hop Ottin? I've heard of it, but never run across it.

I'm a big fan of Stone IPA. To my taste, it's tough to beat.

Anderson Valley. A brewery up in Northern California, Humboldt Co. It's near Janx. I think he mentioned in a post that he used to work for them :confused:. Anyways, Their IPA is great. They have several great beers. I don't know how far they get distributed. If you want I could send you some.

I've had some IPA's that were bad. Last year I picked up a sixer of Bridgeport IPA in Hillsboro, OR not far from where it's made. The stuff was great. Found some in Los Angeles, and the flavor was off, the aroma was gone, and it was just not good all around. I might give it one more shot of trying it down here. If that doesn't work again. I'll settle for 1000 mile road trips to Portland to get some. :D

I love brigeport!
age makes ahuge difference too. thats why i like stone, and others that put the bottling date on the bottle, i almost bought one that was dated dec 05, but found a fresher one from 2/06...the hop-ottin wasnt dated, was dusty, and im guessing they have a slower turn around then stone so it was probably old as dirt.

ive had some anchor steams here on the east coast that were totally oxidized, a completly different beer! I find bottle conditioned beer fare the best, sierra taste pretty good, as do some english bottle conditioned.

i dont know how german beers hold up under the travel, maybe because they are kept refridgerated?

I just had a Stone IPA tonight for the first time. I'm not really qualified to comment on IPAs, because up to a few weeks ago I just couldn't stomach PAs, IPAs, IIPAs, or any kind of hoppyPA...I thought that they were all pure swill. But this hobby changes your tastes, and brother DeRoux helped things along with a HopZilla, and now I can't get enough IPA, and have been trying one after another for the last few weeks.

That said, this Stone IPA is really fricking good! For me, this is the life changing beer everyone here has been talking about. :)

My first experience with Stone IPA was a while ago, while I was in college. The conversation went something like this:
"Hey, dude, have you ever had an IPA"
"A IP-what?"
"An IPA"
(Pause)
"An India Pale Ale"
"What's that?"
"A really hopped up beer. Have you ever had one?"
"No."
"Here try this"
(I take a swig)


(Gasp!)

I wasn't quite sure what I had drank, but it sure was different. I thought for a while I had done my taste buds permanent dammage. Maybe I did, because now all other beer is weak in comparison! :D

Both excellent ales. They are even better at the breweries. I've found that very hoppy ales will lose the flavor notes, then the aroma, but the bitterness holds steady. I stick to local IPA's most of the time, which is really easy in the PNW.

I know im grave diggin threads here but I'm having my second hop ottin for the first time tonight and this blows stones ipa out of the water fn delicious. I have only had their amber and oatmeal stout before but what a great brew.