Just don't get it

I fully realize that we all have different tastes and preferences when it comes to beer, but I really need to ask all of you a question.

What is so appealing about an IIPA??

Now, anyone who knows me knows that I love beer of all shapes, sizes, and flavors. I've never turned down a beer offered to me that I've never tried. That being said, I had the Rogue IIPA last night for the first time and it was all I could do not to spit it back out. The intensity of the hops nearly numbed my tongue! It's not enjoyable to me and seemed WAY over the top and had no balance to it. So I want to know why hop-heads seek these beers out. The bite of the hops was so much that I followed it up with an imperial stout and I couldn't taste it. SWMBO wouldn't even come close to me.

Its something about those hops that just get me every time. Every tongue buckling IIPA is like heaven. Really, the point of an American IIPA (especially west coast) is an unbalanced beer. If thats wrong, I don't want to be right.

I think uber hoppy beer and hot food are similar. Turns out I am a freak about both. Not everyone likes hot food, but those who do usually have an unhealthy obsession with it.

I have never been a huge hophead, but sometimes I get in the mood! It is kinda like when you were a kid and tried some of those ridiculously bitter candies- there were some kids who thought those were the best in the world, some who tried 'em every now and then, and some who would never touch it.

Edcculus said:

Its something about those hops that just get me every time. Every tongue buckling IIPA is like heaven. Really, the point of an American IIPA (especially west coast) is an unbalanced beer. If thats wrong, I don't want to be right.

I think uber hoppy beer and hot food are similar. Turns out I am a freak about both. Not everyone likes hot food, but those who do usually have an unhealthy obsession with it.

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Next time someone offers me an IIPA, I'll toss it your way. But you keep your grubby hands off of my spicy food! Speaking of spicy food, Gumbo and Hennepin make the perfect couple. Then again, I'm just addicted to Hennepin.

When I first started brewing, I was far from a hophead. Over time, though, I started enjoying hoppy beers more and more. I'm now a complete hophead. IPA is by far my favorite style, but I like an occasional IIPA, too.

An explosion of flavor, with a malt backbone to hold it up, is a great experience with beer.

But you keep your grubby hands off of my spicy food! Speaking of spicy food, Gumbo and Hennepin make the perfect couple. Then again, I'm just addicted to Hennepin.

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Get a hold of a Saison Dupont and you'll forget all about Hennepin.

quickerNu said:

I have never been a huge hophead, but sometimes I get in the mood! It is kinda like when you were a kid and tried some of those ridiculously bitter candies- there were some kids who thought those were the best in the world, some who tried 'em every now and then, and some who would never touch it.

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Well, not to really stir the pot, but that's what I'm talking about. It's more like a fad to see who can drink the hoppiest, most face-melting beer out there and say they actually like it. Why not bypass the beer altogether and just start eating hops with vodka chasers? I think an APA is a good, balanced, refreshing beer, but an IIPA is just so unbalanced there's nothing refreshing about it. To me.

Not all IIPAs are created equally. I'm with you for the most part, but I do indulge in one once in awhile. I have yet to brew a IIPA and probably won't for awhile. Like you I prefer other styles much more.

flyangler18 said:

Get a hold of a Saison Dupont and you'll forget all about Hennepin.

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But but but but......I just discovered Hennepin. Damn.

SmugMug said:

Well, not to really stir the pot, but that's what I'm talking about. It's more like a fad to see who can drink the hoppiest, most face-melting beer out there and say they actually like it. Why not bypass the beer altogether and just start eating hops with vodka chasers? I think an APA is a good, balanced, refreshing beer, but an IIPA is just so unbalanced there's nothing refreshing about it. To me.

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I think thats taking it a little too far. If you are talking about the folks on Beer Advocate, I'd agree. They are a bunch of EAC pricks who have no sense of what good beer is (thats my impression at least). Most people here on the other hand don't go posting all over the net that they tried HopSlam, Pliny, Ruination etc...and loved it. I do love those beers, but I don't think its an accomplishment that I liked them.

Edcculus said:

... Not everyone likes hot food, but those who do usually have an unhealthy obsession with it....

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... But, obsession, ok. Unhealthy, I think the benefits out weight the cons to eating hot peppers.

Back to what the op is saying, those beers to me are more like specialty beers to enjoy every once in a blue moon or two. :cross:
I'm with YooperBrew on that one:
An explosion of flavor, with a malt backbone to hold it up, is a great experience with beer.

I love anything that has huge flavors. Fatty steaks (rib-eye Mmmm...), Bacon, Curries, Chilis, anything that has a ton of spices and herbs etc. I think the hot food analogy is perfect for hops. Sometimes you just can't get enough. Yeah, i may never make it through that 5,000,000,000 scoval unit hot sauce, but I bought it anyways so I'm going to have fun and take something bland and make it almost uneditable.

