Drank my first IPA ever this evening.

It was a commercial beer. Born on date of the first week of August.

After all of the reading on here about them, I knew I would have to give one a try.

WhyTF do you guys drink these? Hops are ok, but I don't want the whole rabbit (joke from the "weirdest thing you've hear about beers" thread). Seriously though, I think I would have less hops if I took an ounce of hops and put them in a shot glass of water. Or just ate an ounce of hops right out of the bag.

I have a friend that I shared an Oktoberfest with that thought it was hoppy. I'll give him one of these to show him what true hops are.

 

What commercial beer was it? the more bitter the better. You will get there. I never liked stouts, only IPAs. Then I kept trying different ones all the time and finally started liking the taste. It's not for everyone.

 

You know you liked it! Now do it again.

 

Best chuckle over had in a while. Reminds me of the old chili cook-off joke. Thanks for the laugh!

 

I might have made the mistake by calling it a commercial beer. I was thinking when typing that if it is sold at a liquor store then it must be commercial.

It was a Compass IPA made by Bristol Brewing Company in Colorado Springs, Co which is just 30 minutes north of here.

 

First off, sorry to quote you so you get that stupid notification.

A while back the wife and I were trying out different wines. She knew that I didn't like a certain wine when I would immediately make a certain "face". After the fourth or fifth drink of this beer she asked why I kept doing this to myself because I was making that "face" over and over. I had to tell her that it was for the knowledge of knowing what it was like.

 

<true story> last weekend, I picked my centennial hops off the vine and brewed a fresh hopped centennial blonde (because the first year plant didn't have enough yield for an IPA). While brewing, I put a hop cone into my glass of grapefruit bitter and squeezed it out, which uses centennial as well.

Turned the grapefruit bitter into a freshhopped, strong scented hop bomb! It was so good, my wife's friend went so far as to suck on the cone soaked in the beerglass - that was a little too much for her...

 

I've never heard that before. What do you like?

 

Maybe you should give the original ipa style a try. The british originated it so it could make the long trip to India for the troops they had over there. Try Mayflower ipa it's the English style with a good mix of malt and earthy spice dank hops.

 

IPA is a style with lots of variations. I've had some that were quite bitter and some that were just barely beyond the hoppiness of a pale ale. It's OK if you don't like them, there are so many other beers to choose from.

 

just like every other beer, all ipa's are different. I never was much into ipa's but i was just getting into craft beer so I kept trying them. I found some i liked, loved and hated. One recommendation is to try it with food. A good IPA and some mexican or thai food or burger off the grill, man, that's good stuff. Another recommendation I have to give is to try Westbrook IPA (in the green can). I've tried probably 50 IPA found 3 that i love....this is head and shoulders above the other two

 

Not trying to call you out but that's a bit of a myth. The East India Trading Company picked up some beer from a brewery on favorable terms and that brewer just happened to make a beer a little stronger and a little more bitter than what other guys were making. In the heat of India this beer played well with the British ex-pats and demand grew. The style made it's way back home after a while and eventually the name India Pale Ale was slapped on it.

Beer much less hoppy was being exported to India before IPA was a thing and it made the journey just fine.

 

Go get a maximus from Lagunitas. l love it, wife describes it as licking a lawn mower.

 

I had to laugh a little when I read the opening statement. It reminded me of when we first started brewing & I tried an IPA from Harpoon. Hey, I gotta do some historical research here, yes? Upon the first sip, I thought, " What the hell was this brewer thinking? YUK! I can't taste the beer! All I taste is this big bitter grapefruit bomb"! Pale ales were fine, more to my liking hop-wise...until I talked to the gang on here before brewing an IPA of my own. Then I got it! To me, it was something I had to grow into as a homebrewer. So give it time, you may get to like them after some experimentation. I did.

 

Don't give up on the style based on your experience with just one example of it. I felt the same way you do until I found an IPA that I liked, after that I was on the hunt for progressively hoppier beers. Continue to try different ones with an open mind, your bound to find the one which will make you hear angels sing when you drink it.

 

Try Sam adams IPL, you may like it better. Has a nice hop aroma but not overly bitter.

 

I typically like IPA's. I had a Pop-Up by Boulevard yesterday, and didn't want a second one.

 

For me, hops have always been about the flavor rather than the intense bitterness. You CAN have one with out the other. Along these lines, give a few of the English styles a try as they are the type that appeals to someone like myself with less bitterness!

 

I remember when I was a kid my friends dad worked for a distributor that resulted in him having a few cases of Booneville Hop Ottin' IPA around at all times. To us at the time, it was undrinkable. SO bitter that we didn't understand how anyone could drink such a thing, and it became a joke amongst us. When someone new showed up in the circle we'd try to give them one. Anyway, I was at a party a couple weeks ago and there were some in the ice chest and I popped one and it was downright mild. Just keep at it, and soon you will develop your childish taste buds

 

I just tried their single wide IPA it's pretty good if you haven't had it..




The price was pretty good too I think I picked up a 6 pack for under $8

 

a few things

Bristol brewing company makes ****ty beer

Bittering an IPA is cheap, the flavor and aroma additions are not. Many IPAs are not balanced and overly bitter. Despite what some of the people in this thread are saying, an overly bitter IPA is not desirable, and choking one down does not make you a bigger man or better beer drinker.


You are fortunate to live in a state with some nice IPA offerings, fresh as you noted is hugely important.

