Learning to love an IPA

Long boring story short, I'm learning to like IPA's a little more... I can't say they are my favorite or first choice but I certainly don't make a sour face anymore like I used to when I first tried it. Brewing has definitely increased my appreciation of hops and now I'm looking for ideas of styles to ease into the hop scene.
Any suggestions?

Thanks!
Prost

I too am acquiring a taste for IPAs, just knowing what's good and hearing from people here has been an eye opener. I've been turned onto lagunitas brewery an recently had their lagunitas sucks. An amazing ipa!

I just picked up a bomber of stone ipa today to try.

At some point it just clicks for a lot of people. Years ago I was definitely a malt fan. I liked stouts a lot, but not big on IPAs. I remember the beer that made me a beer drinker, Hale's Dublin Stout, I started drinking it at Rico's Smokehouse in Pullman, WA and suddenly liked beer. I hated it before. I also remember the beer that got me to like hops. It was Twist of Fate by Moonlight. Shortly thereafter, I discovered Racer 5 and I haven't looked back.

I would highly suggest getting as many different IPA/DIPA's that you can find, and review them. You can do it privately, or do it online. Take the time to identify the flavors, and pick out which ones you like and which ones you don't. Many IPAs taste completely different from each other because of different hop varieties. Find out what hops the brewer used. You can look online, but don't trust clone recipes to always be correct. Look for episodes of The Brewing Network on iTunes, like "The Sunday Session" or "Can You Brew It." They constantly either interview brewers or talk about cloning recipes. You will learn a lot about how the brewing process affects the character of hops. You can also check out "For The Love of Hops." I haven't had a chance to pick it up yet, but Stan Hieronymus is a really good author.

try some american pale ale's to ease into IPAs
think sierra nevada pale ale and move up from there

Shooter said:

At some point it just clicks for a lot of people. Years ago I was definitely a malt fan. I liked stouts a lot, but not big on IPAs. I remember the beer that made me a beer drinker, Hale's Dublin Stout, I started drinking it at Rico's Smokehouse in Pullman, WA and suddenly liked beer. I hated it before. I also remember the beer that got me to like hops. It was Twist of Fate by Moonlight. Shortly thereafter, I discovered Racer 5 and I haven't looked back.

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You're a good man!

Upthewazzu said:

You're a good man!

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How is Pullman these days? Been meaning to come back at some point, maybe catch a game and hit up Rico's again and the Cougar Country Drive In! I remember an associate prof, who liked to hang out on Friday nights with us grad students, always wanted to go somewhere other than Rico's. He didn't like the warm beer. I kept explaining that it wasn't warm, it just wasn't ice cold.

I like A hoppy beer including IPAs. I have had a few that seem to leave an off taste on the very back of my tongue that I find unpleasant. It is only a couple and now that I brew and have a better understanding of hops I may try to find the hop that causes that.

I have also been enjoying more and more IPAs. I recommend trying everything. You won't figure out different flavors if you only stick to a couple different IPAs. I am enjoying Mountain Standard currently. It's Odell's black ipa. Quite tasty.

Make your own IPAs with lower bitterness, but all the late flavor additions. I like something around .9-1 GU:BU ratio.

Shooter said:

At some point it just clicks for a lot of people. Years ago I was definitely a malt fan. I liked stouts a lot, but not big on IPAs.

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This was my exact same progression. I initially liked very malty, low IBU beers. I didn't like how aggressively bitter some IPA's were.

Now I can't stand malt and can't get enough hops. My first pint of Pliny the Elder marked the official shift in my palate.

The thing with IPAs is many IPAs are brewed different ways.

Some are incredibly bitter, because there are a ton of hops added to the boil and then more hops dryhopped.

Some are less bitter and more floral, a solid example (though still bitter) is a beer like Heavy Seas Loose Cannon. They put a ton of hops in the beer, btu most of it comes from Hopbacking the beer (running it through hops after the boil is how they do it I believe) and then dry hopping. So it creates a more floral less bitter IPA.

What would be the IPAs you're starting to like now, are they commercial or home brewed?

Try Oaking your IPA's. Used to hate them for the same reason.... that taste at the end. Bitter beer face? I'm paying this much for Natty Ice?

had a neighboor try his ipa and it was wonderful.... "what'd you do?" Oaked it...

Been oaking mine ever since and the back end of the mouth bitterness is gone. give it a try. I mean that's how the ipa's were shipped back in they day in oak barrels...

Lots of fun exploring the world of IPA's from the single hop varieties to the more complex 3,4 or more hop varieties... We began making a 8% ABV IPA of 75 IBU and now do a take off of Double Jack at 10% ABV and north of 100 IBU with 18 oz 6 different hops in a 7 gal brew... Have fun finding what you like the best....

Shooter said:

How is Pullman these days? Been meaning to come back at some point, maybe catch a game and hit up Rico's again and the Cougar Country Drive In! I remember an associate prof, who liked to hang out on Friday nights with us grad students, always wanted to go somewhere other than Rico's. He didn't like the warm beer. I kept explaining that it wasn't warm, it just wasn't ice cold.

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Still hilly and cold this time of year, haha. But the beer warms the heart. A pretty awesome new brewery opened up in the old post office, Paradise Creek Brewery. They make some great brews. Oh, and we just passed the 30,000 population mark!

I'm going to have to jump on to this bandwagon as well. However, I still love my malty heavy beers (i.e. Imperial Stouts, Doppelbocks, English Barleywine) I have found myself trying a few more IPA's and hoppier beers and have found that I'm beginning to enjoy all tastes. Actually, the Bigfoot Barleywine from Sierra Nevada is what started the trend. The first one I hated, then looked up the difference between American and English Barleywines. As they sat in the fridge, I consumed them and by the last one of the sixer I had to buy more.

Just keep trying them and teach yourself WHY you enjoy or dislike certain IPAs.

You'll learn by tasting many different offerings, discovering their freshness, comparing OG/FG, and by researching the ingredients & their approx. amounts/percentages in the recipe.

It's like anything else in the world. Experience will teach you. How will you know you hate all oysters if you don't try the many different offerings from around the world, especially of varying levels of freshness & peak seasonability.

I've been sampling Sam Adams Hop Tour, it's impressive how different the beers are, good each in it's own way