How the East Was Won

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specharka

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You can keep your Ballast Point. Enjoy your Russian River. Covet your Green Flash, Rogue, Lagunitas and others. Frankly, I don't care if the West Coast IPA ever makes it over the Mississippi. I've had my fair few, and it may seem brash, but you know what?

The East Coast IPA beats it by a country mile.

Gone are the days of lupulin thresholds, attempts at one-upmanship over IBUs, and battles over who can make the prettiest pour. The East Coast IPA has a firm grip over that one elusive characteristic: the most balanced IPA of them all. Semi-dry, hazy, creamy smooth mouthfeel with an assertive hoppy punch that won't wreck your palate or leave you searching for the nearest salt lick.

I am fortunate to have sampled the nectars of Hill Farmstead, Tree House, Trilium, Lawsons, Alchemist and more, and I will jealously guard the halls of my forebears against the encroachment of swill from lands beyond. Be gone with your overly dry and bitter ways! I have tasted with my own lips nectars of the afterlife, and I do hereby claim...

How the east coast IPA has won.
 
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That's a laugher, I have tried beer from north, south, east,west the best thing is I have had great beer from all areas of North America. I find no difference in style from coast to coast.
 
In the immortal words....

image.jpg
 
Elkobrewer said:
That's a laugher, I have tried beer from north, south, east,west the best thing is I have had great beer from all areas of North America. I find no difference in style from coast to coast.
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Why didn't I think of that?!?

In all seriousness it's meant to be an East Coast v West Coast IPA debate. Just a bit of fun, lads. ;)
 
West coast IPAs need to be more aggressively hopped, because they are shipped to the far east just like the original IPAs were shipped from England to the East Indies. East coast IPAs are copies of these jewels, reverse engineered by tasting the aged IPAs from west of the mississippi. It's fine. East coast brewers should be proud of their IPA copies.

It's like reading. Western IPAs are like Keats and Eastern IPAs are like Cat In the Hat, but the important thing is that we are all reading.
 
Dr. Sues was a genius. Keats just wrote drivel.

Being on the left coast but from the east coast, I can say I've tried 'em all. Including some from Texas.

The best IPAs...

Are ya ready for it?

Are you hanging on the edge of your seat?

...

MINE! :rockin:
 
The best IPA dropped down the hops a bit (but not all the way) dropped down the gravity, and stayed on the correct side of the ocean and is now known as Bitter.

A pox on ALL your unbalanced palate destroyers.

Game. Set. Match.

:rockin:

I'm just kidding. IPAs aren't my go to, but I can respect Pliny (quintessential West Coast) and I can respect Dogfish Head 60 Minute (quintessential East Coast) in their appropriate times and places. Having never had Hill Farmstead or The Alchemist, or any of the other hipsterbait, I can't offer an opinion on those.
 
I just looked on beer advocate and the top ten IPAs are all east coasters. I gotta wonder if the data is cooked though since Tree House Brewing holds five of the top ten brews.

Tree House Brewing – Julius – MA
Lawson’s Finest Liquids – Sip of Sunshine – VT
The Alchemist – Focal Banger - VT
Tree House Brewing – Green – MA
Tree House Brewing – In Perpetuity – MA
Tree House Brewing – Alter Ego - MA
Surely Brewing – Todd The Axe Man – MN
Tree House Brewing – Curiosity Twenty Two – MA
New England Brewing – Fuzzy Baby Ducks – CT
Hill Farmstead Brewing – Susan - VT
 
Guess it's better than the "IPAs are terrible" threads we had most of last year. I honestly don't care, never had an East Coast IPA, not too worried about it.
 
AZCoolerBrewer said:
I just looked on beer advocate and the top ten IPAs are all east coasters. I gotta wonder if the data is cooked though since Tree House Brewing holds five of the top ten brews.

