Does anyone really like IPA's?

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Sir Humpsalot

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Seriously, I have never had an IPA that I liked. I brewed Yooper's DFH60 clone and the sampling has indicated that it's a really good beer, and it's really good for an IPA, but truth be told, it's hopped like crazy and it just takes away from the beer-ness of it all.

I drink IPA's when I'm around homebrewers just to be polite. I guess I can understand what folks see in them, but deep down, I just don't think they're that great and if I never had another one, or if the style had never been invented, I wouldn't really be saddened.

Anybody else feel the same?
 
I feel the same. I think when the hoppiness is that high it just takes away from the whole concept of the beer itself. Couldn't you just steep some hops and have a hop tea instead!?

Nonetheless, different strokes for different folks. I suppose it could be acquired or maybe some people just have more/less sensitive bitter zones. I'm a malt boy myself.
 
Personally, I LOVE IPA's.
I've never been a brewer that adhere's that closely to style guidelines and I tend to like beers that may be over hopped for certain styles.

Don't get me wrong, I like balance. But I also tend to like beers that lean towards the hoppy side.

Hey, I do live in the Pacific NW. :D
 
I have 44 IBU's in a german Alt-Bier and it's right at my limit for "ordinary" hoppiness. I mean, I can have a bit more hoppiness, but everybody who tastes the beer says, "it's very hoppy" and I concur. I could add more hops, but if I do the beer will be very hop-centric.

40 IBU's or so is my limit for normal beers. I find 40 IBU's to be quite hoppy and don't want to generally go above that limit for normal drinking.

Now, as I said, I did make the DFH60 clone and it came out a little low on the efficiency so it's even hoppier than planned. I like it well enough. I know it's a good beer. I can give it to people and say, "that's a hoppy beer". But I'm not crazy about it except as an experiment in hops.

I'm actually looking forward to making some beers in the 8-12 IBU range this year. I'm especially psyched about a couple of 2.5-3.5% ABV beers I have planned for every day drinking.
 
When making (good) IPAs, the focus is on balance not only of the hops and the malt, but also of the hops themselves. The addition times are extreamly important, as well as where in the process they are used (mash hop, hop-back, continuous hop, dry hop, etc.) I think that while IPA obviously is all about the hops, I think that it can be approached the same way as malt centric beers can be approached. We fret and bite our nails about just the right percentages of different malt types to use, to achieve that right amount of balance. Hop type and percentages are just as important, and can be just as difficult.

I think malty beers and hoppy beers both share the same difficulty in production, and making an IPA by "just throwing in a bunch of hops" is pretty much going to yield the same result as making a english mild by "just throwing in a bunch of malt." Care must be taken with all beer recipes, and either with hops or without, its all beer :)

mike
 
I like an IPA like here and there, but they are far from my favorite. Additionally, I don't usually like the WAY overdone ones. All in all, they are one of those things that I can appreciate and enjoy, but I will usually just have one.
 
Nobody does....

..it's just an inside joke we have been playing on you to see if you would drink really bitter hoppy beers.
 
Wow, what is up with you guys? One doesn't like scottish ales, and another doesn't like IPAs? ;)

IPA is one of my favorite styles. I am absolutely fascinated by hops.

The story alone on how IPA came about makes me appreciate it even more.
 
Really? Do you honestly think that they would be so popular if nobody really liked them? I love me some IPA...IIPA and DIPA even more. Break me off some hops, dammit! Don't get me wrong, I love malty bocks and scottish ales too...but I can be a bit of a hophead sometimes, and nothing works but an IPA.
 
Well, I like pretty much ALL beers. But my favorite style definitely is IPA. American IPA especially, but I love the English IPAs, too. I'm not a big stout fan, but I like them enough to have one when I'm out with friends, or if someone made a good one. I guess we all have different tastes, don't we?
 
APA is one of my favorite brews... especially if its made w/ cascade, simcoe, or both. If you aren't a hop head then thats fine... you probably enjoy malty english ales that I can't enjoy like an APA.
 
My tastes have really changed in the last couple of years. I used to dislike hoppy beers, but now I really enjoy a good IPA. Right now, APAs are among my favorites, with a little less hoppiness. Homebrewing has opened up a whole new world to me- it makes me wonder how the masses can stand to drink that watery BMC!
 