I guess it's like anything, we all have different tastes. I don't really like sweet flavors (like candy) or bitter flavors (chocolate) so I really don't care much for stouts. I can't drink black coffee. I have never made a stout, and rarely drink one. I doubt I could even choke down a "chocolate stout". Other people love them, though.

adfirmus said:

I love anything that has huge flavors. Fatty steaks (rib-eye Mmmm...), Bacon, Curries, Chilis, anything that has a ton of spices and herbs etc. I think the hot food analogy is perfect for hops. Sometimes you just can't get enough. Yeah, i may never make it through that 5,000,000,000 scoval unit hot sauce, but I bought it anyways so I'm going to have fun and take something bland and make it almost uneditable.

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EEEEKK! Tried it once (much like that IIPA) and I was in pain. Couldn't taste anything for 3 days and I could feel it wreaking havoc through my intestines the whole way down. A little goes a LONG way! I suppose I learned a very valuable lesson last night by way of personal experience. I'm glad I tried something new, but I will only drink another one should a good friend offer it to me so as not to insult him. For those of you who enjoy IIPAs, more power to you. I'll just stick to something a little more balanced in the future.

It was definitely an assault on my senses.

YooperBrew said:

When I first started brewing, I was far from a hophead. Over time, though, I started enjoying hoppy beers more and more. I'm now a complete hophead. IPA is by far my favorite style, but I like an occasional IIPA, too.

An explosion of flavor, with a malt backbone to hold it up, is a great experience with beer.

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+1 a million times.

Before I started brewing, it was Michelob. Yuucchhh! But I started with the malty stuff, nut browns, etc. I would munch on the grains while I brewed. Over time, my tastes have shifted. An english ESB was nice... but now - now I have to keep SWMBO from eating the hops right out of the bag...It's Pacific NorthWest American hops in large quantities!!!

For me, IPA is great (as is most other beer.) I'm not a big fan of IIPA though, but not because of the hops. It's mostly because the heaviness & high alcohol don't make it refreshing anymore.

SmugMug said:

Well, not to really stir the pot, but that's what I'm talking about. It's more like a fad to see who can drink the hoppiest, most face-melting beer out there and say they actually like it. Why not bypass the beer altogether and just start eating hops with vodka chasers? I think an APA is a good, balanced, refreshing beer, but an IIPA is just so unbalanced there's nothing refreshing about it. To me.

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If this fad produces more great IPAs and IIPAs then I'm all for it.
I really enjoy over the top beers, especially hoppy IIPAs and roasty RIS. Not yet loving the sweet barleywines but that might change with experience.

I think that just like hot sauces people have different tolerances for hops bitterness and that tolerance is increased with exposure. I seem to have a moderate tolerance for hot sauce and a high tolerance for hops. I have not yet met an IIPA I didn't like. The more hops the better.

Come fall harvest for my hops I may have to plan a Pliny like hop bill for a IIPA brew.

Craig

When I first started venturing away from the high life 40's after my early day's in college, I really liked the darker stouts and brown ales, and hated the pale ales and IPA's. Now, I can't get enough of the bitter goodness.

I wouldn't say I like every IPA or Double IPA that I try, and even for me the double IPA can be a little much sometimes, but like mentioned before, I also love hotsauce and hot peppers, even though it's sometimes makes it hard to even enjoy the food for the sweatbeads rolling down your forehead.

Personally, I haven't really enjoyed the Rogue beers all that much. For IPA's I generally stick to beers from Bell's, Stone, Laguinitas, Green Flash, Seirra Nevada, or one of my own hoppy creations. I also prefer the high alcohol content that IPA's are known to offer. I love getting a great buzz from one beer.

IPA's are what got me into homebrewing. I love big flavors. I'm mostly a "c" hops guy though I had no idea what that was before stepping off into all this.

On the other hand, I don't care for fruit beers. Different strokes... it's all good.

bhughes said:

When I first started venturing away from the high life 40's after my early day's in college, I really liked the darker stouts and brown ales, and hated the pale ales and IPA's. Now, I can't get enough of the bitter goodness.

I wouldn't say I like every IPA or Double IPA that I try, and even for me the double IPA can be a little much sometimes, but like mentioned before, I also love hotsauce and hot peppers, even though it's sometimes makes it hard to even enjoy the food for the sweatbeads rolling down your forehead.

Personally, I haven't really enjoyed the Rogue beers all that much. For IPA's I generally stick to beers from Bell's, Stone, Laguinitas, Green Flash, Seirra Nevada, or one of my own hoppy creations. I also prefer the high alcohol content that IPA's are known to offer. I love getting a great buzz from one beer.