Tree House Brewing – Julius – MA
Lawson’s Finest Liquids – Sip of Sunshine – VT
The Alchemist – Focal Banger - VT
Tree House Brewing – Green – MA
Tree House Brewing – In Perpetuity – MA
Tree House Brewing – Alter Ego - MA
Surely Brewing – Todd The Axe Man – MN
Tree House Brewing – Curiosity Twenty Two – MA
New England Brewing – Fuzzy Baby Ducks – CT
Hill Farmstead Brewing – Susan - VT
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Not just east coast - all New England. That doesn't pass the smell test, one bit.
 
East coast beers would be AMAZING, if you could get them on the WEST coast. You know why its so hard to get a good East coast IPA on the WEST coast? THEY DONT SEND THEM TO US..Ya want to know why? WE HAVE PLINY! Nuff said..LOL Just kidding really. well, sort of.....
I actually do like a lot of the East coast IPAs I have tried but I am not a palette wrecking IPA kind of guy..So it only goes to reason.

Funny OP brother! I like your style.

Cheers
Jay
 
Bells' Two Hearted
Founders' Centennial
& New Holland's Mad Hatter

I'd say Michigan's West Coast has some of the best IPAs in the land

brewer from Bells joked it was because they all use unfiltered Lake Michigan water

seriously, my new favorite is Deschutes' Fresh Squeezed (Bend, OR), but our local breweries, Old Ox & Lost Rhino make some of the darn tastiest IPAs my limited research has come across. they're not your favorite, only because you haven't tried them
 
Any knowledgeable American is well aware that anything of historical value originated in the East. Which would technically make an East Coast IPA "a-beer-iginal".

Just sayin'.
 
Don't bash me..lol, but I have to agree with specharka. Of course I'm a little biased being on the east coast, and I've had some amazing stuff from the west, but my palette prefers the liquid gold coming form Hill Farmstead, Tree House, Trillium, Alchemist, Lawson's, Bissell Brothers...etc. It's no coincidence that a lot happen to be from New England.

Soft mouthfeel, less bitterness, beautiful juicy hop flavor and aroma, it just speaks to me.

I think it was a secret a handful of years ago, but I think the secret has been slowly getting out to the non-believers. I was hoping people wouldn't notice because I want to horde all that awesomeness to myself, but I guess we have to share eventually. It'll be fun to see the trend in 5 to 10 years from now, and how hoppy beers develop.

We're all just lucky and spoiled to be in a brewing renaissance right now!
 
Callacave said:
Don't bash me..lol, but I have to agree with specharka. Of course I'm a little biased being on the east coast, and I've had some amazing stuff from the west, but my palette prefers the liquid gold coming form Hill Farmstead, Tree House, Trillium, Alchemist, Lawson's, Bissell Brothers...etc. It's no coincidence that a lot happen to be from New England.

Soft mouthfeel, less bitterness, beautiful juicy hop flavor and aroma, it just speaks to me.

I think it was a secret a handful of years ago, but I think the secret has been slowly getting out to the non-believers. I was hoping people wouldn't notice because I want to horde all that awesomeness to myself, but I guess we have to share eventually. It'll be fun to see the trend in 5 to 10 years from now, and how hoppy beers develop.

We're all just lucky and spoiled to be in a brewing renaissance right now!
Click to expand...

I am in the same boat. I certainly think Pliny, Ballast Point, Firestone, Green Flash, etc. are all awesome beers. But, personally, I really prefer drinking the types of beers you listed, for all the reasons you listed. It is what I buy if I have a chance and it is what I spend most of my time brewing.:mug:
 
Elkobrewer said:
Sorry east coast but the Midwest is part of the west. So we get to claim 3 floyds and TG. Ha ha sorry for your luck:rockin:
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No, just no. We have our own distinct flair (I seriously do think it is the water). East Coast, West Coast, and Midwest IPAs are all a thing in my book. In that order too. Two Hearted is like quintessential Midwest IPA.
 
Guys, we need to attain harmony here.


*gathers hop bill / schedule for West Coast DIPA, hop bill / schedule for East Coast DIPA, combines, drinks fresh from keg*
 
I just like IPAs...probably easier to make my own than use vacations days to plan a trip to New England.

side note: I spent the first half of my life in VT. I wasn't able to drink yet of course, but where were all these world class breweries then???
 
