I want to like hops

[FB12]

I used to hate hoppy beers. I remember taking a sip of my first IPA and dumping the rest. I was a big fan of your typical light american lager (hell, unlike many here, I still like the occasional BMC, especially on a hot summer day), and didn't like much else. However, I slowly started trying more and more beers, and developed a taste for stouts, porters, pale ales, and even started liking the hoppier IPAs. Now, I love a good hoppy IPA, and whenever I go somewhere and order a beer, an IPA is my go-to beer.

Same story pretty much. Miller, a few imported lagers, and wheat beers were my staples for years. Then i fell in love with SN Pale Ale. Evolution turned me into a hop junkie!! Now they're growing in my yard & i actually paid $20 for the last 6 pack of Hopslam at the store yesterday! Can't believe i did that! Heading out now to brew a wonderful IPA.

 

[40watt]

You may never be a hop head. I've gone away from hops a bit.

I started with craft beer twenty years ago, and loved a hoppy pale ale. I even enjoyed some IPAs. Over time I gravitated more towards well balanced German lagers and especially English ales. Then Belgians and now sours with little or no hops.

In your brewing use hops as they were intended, to balance sweetness and protect from microbes. As you brew more styles you will start to appreciate hops.
Then brew something with lots of hop character and not so much jarring bitterness.
You may really like it. You can decide where to go from there.

 

[Schol-R-LEA]

My own tastes are admittedly quite broad, being fond of most styles when done well, but I have always favored malty beers over hoppy ones. My own best beers are a dry stout, a tripel, and an EIPA, the latter much more malt forward than typical of the style while still being recognizable as an India Pale Ale. The latter also uses EKG exclusively, which makes for a well-rounded if rather expensive example of the style.

Man, I need to brew that one again some time soon...

 

[ObsidianJester]

I will mirror those above me that have said it is an acquired taste. For me one of the beers I enjoyed was New Belgium Snow Day (now apparently not brewed, those jerks!) It was the prototypical brown with high hop notes. What does this have to do with what everyone else has said? Nothing, other than don't stress it. Take some suggestions here and there for beer to try that is of the pale/ipa/double ipa sort but don't stress over it. You may never find you enjoy hop forward beers. That's okay. I found that I personally enjoyed trying beer to just try beer. I've grown on sours for example by not pounding every example I could find, I tried them as I came across them. Force feeding yourself anything is a bad idea. Some people like stouts, some like ipa's more than anything else. Enjoy what you enjoy, tis part of the reason of making your own stuff.

However if you want to try some hop forward beers my suggestion is to see if you've anything local to your area you can get fresh, and/or try a mixed six pack of whatever you can find that is fresh.

 

[Clonefan94]

My first venture into hops, was a Sierra Nevada Pale Ale. First couple times I had them, I liked them, but they were even a little over hopped initially for me. I think hops are an acquired taste just for the fact that the more I drank them, the more I craved even more hop character. If you really want to get into the hops, the key is to work your way in slowly, over time. Eventually, I think you'll be looking for more of that kick. SNPA is a good introduction to the world of hops, imo.

 

[DrunkinIrish]

Thanks for all the advice. The next time I make it out to my local store thet sells make your own 6ers, I plan on picking up some pale ales and the like to kind of broaden my palette. Who knows maybe I will pick up a full ipa and try it after a few home brews, you know to take the edge off.

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[jtratcliff]

What about Pliny? I've only had it once but I found it to have great hop flavor without too much bitterness.

 

[Chadwick]

I'm an exception to the usual I suppose. The first IPA I ever tasted hooked me immediately. I loved it. It was like the essence of what I liked about beer was suddenly revealed to me.

I still drink non-hop forward beers, and enjoy them quite a bit. But my brew day today was a perfect example of how my tastes drive me. I had a questionable starter for a Trappist Ale that I've been feeding for a week to get built up. It just wasn't performing to my satisfaction. I has planned to brew the Trappist ale today, instead I said "the heck with it" lets brew an IPA instead. And so I did. I reasoned with myself like this, I love a good IPA, but I only sometimes like a Trappist beer. So why bother with this starter that is acting funny? Heck, make an IPA.

 

[ericbw]

I think 2 examples that are better than SNPA are Deschutes Mirror Pond and Portland Brewing's MacTarnahan's. They have hop flavor but aren't as bitter AND they don't knock you down with aroma.

Find a bar with a lot of taps and try a bunch of samples. Cheaper Han the make your own 6 packs.

Avoid IIPAs and DIPAs and even IPAs and focus on pale, amber, and American reds.

 

[seajellie]

Yes - find a lot of taps in a bar and sample. It might not be the hops and bitterness in general - it might be that you just haven't had the right one for you yet. For years I was wondering what all the fuss about hoppy IPAs and IIPAs was about. Then I had a perfect Pliny on tap. I got it, immediately.

Meanwhile, all the other big names I had tried before that perfect pliny, still taste like dogdodo to me. It's not an acquired taste to me at all. Some are great, most are not. To me.

 

[DrunkinIrish]

Picked up some beers to try based off some of your advice. I will update you on how it went.

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[DrunkinIrish]

The red ale was actually pretty good. I enjoyed the citrus flavors that were quite prominent in this beer. I can see this as being a good beer to drink in the summer.

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[brokebucket]

A couple of things:

-Why force it? There are plenty of people out there that dont like hop bombs. Me...I like a balanced IPA, but most of the new brews are way past that.

-If you dont like hop bombs, at least you dont have to chase the next Pliny, or Hopslam, or whatever new release is coming out.

-When talking about hop forward beers, freshness is the name of the game. The longer they sit, the more likely they will be just bitter. Get them fresh...more so than any other beer. The grocery store is not a good place when freshness counts.

-Hopstoopid is a bad selection to "ease in" on.

 

[huhwha]

You could start with Green Flash Palate Wrecker. After that, everything else will seem tame.


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[DrunkinIrish]

-Hopstoopid is a bad selection to "ease in" on.

I actually didn't dislike the hopstoopid. It was more bitter than I am used to but I think the fact that I have been drinking a lot of imperial stouts with high ibu as well has really done a lot to build my tolerance.

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[cjgenever]

OP, I don't understand... I'm trying, but the words must be arranged wrong in your sentences. It just doesn't make sense. I eat hop pellets when I'm brewing with warrior 16%aa. Maybe it's all my chest hair. Makes me manly! Lol.

Just messing with you!

Everyone has a different palette. One of my kids eats lemons. I guess he's wired wrong or something because he says they taste like sweets! You know, like hard candies.

Perhaps brew a dry apa (or a low ibu ipa), but increase the flavor and aroma hops (reduce bittering to maintain ibu). then dry hop the snot out of it. it's ready to drink as soon as carbonated. a friend of mine really likes this recipe. he's overly sensitive to the bittering but really likes the flavor and aroma of the hops.

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