Remember your first ever IPA?

I do. I had just started drinking "craft" beer. (Blue moon, Paulener, etc). My buddy tells me to find Broken Halo by Widmer. That its delicious. The first drink and I thought my jaw was going to fall off. I choked through that bottle. 3 days later and I finished that six pack it was the gateway drug to a lupulin addiction of Biblical proportions.

So what was your first?

Funny, I can't remember my first! Probably not a good sign!

I can't remember what I ate for dinner last night, much less a beer I had over 30 years ago.

Dogfishhead 120 minute. No wonder for years I thought I didn't like IPAs.

Victory HopDevil. It was OK.. I thought it was a bit too bitter. Now I drink it and think nothing of it. Weird how you grow in your tastes of beer. I now get cravings for something hoppy.

Samuel Smith's India Ale; good enough when available. It took DfH 60-Minute to sell me to to the syle twenty years later.

My first was a local beer about 12 years ago and I vividly remember hating it. Bitter beer face inducing. Now I can't get enough of the stuff...

Yeah, it was terrible..I think It was a Stone Ruination...It was a few years ago. I probably wouldn't mind it as much now.

I have no idea what my first IPA was but I remember my first taste of a "hoppy" beer back in my college days when Miller Lite was our poison of choice and thinking that Sierra Nevada Pale Ale was very bitter. Now my favorite homebrews are 80-100 ibu big IPA's!

DFH 60 Minute. Now that I like IPAs so much I don't remember if I liked it or now. My first home brew IPA was awseome, though.

DromJohn said:

Samuel Smith's India Ale; good enough when available. It took DfH 60-Minute to sell me to to the syle twenty years later.

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Me too, I think the fact that is English and not a full-on hop-monster is why I loved it, if it had been a NB Ranger I may have hated it (ranger is one of my favorites now though)

A local craft breweries IPA made with American hop varieties about a month ago. Instant hop head.

Don't know which was first, Stone IPA or Lagunitas. But I remember being all "**** this is bitter, **** this ****". I'm now a full blown hop fan and love both those beers.

Mine was lagunitas in high school. I felt like like a real man after finishing the whole thing. Now IPAs are my favorite style.

Ithaca Flower Power in college. I don't think I even realized it was an IPA until later when I started drinking more IPAs and thought, ooohhhh that's why I liked Flower Power so much...

Crimey...more than 15 years ago while on vacation to Bar Harbor Maine. Harpoon. Their IPA has long been surpassed. But at the time....it was revolutionary. Nothing like it was on tap where I live. Nothing.

I don't remember my first ipa, but I do remember my first SNPA and thinking why would anyone want to drink a bitter beer? Now I'm always on the hunt for the biggest, baddest IPA's and iipa's out there

No idea, but it was probably a Ranger.

Mine was a stone ipa. My friend bought be it for my birthday because I said I liked pale ales he was like than you might like this it's hard for me to not order an ipa when I'm out now, making my first now it's in secondary

ForrestWoods said:

I don't remember my first ipa, but I do remember my first SNPA and thinking why would anyone want to drink a bitter beer? Now I'm always on the hunt for the biggest, baddest IPA's and iipa's out there

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I remember thinking a Sam Adams was too hoppy when I was just learning beers. It was funny then when my friend dared me to drink a SNPA without changing facial expression.

I chose not to drink till I was 21...however the world of beer seemed very interested to me and I couldn't wait to explore. After having a Coors lite, I was extremely disappointed, and all I could think was that there had to be more to beer, than this representation that I was holding in my hand. My cousin introduced me to Dogfish Head and had me try my first ever craft beer - 90 Minute IPA. Immediately I was hooked and this was the flavor I was looking for. Sure, it was really bitter and I couldn't pick out the flavors...however of the course of the next few months, and refining my palate - (IPA's are my favorite), I returned to 90 minute and was blown away by the flavor profile that I could now enjoy. It's been a great journey ever since.

Great thread. My first-ever IPA was a DFH 90-minute.