how often do you try a beer out of your normal style range??

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Soulshine2

Soulshine2

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I've always thought of myself as anti IPA . I just dont like that in-your-face-punch of hops .I guess Im more a malt forward taste guy...
BUT, lately I have tried expanding my tastes and try a single bottle of something outside of my box when available . Publix has a shelf of single bottles so the other day I felt the need to try something new, a few IPAs .
Lo and behold I guess I need to adjust my anti-IPAness more often.
I tried a Sierra Nevada Brut IPA
Sierra Nevada Pale Ale
and sweetwater 420 IPA
I picked the ones that are on the low end of the hop spectrum but I was surprised . I can drink them.
what are some other IPAs that you can suggest that are like in the 45 IBU and under range.?
Thanks
 
Uinta Pack it out made me think that if Coors made an IPA it would taste like this it was so mild I was really disappointed I want in your face hops
 
My "normal style range" is pretty broad. I drink IPAs, brown ales, sours, stouts, barleywines, pilsners, belgians...pretty much anything with a lot of flavor. I guess I don't drink a lot of really light flavored beers like blonde ales or cream ales. I can drink those, I just find them....unsatisfying I guess. If that's what's available, I'll drink it however. I even drink something like a Corona from time to time (had one on Saturday in fact).
 
If you like those, I'd venture to say you would probably like most IPAs?
If you don't like the bitter-forward, just stay away from the bigger west coast style ones, although I would say they just have a lot of everything.
NEIPAs, from what I gather it is fashionable to dislike them because they are new and don't fit a traditional style, but they are very heavy on fruity/citrus qualities from lots of late additions and dry hopping, but very light on the bitter with not much early hops. They seem to be blowing up from a commercial standpoint as even just a year ago they were all but unavailable on the shelf around here; now I see them much more often.
 
I tend to be a malt-forward type of beer drinker as well, but I will try different things. My favorite way to try them is at a taproom where I'll ask for a taster or a "splash" of something to see if I'd like to have a pint.

I also have found this: I can acquire a taste for something if i drink it repeatedly over a period of days or even weeks. I used to not like Saisons very much, and I've proceeded from "don't like" to "ambivalent." All I need to do is keep tasting and drinking them.....

....problem is, there is always a more enticing beer awaiting me, so it's hard to drop down to the ones I don't like quite as much.

I expect at some point I'll develop a taste for sours.
 
I dislike hoppy beers as well, and have given several IPA's and their ilk a chance over the years and just can't get into them.. The one exception was a Brut IPA I had once I almost couldn't taste the hops.. so maybe there's hope there, unfortunately I cannot remember what brewery it was from.

Edit: That being said I try and brew IPA's all the time since the GF and her dad like them.
 
I'm also not an IPA guy. However, they are all over the place and I'll try one when at a restaurant or grab one at the grocery store on occasion.

Two that I will order: Black Raven Trickster and Elysian Spacedust. Both are high ABV and IBU. I'll take a good Lager or Pils over an IPA any day but a whole lot of local places only have IPA or BMC on tap.
 
I used to stick with wheat styles. Belgian Wheat, Hefeweizen, American wheat, etc. Now, I'll try just about anything. I do try a lot of flights as you can get so many styles from one or two breweries and not be stuck with a pint of something you just can't stand. Also I love trying the local breweries out (not you Miller...).
 
My range is the whole spectrum. I have hops that I don’t like rather than styles I don’t like, but even then it’s not a complete dislike.

Living on this island for the past 3 years, it’s been a struggle get as much variety as I like. The market has an IPA section and a not-IPA section.

(The IPA section is the larger of the two.)

I’ve had to make beer-hunting trips to the mainland for the German lagers that make me sentimental for my misspent youth. After my move next week, it shouldn’t be a problem any longer.
 
Beernik said:
My range is the whole spectrum. I have hops that I don’t like rather than styles I don’t like, but even then it’s not a complete dislike.

Living on this island for the past 3 years, it’s been a struggle get as much variety as I like. The market has an IPA section and a not-IPA section.

(The IPA section is the larger of the two.)

I’ve had to make beer-hunting trips to the mainland for the German lagers that make me sentimental for my misspent youth. After my move next week, it shouldn’t be a problem any longer.
Click to expand...

Where on the mainland? Staying in Washington? I've been to Lopez once, rode a bike around it and went home. At the time (1993) there was one small market by a boat dock.
 
I was the same way with ciders. I was asked to brew beer for a wedding but I found out that there would be three types of homebrew already so I decided to make a cider so guests would have a variety.

While it was fermenting, I bought a half dozen or so commercial ciders to learn more about them and the profile I was going for. I ended up really appreciating cider and have made dozens and dozens of batches since.
 
Not often, I'm pretty particular about the beer I like. My favorites are IPA's and Hefeweizens and I usually stick with those. If I'm brewing for a crowd I make Pale Ales or Golden Ales, but not my personal favorites.

For some reason I'm craving an Obsidian Stout float, but not sure if I want to actually brew it. Though it's hard to find at the stores sometimes. I sometimes like stouts but get tired of them real fast.

I don't know though, maybe I would broaden my horizons if I could upscale my operation some. My current living situation has me only able to brew indoors, so I'm maxed out at 2.5g batches. So a lot of times I'm running out of my favorite 'house brews' and have to brew often to replenish the stock ;)
 
My style range is "all the styles" with three exceptions:

-pumpkin beers. Had exactly ONE i have liked, at the BOS table of a comp I went out of town to judge. Don't know who brewed it, but it was a pumpkin coffee milk stout and the balance was perfect. I did a rendition of the same afterwards that was palatable but not as good (to me, others loved it, I couldn't strike the same balance). Every other one I've had ranges from palatable (often barely) to drain pour. I can brew a decent one according to others, but I don't like em.