Some that I like that offer more balance are

SKA Modus Hoperendi
Odells IPA
Great Divide Titan
Avery IPA is also good.

Lupilin shift is a real thing, google it. You may want to start yours with pale ales.

 

OP, here. I am willing to bet that it was just this particular beer. I was already a few beers in before trying this one and that might have led to my distasteful rant. I'll try some other brands while trying to keep an open mind. Thanks for tips on some to try. These other 5 will be given away for sure though.

 

OP,

I am with ya. All I hear from these people is "keep drinking that crap, till you get numb to the crap flavor" That is the same theory behind "Butweiper" drinkers thinking that is how beer is supposed to taste.

I belonged to a beer of the month club for two years, and got probably two different IPA's every month. NEVER found one I like. And I keep an open mind and try every one I come across. NEVER found one I like. I was at a brew fest a couple of years ago, and the category was IPA. One of the breweries didn't have an IPA. When I asked him why, he said (and I quote) "No one REALLY likes IPA's".

I believe that a few people out there actually like IPA, but for the most part I have noticed that most people "like" them because they think it makes them look cool. Like people who eat HOT!!! food. What's the damn point??? I will buy a six pack of it whenever I see a new one. Drink one, hate, and give the rest to my friends that "love" IPA. A month later they all still have the IPA in their fridge, and tell me about how many different beers they have drank since then.

I raised myself on Oatmeal Stouts since I was only 17 Y.O. and, I have been Drinking Pale Ale since 20. I have seen this Craft beer craze build up, and it wasn't until people started "wanting" to like micro-brews (or "Imports" as idiots call them) that people started liking IPA. It makes them feel different, yet still belong to the secret club of "IPA li(k)ers".

My $.02

And BTW i will lick the bag that my hops come in, so Yes, I like the taste of hops.

 

^^epic first post :smack:

 

I must be weird because I love spicy food and IPA's....


And they go GREAT together YUMMMMM!!!!!

 

I find it odd that what inspired you to write your very first post on HBT was your desire to call a significant portion of the community poseurs. That's an interesting choice.

 

Isn't it great how everyone's opinions and taste buds are exactly the same? Oh wait...

In all honesty, if this isn't a troll post, get over yourself and your superior, condescending opinion and understand that other people may enjoy things you don't. But my money is on troll post.

 

HHHAHAAHAHAHHAHAHHAHHAHHAHhhahahahhhahahah.

he
heehehe

HAHAHAHAH.

Oh boy.

 

I must be weird because see what beers I have in my signature....

 

Hahahaha Weirdo!

 

The way I leaned to like IPA's is I bought 2 six packs of an IPA that was suggested to me by a friend. I drank on the first night, then grabbed some miller lite to wash it down with. Two the second night, then washed it down with some miller lite. I drank the 12 beers within 5 days and the next day I was out buying IPA. It was the greatest thing to ever happen to be beer buds

 

Single-Wide is much better. Pop-Up is too light for the hop bill IMO.

 

Well, actually , that's where you start getting into East Coast vs West coast style IPA's. East coast leans toward hop flavor/aroma while West Coast has more malt presence. That's what I've tasted/learned so far anyway.

 

I think it's the opposite

 

Huh. What I've tasted was a bit darker & maltier from out west. The one here & further east were hop bombs, or just sessionable versions that had little malt presence.

 

I grew up drinking Genny Cream Ale, a beer I still occasionally drink.
For many, many years I drank middle of the road beer, Labatt (they sell it at my golf course), Molsen, Sam Adams, Yeunling, Bud.

My neighbor has a rule, he wont buy any beer that is on a Nascar. He has always drank obscure (for my neck of the woods) IPA and Micro brews from PA and Eastern NY.

Initially I did not like the Hoppyness of an IPA, but I thought to myself I did not like my first Manhattan & I did not like my firstglass of whiskey on the rocks.
however after time I developed the taste and I now drink Whiskey on the rocks, straight or in a Manhattan.

I decided insted of buying a 12 pack of Labatt Blue each week, I would try something different. So I went to the Beer store and started buying sampler packs and IPA and just exploring what beer drinkers tend to forsake, flavor.

Now I tend to always have Saranac on hand. I lover their pale Ale and their Legacy IPA has soooo much flavor it is tough to have more than 2.

Davidson Brothers
Southern tier

even Sam adams offers a range of flavors.

There is something for everyone, but chances are if you can not appreciate different flavors you have a noob palette!

 

Weird. Yeah, when I think of East Coast ipa I think of Hopslam, DFH, and others that are all fairly malty. Over here we have Pliny as our model beer which is bone dry and looks like a lager in the glass. I think the west coast more or less invented the overly hoppy ipa but someone can correct me if I'm wrong.

 

My first IPA was horrible but it wasnt a good representation of an IPA since it was skunked pretty bad. The thing is my cousin tells me its supposed to be like that. So cause of that i really disliked IPAs for a bit. When i had one that ddint have off flavors it changed my mind immediately. IPAs are prob one of my fav styles of beer but there are bad ones and good ones out there. Just got a sixer of Devils Backbone 8 point IPA and def not a fan. Not my choice of hops in that one.

 

I love IPA's. More hops the better. Nothing about it makes you more manly, that's the most boring thing I've ever heard.

To me nothing beats going home after a horrible day of work and having a hoppy pain-reliever. It can be fun to try another enjoyable beer after an IPA. For me at least, after having an IPA and switching to something else, I pick up many different flavors I hadn't earlier.

Sierra Nevada and Victory <3