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Very rarely do I ever drink for effect but I can certainly see how that would be the case with an IIPA. The biggest realization I had about that IIPA (after the sensory assault) was that I couldn't get that hops taste out of my mouth. When I'm at my local beer bar, I like to try different things and I just couldn't do it last night. Everything tasted like that IIPA which ruined my taste buds. I was also limited to how many different beers/styles I could try because the ABV was so high. I should have just ordered a flight of the new stuff in hindsight. I'll just chalk this one up as a lesson learned and stick to an APA or mellower IPA when I'm in the mood for something hoppy in the future.

In general, my palate really enjoys malt-forward beers and those with lots of yeast character, but every so often, I get intense cravings for something with loads of juicy hops character - and I go on an IPA binge.

I prefer IPAs and IIPAs with big hop noses and flavors without stripping the enamel from my teeth, but there are times when something like Ruination just satiates the craving.

My taste tends to shift with the season, as does my brewing schedule.

I'm no hophead. I won't touch an IPA, let alone an IIPA. I am aware that most homebrewers don't share my views regarding hops, so when I am researching new recipes on the interwebz, I almost always will cut the hops down on the recipe that I pick.

I also won't touch a beer that has roasted barley or black patent in it. A little chocolate malt in my bock or brown ale is yummy, though.

SmugMug said:

The biggest realization I had about that IIPA (after the sensory assault) was that I couldn't get that hops taste out of my mouth. When I'm at my local beer bar, I like to try different things and I just couldn't do it last night. Everything tasted like that IIPA which ruined my taste buds.

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That's precisely why tasting beers in order of flavor power is so important. You can get some crazy looks for planning out the order of your beers in an evening, but it makes all the difference in the world. Even going from a relatively tame IPA to a whit lets say, is a really bad idea. Always set up an order.

leapdog said:

That's precisely why tasting beers in order of flavor power is so important. You can get some crazy looks for planning out the order of your beers in an evening, but it makes all the difference in the world. Even going from a relatively tame IPA to a whit lets say, is a really bad idea. Always set up an order.

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Mental note made. Good advice. I know the bartender pretty well and she's told me on more than one occassion that she HATES doing flights, so I rarely order them. But maybe if I tip even more (I already tip her 35-45%) she won't bi*** as much.

+ a googol for hoppy beers

20+ years ago the homebrew scene was a little different. Beers are much better and more varied today. Heck, there wasn't even such a thing as an IIPA. I love IPA's that have that fresh flowery aroma and good malty finish. On the other hand, I find some ales, Dead Guy for example, too sweet. To each his own. I equate the taste in beer to the taste in music. Some like classical, some like pop, some like reggae, some like rock.

Like the saying goes, no accounting for taste. I'm just happy that there is such a variety in American beers that just about anyone can find something they like.

Sounds like lutefisk.

Disclaimer: I'm a hops addict. At Hopapalooza, I was popping hop pellets like Pez and dryhopping pale ales in the glass all day.
I don't really like many IIPAs.
But the ones I do like, I rilly like. Green Flash, Hopslam, Hop Juice, Hopsickle all came to mind.
But my favorite beers are still Green Flash WC IPA, SN Torpedo and Hazed and Infused.

I don't think a beer like Pliny is overhopped or unbalanced. I like a lot of hops in my IIPAs, and I don't think it is ever too much at all. Something like Pliny the Younger gets to be too much for me because of the malt backbone more than the hops.

Does it dull my palate for an evening if I've been having a few pints? Yes. I'm aware of this, so I drink beer in the appropriate order. Other than that, I like big, hoppy beers when they are well made. There's a lot out there that I just don't bother with.

FWIW, I don't like that Rogue IIPA very much.

The main reason for an IIPA is as a treatment for thrush, gum disease, halotosis, plaque build up, and other oral infections, infestations, and disease.

Similar to the way nail polish remover works.......an IIPA simplay dissolves and strips away the bad decaying and rotting cells in the mouth.

*SHEEEEEN*

That's the sound of my smile. I was drinking SN Torpedoes last night.

Here's my half-baked theory...

It probably started in the Pacific Northwest, the same folks responsible for making the unwashed masses think that Starbucks is what coffee should be (they overroast every single bean to the point that it doesn't taste like coffee). This, in turn, started numbing their taste buds, requiring a much heavier hop hand when it came to their beers. I liken it to the way that smokers have to over-salt and pepper their food to give it taste, since smoking has killed their taste buds.

A secondary effect is that uniquely American idea that bigger is always better. I was aghast (but not surprised) when traveling once to the UK to hear an American complain that the pub put far too little tuna salad (vile stuff that should be relegated to cat food status only) on his sandwich. "In the US they put it on at least twice as thick." It got me to thinking...