-milkshake IPAs. I'm on board with NEIPA. But once you throw lactose in there, I'm out. I've had some "good" ones too and don't like a single one I've had. Most haven't been drain pours, but it's definitely not my thing.

-blueberry beers. I've had one I respected but didn't like (again judged at a comp, a blueberry "lambic"). Every other one I've had has been an immediate drain pour.

That in mind, I am willing to try things. And in comps, I often do. Had many a pumpkin beer cross my path (and if in a fall comp I get stuck on SHV, many of em), and have stuck up for good ones, even if not my taste, when applicable.
 
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Basically everything Qhrumphf said AND

I don't like phenolic yeast character very much, so pretty much any Belgian, saison, hefeweissen, and dunkelweisse are outside my "normal"

That said I try every one of them regularly to see which ones I do like. I just got to try a fresh-ish Saison Dupont on Monday and I loved it. I hated Boulevard tank 7 on the otherhand, but I will always try it.

If I'm asked to judge any of those categories I can put that aside and respect well made examples.
 
BruceH said:
Where on the mainland? Staying in Washington? I've been to Lopez once, rode a bike around it and went home. At the time (1993) there was one small market by a boat dock.
Click to expand...

There are two, well technically three markets now if you count the south end store which is a mom & pop 7-11 equivalent.

We’re moving to Camano, still an island but I won’t be subject to a ferry schedule. It’s still a hell of a commute into Seattle, but it’s half as bad as what I’ve been doing the last year. I’ll also get home before 7pm on a regular basis, which I haven’t done since 2015.
 
kh54s10 said:
What "normal style range"???? I try almost anything that is in my price range of $8 -$11 for a 6 pack.....
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I probably could have worded that differently . Like whats your regular beer style range vs what wont you drink (again) even if it was free and cold. lol.
Price doesnt sway us much , if its good we'll buy it at least once. we could very well keep it mind to buy again. When theres a "pick your own 6 " available, I do try beers singly that I normally wouldnt if it was offered in a 6 pack of its own. I stand there with my phone in hand and look up the beer reviews of each one. Ive actually struck up conversations while doing so with people asking if this or that is any good.
Reason I posted it was for years Ive tried IPAs and thought omg who would drink this , its way too hoppy . So, in doing so lately I have discovered that I have more like an IBU threshold . which is really pushing the edge of 50 before its out of my taste comfort zone.. I know, some of you push the envelope and look for 80's . I'll continue to drink the low end IBU IPAs and try new ones from time to time. I dont think theres an actual hop I dislike. With any ingredient there is an amount and place for it.
I will add this - when my wife and I and we went to the Straight To Ale and tried their Roggenbier...wow, neither of us had had it before and its a brew I definitely need to try making.
 
There isn't a style I won't try. I'm all over the map as they say. What I won't try again is a brewery that I feel is making beer not worth buying. I've even tried offerings by BMC, still can't find something that they make that I would drink again.

If there is one style that I typically don't gravitate towards is Black IPA. Not sure why because I love malty beers and IPA. I still try them when I see them though. Maybe its a shepherds pie type thing. I like all the ingredients individually but not so much all together.
 
Black IPAs have the same struggle as Sour Stouts. You're combining strong clashing characters, making striking the right balance exceedingly difficult.

Black IPAs I just use Sinamar. All the color, nearly no additional character. Then it just tastes and smells like IPA.

But then what's the point?
 
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Qhrumphf said:
Black IPAs have the same struggle as Sour Stouts. You're combining strong clashing characters, making striking the right balance exceedingly difficult.

Black IPAs I just use Sinamar. All the color, nearly no additional character. Then it just tastes and smells like IPA.

But then what's the point?
Click to expand...

Kinda like the brats my friend bought over the other day... Gummy Bear brats.... I love brats, and I can eat a giant bag of gummy bears in a sitting... but these things were GROSS.
 
Soulshine2 said:
I picked the ones that are on the low end of the hop spectrum but I was surprised . I can drink them.
what are some other IPAs that you can suggest that are like in the 45 IBU and under range.?
Thanks
Click to expand...

i'm late and didn't read everything...but i'm confused? by the title i'd say i brew something different every time...it's an all day process, and, would you want to have sex the same way every time?

as far IPA's? don't know...i buy year or two old hops, because their expensive, and i use them just so i don't accidentally make sours.....i do dry hop occasionally though....
 
bracconiere said:
i'm late and didn't read everything...but i'm confused? by the title i'd say i brew something different every time...it's an all day process, and, would you want to have sex the same way every time?

as far IPA's? don't know...i buy year or two old hops, because their expensive, and i use them just so i don't accidentally make sours.....i do dry hop occasionally though....
Click to expand...
not even close...go back and read
 
There is a beer & wine store a couple of towns over that has a very large and ever changing selection of beer and every trip I make there I try to buy at least one beer that I've never tried before. Not every one may be a new style outside my comfort zone but many are. So to answer the OP question, quite often.
 
My normal range is a German Lager or Pils. Today I picked up several that are outside of it.

First is a Trappistes Rochefort 10 Belgian Ale, second a Weihenstephaner Vitus weizenbock.
 

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