Yes-I really do like them. I've had mixed success brewing them though. I like balance though, and you need enough malt to balance the hoppiness and/or bitterness. I think the DFH120 is WAY too sweet-but that's me. I also like the malty stuff-but the variety is what's amazing about beer IMO.

As an aside, it seems that if you enjoy that other green canaboid-you'll tend to like IPAs. You'd also be hard pressed to prove to me that their popularity hasn't contributed to this shortage. For some of my buddies-this is pretty much all they drink. So the demand is definitely there-and if all of a sudden, beers that need 4 or 5 times the 'normal' amount of hops become twice as popular as they once were-the hops have to come from somewhere.
 
Everyone's taste is different. Your tongue only detects 4 tastes, sweet, salty, sour and bitter. A large part of the percieved sense of taste sensation is actually smell.

Taste is the weakest of all the 5 senses and as you age your sense of taste declines.

Also other factors influence your sense of taste. Smoking dulls your sense of taste and smell, I've noticed that a great many smokers also like IPA's.

Other things like medication or even a vitamin deficiency can cause a lost, or lessing of the sense of taste.

And just like some people are tone deaf, but can hear, some are color blind but can see, some folks just don't have much of a sense of taste for 1 or more of the 4 tastes we are capable of. Like people that can read a book w/o glasses but can't see dittilly squat 20 ft. away.

Taste varies just like vision, and while some folks are 20/10 some are 20/20, some are 20/200 and some are legally blind but still see something.

The ladies also have more taste buds and a greater sense of taste than the guys as a general rule.
 
The only IPAs I have found that I really disliked were those that become almost barleywine-like with their malt profile. I mean, I love IPAs with malty backbones, but not ones with a lot of sweetness or body. DFH's 90 is a pretty good beer, but I would almost consider it a hoppy-barleywine; other breweries seem to take a similar approach to their IIPAs, don't dry them out as well, and their execution is just not as good. I have had a couple of dumpers just because they were too cloying; just having a ton of IBUs and a ton of hop flavor doesn't mean you can go insane with the sweetness.
 
abracadabra said:
Also other factors influence your sense of taste. Smoking dulls your sense of taste and smell, I've noticed that a great many smokers also like IPA's.

Other things like medication or even a vitamin deficiency can cause a lost, or lessing of the sense of taste.

And just like some people are tone deaf, but can hear, some are color blind but can see, some folks just don't have much of a sense of taste for 1 or more of the 4 tastes we are capable of. Like people that can read a book w/o glasses but can't see dittilly squat 20 ft. away.

Taste varies just like vision, and while some folks are 20/10 some are 20/20, some are 20/200 and some are legally blind but still see something.

There's absolutely nothing wrong with my sense of taste... IPA's are HOPPY! and that the way I like it. Lol... the state of one's taste has little to do with it I think. I mean even if I could taste half of what other people can, I will still notice that a hoppy beer is twice as hoppy as a normal beer.
 
When I first started drinking good beer, IPA's were a bit too much, eventually I got to the point where most commercial IPA's drink like a regular pale ale. I can understand why IPA's might be over the top for some people.

So far, I really haven't ran into a style I don't like. I have limited experience with sour beers, but sampled a few during Brewtopia's x-mas party, and I can definately see myself drinking more.

It doesn't bother me that not everyone likes every type of beer, sometimes I feel that I might have issues because I like all beer styles so far.
 
I had my first good IPA on Saturday at a local brewpub. It's hard to get commercial beer that's handled right around here. Pretty much everything I buy from a liquor store is skunked by the time I drink it.

Having had a good one now, though, I do like them. I might have to try my hand at brewing one now.
 
IPA's are my favorite.

Some like Belgians as their favorite.

I hate Belgians.

See how this works?;)
 
I enjoy every style of beer that's well made. No matter the style you can find good and bad commercial examples. Even with a beer that focuses heavily on hops, there still needs to be balance in my book. I'm a huge fan of hop flavor, but not a huge fan of hop bitterness. That bitterness needs to have some malt balance. I'll use this as an opportunity to profess my love for Two-Hearted Ale as I've done time and again. It's not only my favorite IPA, but one of my favorite beers in general. Loves me some Centennials.
 