AZCoolerBrewer said:
I just looked on beer advocate and the top ten IPAs are all east coasters. I gotta wonder if the data is cooked though since Tree House Brewing holds five of the top ten brews.



Tree House Brewing – Julius – MA

Lawson’s Finest Liquids – Sip of Sunshine – VT

The Alchemist – Focal Banger - VT

Tree House Brewing – Green – MA

Tree House Brewing – In Perpetuity – MA

Tree House Brewing – Alter Ego - MA

Surely Brewing – Todd The Axe Man – MN

Tree House Brewing – Curiosity Twenty Two – MA

New England Brewing – Fuzzy Baby Ducks – CT

Hill Farmstead Brewing – Susan - VT
Click to expand...


Possibly because BA is based out of Boston? Hmm.
 
^ I think its based on the rating system as a whole. Its an aggregate system like rotten tomatoes. If a movie gets 95% on RT, that doesnt mean that the average rating is 95%, it mean that 95% of critics rated it "favorable" (>6/10 if I remember right)

Since all those beers have limited distribution, they havent made it to so many people. A beer drinker has to go and seek it out. Of course he/she is going to give it a good rating. Even if its not great, they feel the need to justify the whole trip.

Its kind of like why so many documentaries are+95% on RT. No one is going to sit through a 90min documentary on sealife conservation if they dont have a vested interest in it
 
I was going to write the following biased message REDACTED jokingly:

"Water makes the beer of coarse, which the east has plenty of...as for the REDACTED they have to REDACTED their own REDACTED water as well as recycle someone elses REDACTED water from up stream or they'd have no water at all. Maybe that's why REDACTED have to add so many hops so as to cover up REDACTED ..."

but decided it could be taken the wrong way, so I'll just say I like all good beer--great or small where ever it comes from. :D
 
m00ps said:
^ I think its based on the rating system as a whole. Its an aggregate system like rotten tomatoes. If a movie gets 95% on RT, that doesnt mean that the average rating is 95%, it mean that 95% of critics rated it "favorable" (>6/10 if I remember right)

Since all those beers have limited distribution, they havent made it to so many people. A beer drinker has to go and seek it out. Of course he/she is going to give it a good rating. Even if its not great, they feel the need to justify the whole trip.

Its kind of like why so many documentaries are+95% on RT. No one is going to sit through a 90min documentary on sealife conservation if they dont have a vested interest in it
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I agree with you entirely. I simply meant to clarify that Jason Alstrom is going to be the first to try these NE beers and that in fact affects the response on BA. What I mean by this is that these brewers are friends with the brothers, and need good press to keep them at "brewing legend" status. As soon as these beers are released, Jason is going to be invited out to taste them and BOOM! he reviews it and the BA bandwagon arrives to post excessive 95+ ratings about how "it's the most amazing thing" they ever drank.

Not that I think the ratings are not justified for some of these beers, but they are inflated by what the "hype" infers before they are even tasted.
 
cilestiok said:
Possibly because BA is based out of Boston? Hmm.
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Yeah - those BA lists are stupid. There is zero chance that those ratings truly reflect any accurate "ranking" of beer. I think you could safely say that any beer that is ranked in the top 10 is a truly excellent beer. But, to pretend those are actually the 10 "best" IPA's is ridiculous. So much of it is location of users, hype, and difficulty in accessing the beers. If you took the label off 100 IPA's and sampled them over time - it would be interesting to see where various beers would fall. Even then - so much of it is subjective personal taste. Like I said - my personal taste falls toward this "east coast" style..... but, that certainly does not make them "better" than Pliny or Two Hearted, or whatever - just different in a way that I like.
 
