Commercial IPAs

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badmajon

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I opened up a bottle of Red Hook IPA and it was dissapointing. It tasted like it may have once been a decent beer, but degraded in the bottle and lost all its nose and the only thing left was the bitterness.

Can anyone reccomend a good commercial IPA and tell me which ones not to waste my money on?

I'll reccomend one good one, Sweetwater IPA brewed in Atlanta, GA. Awesome!
 
I like Sierra Nevada Torpedo (plus it's cheap!), Crooked Tree IPA, Bell's Two Hearted, Stone IPA, and several others.

I don't like Smuttynose IPA one bit. It has an odd off-flavor. Full Sail is "ok" but nothing special.
 
I enjoy Bridgeport's Hop Czar Imperial IPA. If you are looking for a normal IPA, Deschutes Inversion IPA is usually nice as well. Both are pacific northwest beers though so I'm not sure if they are distributed in the south.
 
Racer 5 is a good flavorful, easy to drink IPA with moderate bitterness

Blind Pig and Sculpin are a couple of my favorites if you can find em out there
 
Yooper said:
Full Sail is "ok" but nothing special.
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Yeah, the IPA is one of the more disappointing releases from Full Sail.

Inversion from Deschutes, Apocalypse from 10 Barrel, and Total Domination from Ninkasi are my usual IPA's.

Agreed on Torpedo, and it's a great source for 24 oz bottles.
 
Some good advise on here so far. Another to try (one of my favorites) is one you can't get in GA (look for a source in NC):

Ballast Point Sculpin IPA
 
I think that the issue that you have brought up is important. My experiance is that IPA's and even hoppy APA's deterioate rapidly. I know that is my experiance with my home brewed IPA's ansd APA's or generally any very hoppy brew. At this point I brew only as much hoppy beer as I can consume in 90 days following conditioning. I think that the hoppy beers that I Keg have a longer life than that but I note a real change in my bottles in that period. I have even held some non homebrew hoppy brews for 90 and 180 days and note the same change, although not to the same degree as with my homebrew. The final thought is that bittering seems to be much less effected than finishing.
 
badmajon said:
I opened up a bottle of Red Hook IPA and it was dissapointing. It tasted like it may have once been a decent beer, but degraded in the bottle and lost all its nose and the only thing left was the bitterness.

Can anyone reccomend a good commercial IPA and tell me which ones not to waste my money on?

I'll reccomend one good one, Sweetwater IPA brewed in Atlanta, GA. Awesome!
Click to expand...

I like red hooks ipa. I thought it had a good nose, may be just my taste. And i haven't had to many differnt ones but when i buy ipas i more often get it. (Could just be its sold in the store down the street)
 
Ninkasi Total Domination IPA is my absolute favorite. Next would be Bridgeport's Hop Czar. Also Widmer recently came out with Rotator X-114 IPA and its very good as well.
 
badhabit said:
I think that the issue that you have brought up is important. My experiance is that IPA's and even hoppy APA's deterioate rapidly. I know that is my experiance with my home brewed IPA's ansd APA's or generally any very hoppy brew. At this point I brew only as much hoppy beer as I can consume in 90 days following conditioning. I think that the hoppy beers that I Keg have a longer life than that but I note a real change in my bottles in that period. I have even held some non homebrew hoppy brews for 90 and 180 days and note the same change, although not to the same degree as with my homebrew. The final thought is that bittering seems to be much less effected than finishing.
Click to expand...


Thats funny, I noticed the opposite. The ones in bottle are fully closed until consumption so you only lose hop aroma through decay and adsorption. From my experience you still lose some aroma, but much less so if you keep it refrigerated. From the keg on the other hand, every time you pull a draft you are blowing off your hop aroma. Thats why lots of folks will dry hop right in the keg.
 
I second Sweetwater IPA....

... you tried Terrapin's Hopsecutioner? Terrapins Rye Squared is also another to try and get your hands on as well although probably harder to find than the Hopsecutioner IPA.
 