Although many people dislike the French (and I've been known to make disparaging comments about them from time to time), they've got it right-- balance. Everything in the right proportions. I had a sandwich in Paris a number of years back that was simple, but the taste was just amazing. The meat layer was thin but tasty, just a thin amount of cheese, the greens were perfectly and freshly dressed, but best of all, they didn't neglect the substrate... the bread was fantastic (same reason I don't like Chicago-style pizza... no amount of excess in toppings can make up for a bland, tasteless, greasy crust). Each and every component was of high quality, perfectly proportioned, and done in a way to compliment each other.

Getting back to beer... I used to consider myself a lover of hops; I thought more was better. Then I grew up. I realized that there are times when a punch in the nose is a good thing, but for the most part, anything that is one-dimensional is no fun. The balance, the subtlety, the way the pint changes over the 15-20 minutes it takes to drink it. THAT is what is important.

Despite the fact that I disparaged a lot of things in this single post, I don't mean to offend anyone by this, and I'm perfectly happy to see other people brew and drink (and eat, and make love to) what they like. I do think that things have gotten way out of hand with this whole "Imperial" nonsense. If anyone would like to join me, I'd like to start an "anti-Imperialism" movement to get back to basic, balanced beers.

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I'm with ya!

I like IPAs. I also think they've turned into a kind of fetish in American brewing. But all that's important in any discussion is "There ain't no 'countin for taste."

I believe in balance when it comes to most anything. That said, variety is the spice of life and having the freedom to go with death by hops every now and then is a great thing. I won't be supporting any movement that aims to remove choices from the table, whether its a choice I would make or not.

YooperBrew said:

When I first started brewing, I was far from a hophead. Over time, though, I started enjoying hoppy beers more and more. I'm now a complete hophead. IPA is by far my favorite style, but I like an occasional IIPA, too.

An explosion of flavor, with a malt backbone to hold it up, is a great experience with beer.

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Ditto, never thought I'd be a hophead, but beers like Hopslam and Double Trouble now top my list. If you want a slightly less hoppy Imperial, try DFH 90.

The worst thing about many IIPAs is the cloying sweetness that they give them to "balance" the hops. I'll take a crisper, balanced IIPA like Pliny any day.

But usually I stay away from them simply because they are too one-dimensional (hops hops hops). I generally prefer a beer with interesting flavors other than just the hop attack.

It is a taste thing, it is something about the hops. When I drink those I do not taste overpowering bitter, but to me it is refreshing. I guess it is like how some people love overly spicy food, I like spice but some of the food that people eat out there has to much spice where you cannot taste anything else. That is just those peoples tastes. I hope that makes sense I have had a few wits.

This is a great, but pointless thread. We can, and some of us probably will, conjecture ad nauseum the pros and cons of overly hopped beers. Like anything that pushes past the comfortable for some people ( punk rock, cubism, habeneros, espressos, and really hoppy IPA's), people whose tastes have been offended will see those rebel rousers (great Duane Eddy song) as ones defacing their institutions. It is not a fad. It is not a phase. It is evolution.

Don't think of it as an insult, but a expansion of our fraternity that will appeal to more individuals.

Brew what you like. Drink what you like. Appreciate that we have the choice and ability to do so.

It's one of those things like was stated. Sour candy, super hot sauce, etc... Some people like it, some don't. There are different IPA's and IIPA's. Some are balanced, some are not. Some people get off on super sour beers, I'm not much for them but I'll always try something new.

I've also have very bitter, hoppy imperial stouts.

It's OK not to like a particular style, but questioning why someone else with different tastes would like it, or saying that someone says that they like something just to "be cool", is a bit out there.

I agree. Although I'm not a picky eater, there are somethings I just don't like. I don't like milk, not one bit, so I won't touch ice cream. I also don't like chocolate. Not because I'm trying to be cool, or uncool, I simply don't like the flavor of those items.

I dislike wheat beers. Other people love them. No biggie to me. It has nothing to do with my comfort zone. It's my palate. That's why there is more than one style of beer. IPAs just happen to be my favorite style.

jpc said:

(same reason I don't like Chicago-style pizza... no amount of excess in toppings can make up for a bland, tasteless, greasy crust). Each and every component was of high quality, perfectly proportioned, and done in a way to compliment each other.

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If you had it outside Chicago, it isn't a real Chicago Style Pizza. Sadly Uno Pizza outside Chicago commonly gets mistaken as real Chicago Pizza. I would rather go to Pizza Hut than to eat there. Gino's East, now thats great pizza.

However like Pizza, beer is a matter of preference. I enjoy a good Porter, Amber Ales, etc. IPA's and IIPA's is a matter of choice and the mood that your in. It's all in what you like and back long ago I drank Miller Lite all the time, now I never touch the stuff. I enjoy the craft and home brews too much due to the flavor.