Braufessor said:
Yeah - those BA lists are stupid. There is zero chance that those ratings truly reflect any accurate "ranking" of beer. I think you could safely say that any beer that is ranked in the top 10 is a truly excellent beer. But, to pretend those are actually the 10 "best" IPA's is ridiculous. So much of it is location of users, hype, and difficulty in accessing the beers. If you took the label off 100 IPA's and sampled them over time - it would be interesting to see where various beers would fall. Even then - so much of it is subjective personal taste. Like I said - my personal taste falls toward this "east coast" style..... but, that certainly does not make them "better" than Pliny or Two Hearted, or whatever - just different in a way that I like.
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Reminds me of a friend of mine. He claims he "loves IPAs" and doesn't like "dark" beer (anything darker than golden). He's by no means a beer aficionado, and shows up at my place with a variety pack of Victory year round offerings. He cracks the cap off a Hop Devil and starts drinking it, talking about how I should brew a beer like it because it's "got a lot of malt flavor while still being hoppy". I took the beer out of his hand and poured it in a glass. He was mortified how deep amber it was. Now he drinks all different styles of beer since that day.

Just goes to show how much you'll enjoy something that you expect yourself to enjoy before ever tasting it.
 
iijakii said:
IPAs need to be ridiculous, dry and bitter. Can't stand IPAs that are anywhere near sweet, which is most of the east-coast ones I have tried., and frankly a lot of west coast ones too.
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I agree with this 100%. There are a lot of cloyingly sweet IPAs out there. Usually marketed as DIPAs or IIPAs. They are a little off-putting for me as well.
 
iijakii said:
IPAs need to be ridiculous, dry and bitter. Can't stand IPAs that are anywhere near sweet, which is most of the east-coast ones I have tried., and frankly a lot of west coast ones too.
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But then how am I supposed to fit this 2lbs of crystal into it?
Plus, who puts sugar into their beers? Thats going to make it cidery
 
m00ps said:
But then how am I supposed to fit this 2lbs of crystal into it?
Plus, who puts sugar into their beers? Thats going to make it cidery
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Well you need the crystal and a high mash temp. You want it to have body, of course. An FG of around 1.020 is perfect.
 
You all need to try Summit Brewery's True Brit IPA for a great example of balanced IPA. Minnesota makes some of the best beer around (OK, so does Wisconsin). For the over the top types, Surly brewery doesn't disappoint. Just don't drink Surly Furious, it used to be something good, but changed and just isn't the same.
 
Jaybird said:
East coast beers would be AMAZING, if you could get them on the WEST coast. You know why its so hard to get a good East coast IPA on the WEST coast? THEY DONT SEND THEM TO US..Ya want to know why? WE HAVE PLINY! Nuff said..LOL Just kidding really. well, sort of.....
I actually do like a lot of the East coast IPAs I have tried but I am not a palette wrecking IPA kind of guy..So it only goes to reason.

Funny OP brother! I like your style.

Cheers
Jay
Click to expand...


I have been thinking about this...

Lawson's contracts out to Two Roads Brewing here in CT to locally produce Sip of Sunshine. Why couldn't others do the same? John Kimmich (Alchemist) and Vinnie Cilurzo (Russian River) develop some gentleman's agreement so that there would be wider distribution of both?

As much as I love HT, I would really like to try Supplication and I don't want to support the resale market. A friend of mine scored $300 worth of Cantillon in Brussels for a case of HT...surely there's some way for these indie guys to get better distribution.
 
specharka said:
I have been thinking about this...

Lawson's contracts out to Two Roads Brewing here in CT to locally produce Sip of Sunshine. Why couldn't others do the same? John Kimmich (Alchemist) and Vinnie Cilurzo (Russian River) develop some gentleman's agreement so that there would be wider distribution of both?

As much as I love HT, I would really like to try Supplication and I don't want to support the resale market. A friend of mine scored $300 worth of Cantillon in Brussels for a case of HT...surely there's some way for these indie guys to get better distribution.
Click to expand...

From a business point of view - why would they? They can't make it fast enough to start with. If you can make it yourself, in your facility and distribute it closer to home and sell it all...... it would be inefficient to try to get someone else to brew it (for which they may or may not be properly equipped) and attempt to distribute it further away. Why would the Alchemist (for example) want to increase demand? They are not even close to keeping up with the demand they have now. Plus - the allure of many of these beers is found in the fact that they are hard to obtain.
 

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