Mikey_Dawg said:
I second Sweetwater IPA....

... you tried Terrapin's Hopsecutioner? Terrapins Rye Squared is also another to try and get your hands on as well although probably harder to find than the Hopsecutioner IPA.
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No, but I think I'll pick some up this weekend (of course not on Sunday, thanks Georgia!) and try that!
 
You can't go wrong with any of these, i know I haven't.

Racer 5
Lagunitas IPA
Green Flash West Coast IPA
21st Amendment Brew Free or Die
Stone IPA
Hope Rod Rye
Founders Centennial IPA
Founders Harvest Ale
 
Well,so far the Smuttynose IPA is just a big citrus bomb with no discernible malt character. The Harpoon IPA is def pretty good,as is Sierra Nevada's Torpedo Extra IPA. I'm not a big fan of hop bombs,but those last two I can drink 2-3 of before I have to go to something like Rogue's Dead Guy. There's another one I just can't think of at the moment.
 
unionrdr said:
Well,so far the Smuttynose IPA is just a big citrus bomb with no discernible malt character. The Harpoon IPA is def pretty good,as is Sierra Nevada's Torpedo Extra IPA. I'm not a big fan of hop bombs,but those last two I can drink 2-3 of before I have to go to something like Rogue's Dead Guy. There's another one I just can't think of at the moment.
Click to expand...

If you like the more mellow IPA's, you should definitely try the Great Lakes Commodore Perry. Its one of the most smooth drinking IPAs I've had (all of GL stuff seem to have this great smooth taste). And its right in your backyard!
 
ThickHead said:
Pliny is an IIPA.
Click to expand...

Ah yes, and someone mentioned Blind Pig.

Hop Czar is also an IIPA, so I guess that's out, too.

For me, pretty much anything put out by Port Brewing is the best in IPAs.

Other great examples are Hopworks, Boundary Bay, Lagunitas, Stone, Maui.

Certainly don't let Redhook set the stage, their base IPA isn't great and hasn't been for a long time. The Big Ballard IIPA they put out recently was actually OK.

That Widmer X114 is pretty damn great. The all citra flavor is great.
 
kpr121 said:
If you like the more mellow IPA's, you should definitely try the Great Lakes Commodore Perry. Its one of the most smooth drinking IPAs I've had (all of GL stuff seem to have this great smooth taste). And its right in your backyard!
Click to expand...

Like so many brews since I started HB'ing,I'll have to go back & try The GLCP again. I like that Christmas porter they make too. K-Mart carries,among others Brooklyn brewery's India Pale Ale. That one's supposed to be more like the original IPA. I wouldn't mind a 6'r of the Harpoon IPA right now.
 
I have tried several of the really commercial IPA's (available in safeway) and the one that i enjoy the most is the Lagunitas IPA. That beer has the bitterness, but also has a ton of the sweet hop aroma. If you want to try something a little stronger the lagunitas maximus is also great.
 
iky0 said:
I have tried several of the really commercial IPA's (available in safeway) and the one that i enjoy the most is the Lagunitas IPA. That beer has the bitterness, but also has a ton of the sweet hop aroma. If you want to try something a little stronger the lagunitas maximus is also great.
Click to expand...

Mmmmm Lagunitas Maximus!!!!
 
Add my vote to:

Stone and Ruination IPAs
SN Torpedo
Racer 5
Harpoon IPA

Sad day when I see all of these others listed that I can't get!
 
Firestone Walkers Union Jack is one of the best IPA's I've ever had, but I can't get that in Minnesota, so I opt for Bells Two Hearted.
 
Have you tried the Kirkland IPA? Oh wait, I should have posted this in the "worst commercial beers" post.

All kidding aside, I really like the Dogfishhead 60 Minute and if I'm feeling "spendy" and can find it, I'm a big fan of the Bell's Hopslam (but that's an imperial IPA). I do like the Bell's Two Hearted, and am brewing a clone tomorrow :)
 

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