Have I turned into a HopHead?

About 1 month ago I thought IPAs were horrid. After some prodding by my brother, who is a huge Victory Hop Devil fan, I finished a 6er of Hop Devil. By the third one the shock was gone. I would never even consider drinking a beer over 30 IBU. Now I find myself buying Stone Ruination and savoring every drop. Delicious! Am I becoming a HopHead?

The word is "became"

It's a phase, it happens. I brewed nothing but pales and ips'a for a year straight, I got burned out on hops. Now im doing porters, maibocks, dopplebocks,and other such non hoppy beers.

Although I do still keep one hop monster around.

It's a phase most homebrewers and craft beer drinkers go through.

Welcome to the club brotha!

I love hops too but I try to keep my brewing all over the place. I have a hefe, a stour, a blueberry blonde and a Scottish 80 schilling bottled right now. Last night I made an RIS and this weekend I'll be making a porter and a hop bomb.

The hop bomb is going to have 8 oz of hops and two of those are warrior. The more even I keep things the more selection I have and the more I enjoy my hobby.

Welcome to the fold brotha! I went through my hop awakening about a year ago. I'm more on the aroma/flavor side though. Bitterness is all well and good, but its tough to find good examples that are balanced and don't have a lingering bitterness. For this reason I tend to like double IPAs more than a lot of breweries' regular IPAs because of the huge malt backbone.

Being a converted BMC drinker, I was in the same boat. I liked the occasional pale or amber ale, but even Widmier Droptop was about as bitter as I could stand. But over the last year or so since starting homebrewing, I have been forcing myself to try other types of beer. I am now a lover of IPA's. Ruination is still a little too much for me, but I made it through a 22oz bottle. (everything after that tasted like water for the rest of the night)

It's inevitable. All you have to do is give it a chance.

I did the same thing that WildWest did, got burned out for a bit and started trying some of the darker beers and others. But when I tried a good IPA again, it was love at second sight!

If you can, get your hands on a bottle (or better yet on tap) of Bell's Hopslam.

imlvngded said:

About 1 month ago I thought IPAs were horrid. After some prodding by my brother, who is a huge Victory Hop Devil fan, I finished a 6er of Hop Devil. By the third one the shock was gone. I would never even consider drinking a beer over 30 IBU. Now I find myself buying Stone Ruination and savoring every drop. Delicious! Am I becoming a HopHead?

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It happened to me too... I drank an IPA about 2 years ago and thought to myself, "Gah, why would anyone ever drink this stuff?" But about 3 weeks ago, after reading a few threads on HBT, I decided to try a large bottle of Stone IPA, and instantly fell in love with it. Now, I'm craving IPAs, and don't really want to drink much else! I can't wait to drink my first home-brewed IPA!!!

I don't know when it happened to me, but I really enjoy a mild IPA. I love a good bite of hops but, for me, there is a limit.

Maybe I need to try the 90 minute IPA again to confirm this. I think Saranac's Indian Pale Ale is excellent, along with the various Magic Hat IPAs. Brooklyn Brewery's IPA has a lot of kick and that's not too bad. They give you just enough bite to wake you up.

The one beer I can't drink is a Stout or Porter. I'll do Black and Tan, but I just can't stomach a Guiness or anything like it. Maybe I need to grow into it. I want to make a batch because I have friends who love it, I just don't think I'd like it too much.

90 minute is one of the most disgusting beers I've ever had. and I love IPAs and Double IPAs.

Beer is like food. Some nights you're in the mood for Mexican, some nights Chinese. Other nights ya just want a bowl of mac & cheese.

The time of year makes a big difference for me. A robust porter is a heck of a lot more enjoyable when the snow is blowing. Conversely, a Belgian Wit hits the spot after mowing the yard in 100 degree heat, but not after shoveling snow.

With 7 taps, it's easy to keep something appropriate on tap anytime. I always keep an IPA or an IIPA on tap.

the samething happened to me when i started brewing. i had tried an ipa a very long time ago and thought it was the nastiest thing in the world. started brewing and wanted to try something far from normal for me so i picked up an arrogant bastard and after the initial punch in face from it there has been no turning back.

Yep. Hops are an addiction.