I think it depends on the IPA as well. Some IPA's lean towards bitternesss. and others more flavor and aroma. I true good IPA has a balance of both. In your example of Yoopers DFH IPA. I think this has much more flavor and aroma than bitterness. So if this is your example it sounds like you don't like a big hop flavor or aroma? I personally freaking love IPA's or any beer that has a very complex hop flavor and aroma. I do love bocks and stouts. But If I ahd a choice. it's APA or IPA for me. The great thing about IPA's is how complex they can be simply from the hops? I also like how it gives beer such a diversity in flavors becasue they can be fuity..piny..woodsy..ect. Lots of flavors.

Also: I like the recent news about Hops for your heart..RED WINE has nothing on IPA's!!!!!

J
 
Hoppy beer has been a journey for me which by no means is over yet.

When I was young I preferred the sweet bland taste of mainstream Canadian beers and when someone handed me a hoppy beer I would return it to them saying it was skunky and not fit to drink.

As time went by I finally realized what that skunky taste was and pursued it fervently.

Now hoppy beers are like a drug...I am always looking for my next fix.

I think a beers hoppiness is purely a matter of taste...some people pursue it and some people don't. Who knows, maybe one day I will get tired of pursuing hoppy beers and pursue malty ones?

Ahhh....the journey of beer is wonderful isn't it?

Just my 2 cents.

Hedghog
 
I like IPA's, but I tend to drink less hoppy styles more often. My wife...now there is a hop head. She'd be happy drinking DFH90 every day.

I think IPA is the BMC of the craftbrew crowd. If it smells like grapefruit and the bitterness could choke a cow, it must be good, right?
 
IPA's are my favorite style, but I agree that some of the DIPA's are a little much. I like a good balance.
 
I don't like hops as a taste but I do appreciate IPAs as beers. It's kind of odd. It's like a very ugly painting with Master-level execution. I appreciate it because it's gone well (great aroma, strong flavor, nice hop compliments, easy to drink, et cetera) but I'd not sit down and down them back to back.

I like IPA's a LOT more with food, it should be noted.

I dislike, however, beers designed from the ground up to be hoppy. Troeg's Nugget Nectar, for instance, was purely disgusting to me.
 
I absolutely love IPA's but it took me some time to warm up to them. I don't think anybody likes them at first, considering that we were all brought up on BMC.
I like my IPA to be dry and not too sweet. DFH 90 is an example of a beer that seems too sweet to me. I prefer a dry-hopped citrusy flavor like MBC's High Seas or Mad Hatter or the Centennial. Which seems to be crisper and not at all cloying.
I can't get enough IPA in the summer-time, but come cold Michigan winters and I am all about the stouts and porters.
 
EdWort said:
I enjoy IPA's, but not for quaffing. That's reserved for my Haus Pale & Kolsch.

That's probably how I'd put it. Tbh, for me, anything heading over 1.06 OG is starting into the 'non-quaffing' territory. I don't care what style, they just seem to be too intense in the flavor department and too much too soon in the alcohol department to be something that is great for just kicking back and having several in a row. About the highest ABV style I can quaff is something along the lines of a Franziskaner.

I am not certain I have had a 'style' I didn't like. Interpretations of styles...that's another story :D
 
Sir Humpsalot said:
Seriously, I have never had an IPA that I liked. I brewed Yooper's DFH60 clone and the sampling has indicated that it's a really good beer, and it's really good for an IPA, but truth be told, it's hopped like crazy and it just takes away from the beer-ness of it all.

I drink IPA's when I'm around homebrewers just to be polite. I guess I can understand what folks see in them, but deep down, I just don't think they're that great and if I never had another one, or if the style had never been invented, I wouldn't really be saddened.

Anybody else feel the same?

Some people just dont like the Bitterness, Maybe you haven't found the right one or maybe you will never like them. I know my wife can't drink IPA's but She does love Two Hearted which I think is the perfect Beer. Do you not like Two Hearted Either?
 
Like many have already said, I can enjoy most any style but an overhopped IPA is one of my favorites.
 
wanabeer said:
I don't think anybody likes them at first, considering that we were all brought up on BMC..

You'd be wrong. And in my particular case, the second part of your statement is also incorrect.
 
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