First you start out with your first IPA (Longhammer IPA) at maybe IBU's. You make some funny faces and remark at how bitter it is. Then you try another and it's not so bad.

Soon you are on a mission to find the hoppiest beer ever. When you are drinking Port Brewing Hop 15 through a mouthful of raw hops just to get enough, when you are hopping your drinking water, then you have the disease.

McKBrew said:

Yep. Hops are an addiction.

First you start out with your first IPA (Longhammer IPA) at maybe IBU's. You make some funny faces and remark at how bitter it is. Then you try another and it's not so bad.

Soon you are on a mission to find the hoppiest beer ever. When you are drinking Port Brewing Hop 15 through a mouthful of raw hops just to get enough, when you are hopping your drinking water, then you have the disease.

Click to expand...

Hop tea is great, breh

I would have to say my favorite commercial beer is Sierra Nevada Pale Ale. I do like IPA's but within the last year or so, it seems as if breweries are starting to add way too much hops thinking that that is what people want. I was recently in a liquor store in Boulder, CO and a rep from Left hand brewing comapany was there. We had a conversation about IPA's and the amount of hops people are using these days. He said that there are studies that say after a certain point the human pallate can no longer detect the extra hops that are going into beers. Whether this is true, I am not sure. It certainly doesn't seem to be deterring people from dumping more and more hops into their brews. All I know is that lately I've been steering clear of IPA's and just drinking Pale Ale when I want a beer with hop flavor.

Before last weekend I would have said that while I enjoy drinking IPAs I don't like them. I have had several tastings of different IPAs, and in November I brewed my own - a mildy powerful dry hopped IPA.

Well, last weekend I was out at a restaurant and the most interesting thing on the menu was a Lagunitas, so I went ahead and ordered it. Given my feeling about IPAs I would normally get through half the glass and appreciate the flavor but not like it enough to finish it. Well, when the beer gets to the table I take a sip and immediately I thought I had been served the wrong beer. It tasted like a modestly flavored brown ale. I asked my wife, who is very sensitive to strongly hopped/bittered beers, to double check. She took a sip and almost spit it out - confirming that it was indeed the right beer. Apparently my regular IPA tastings have paid off, and now I can see why going hop crazy becomes an addiction. Once you get used to it, you have to keep taking it to the next level.

And this time I gladly finished the whole glass. I must say, I would have sworn up and down that I would never like IPA's, but now I think I am going to have to disagree with myself.

I absolutely love Lagunitas. I found some out in Marin County last April and swmbo and I downed a sixer sitting on the beach. Unfortunately I cannot find it here in NM or the parts of Colorado I regularly visit.

Embrace the hopiness. It is your friend.

Imlvnded Yepp you have became a hop head
I have a nice Stone IPA recipe I got from someone on this site I could send you. It was one of the Stone new things. It is dead on!!!! Thanks to who ever gave me the recipe!!!

I am a hop head as well, but I am kind of picky about my IPA selection. IPAs like St Georges (A local brewery here) and Victory seem to be a little too 'sweet hopped' (best description I can think of) as opposed to a DFH or Stone or Bells IPA which seem to have a more bitter hop flavor (balanced with the malties)

I like a certain strain of hops in my IPAs and thats usually what I keep on tap. On occasion Ill brew a stout, brown ale or some other amber ale. Those are good to keep in rotation too

I find that since I have 8 lbs of hops in the fridge that I am leaning towards more pales and iipa and ipa recipes. I like to really add around 4 to 5 oz hops per 5 gallon batch. It is starting to wear on me. I personally dig fruity hops and pungent ones.

This in turn makes me purchase commercial brews that use the same hops. And it helps me do a comparison to my own brews in terms of flavor and aroma additions. Im in the process of trying to establish hop blending and creating a delicious flavorful of hoppy goodness.

Drinkin a New Belgium Ranger IPA. Its good. Refreshing. and Delicious as I type this

Joe I find that DFH has a little sweet fruit for me. So I stick with Stone. I tried a Southampton IPA out of PA, don't waste your money on that one. It has a twang taste think it has something to do with their water. It is drinkable at room temp, but if it is cold that twang just gets worse!!!