Let's Remember Some Beers (In Memoriam: Old IPAs)

[nachojon]

I still buy a case of Celebration every year. One of my favorite beers.

#metoo #amidoingthisright?

 

[JulianB1]

I remember when this was first released...yeah I fell HARD for dat hype. Don’t even remember if I enjoyed it or not, I just had to GET it.

A truly great beer once upon a time, although like many others one a lot of southeast craft beer fans overvalued as trade bait due to the relative lack of having much around here on that front until Westbrook and others really started pumping out BA stouts. One of the best of the various "Pliny killer" DIPAs of the early 2010s era. It was unfortunately a very harsh casualty of Coast expanding and in the process messing up several of their recipes, at least for a while.

Here's a pint of Boy King being drank on-site in mid 2013 or so:

Here's what it looked like from a 12oz can in mid-2016:

I haven't had it in a long while, but more recent pics at least appear promising appearance-wise, so I should probably re-visit it sometime.

 

[JulianB1]

Speaking of very good southeastern IPAs that declined in conjunction with production scale-ups:

This was a total banger several years ago and I'd make trips to Charlotte to grab cases of it. It's another I haven't had recently so maybe in turned a corner, but the last several times I tried it, it was painfully mediocre.

 

[Stubs]

when I first got into trading I was sending out boxes packed with 64oz growlers of Boneyard Hop Venom and Notorious almost every other week. I can't remember the last time I had a pour of either.

...for crowlers of BA Ten Fidy and Death by Coconut that just sit on shelves now.

When those IPAs hit Denver I still grab pours and I hardly ever beer anymore at all.

 

[Stubs]

I remember buying SUCKS by the case when it was in seasonal 6 packs. That beer was so good.

 

[jmgrub]

when I first got into trading I was sending out boxes packed with 64oz growlers of Boneyard Hop Venom and Notorious almost every other week. I can't remember the last time I had a pour of either.

You spoiled!

 

[BigFrank]

Packaged ten days ago.

Mine was 4/24/19. Picked it up at the source last week. Have enjoyed many since then. So good.

 

[JulianB1]

The "iceman pour" before it was cool: maxing out a TB snifter for that proper Intihar tick.

Oh and Swami's ****ed, I'm sure it still does.

 

[Skittle34]

For me a memory I'll always have is seeing my dad put original Harpoon IPA in the fridge as a wee tyke. That and Lost Sailor IPA from Berkshire Brewing Co when New England IPAs were based on English IPAs





Trends have changed, but these memories live on

 

[JulianB1]

Remember when adding lactose to an IPA was a novel idea to add body and balance out big bitterness and booziness, rather than create a hoppy milkshake?

 

[Corruptor]

For me a memory I'll always have is seeing my dad put original Harpoon IPA in the fridge as a wee tyke. That and Lost Sailor IPA from Berkshire Brewing Co when New England IPAs were based on English IPAs

.

I used to love Harpoon IPA as alternative to Sierra

 

[tikk]

Harpoon IPA was on tap everywhere in MA, it was one of the few options besides BMC when going out to eat.

 

[davey101]

I used to drink a lot of these. They jumped the shark when they came out with the 32 ouncers.

View attachment 7319

Did they though? I loved that format.

 

[JonathanAmes]

Did they though? I loved that format.

They sat out here so good luck finding a fresh bottle date.

 

[yeahnatenelson]

Did they though? I loved that format.

My only gripe: no thumb ring.

They sat out here so good luck finding a fresh bottle date.

I think this may have been a regional problem as my market received very few of the big bottles. You kinda had to be at the right place at the right time, certainly when they were first dstro'd here.

Or maybe I'm looking at this with rose tinted glasses. Definite maybe.

 

[bramsdell]

Wow, I remember Sucks coming out. That was a mind-blowing beer. Being able to pick up fresh 6ers of that was a dream in 2012.

 

[purephase]

Double and Triple Sunshine have already been mentioned and tend to get most of the love, but I enjoyed this one from Lawson's just as much. One of the first Nelson-heavy IPAs I had along with OG Alpine Nelson and New England Coriolis that really blew my mind about the potential of that hop. It's a pity it hasn't been canned at the new brewery yet.

 

[FTowne1]

The "iceman pour" before it was cool: maxing out a TB snifter for that proper Intihar tick.

Oh and Swami's ****ed, I'm sure it still does.

1v1willwreku

 

[davey101]

Double and Triple Sunshine have already been mentioned and tend to get most of the love, but I enjoyed this one from Lawson's just as much. One of the first Nelson-heavy IPAs I had along with OG Alpine Nelson and New England Coriolis that really blew my mind about the potential of that hop. It's a pity it hasn't been canned at the new brewery yet.

B1 Coriolis totally blew my mind. That was at the time the most complex hop profile I've ever experienced, just dank juicy tropical cantaloupe tastiness. I thought it was way better then FBD.

 

[coach1]

.

I'm way behind on this thread. Anyway, I still have this at least once every time I'm back in Ohio. It fell off in quality when they started making bigger batches (which I think coincided with the label/bottle style change), but the last few times I've had it, it's been close to its former glory. Which is a great thing at around $9-10/six pack.

Flower Power, on the other hand, has not aged well, IMO.

 

[coach1]

Still catching up.

Speaking of wet hopped beers... This beer still bangs when fresh. Unfortunately, it seems like it sits on the shelf a lot of places. Hopefully it's all gone by the time next year's comes out.

That first came out in what, '08? '09? I remember buying a four pack at the Sam's (now Binny's) across from Goose Island Clybourn one of those years, and it set the bar for all other IPAs for 2-3 years afterward. Had some last year and it was a ghost of what I remember it being back then.

Kind of amazing to think that this was one of the red hot hyped up IPAs back in the day and now it turds it up everywhere.

It used to be really good, I assume it's not anymore, but I wouldn't know since I haven't bought any in years.

Why would anyone buy this now? I haven't even seen six packs around lately. Not that I'm looking. Are they still like $16/six pack?

These 2 from Ohio got me all hot and bothered 10 years ago. Many of my first beer trades were for 6 packs of these.
View attachment 7266

Headhunter is still amazing, and I always get some when I'm back in Ohio (especially since they're not out here anymore). I love White Rajah too, but since it's not dated I rarely buy it when I see it. I have learned to never assume freshness of any beer sitting on the shelf/cooler of any store in the greater Youngstown, Ohio area.

 

[danbanana]

Great barleywine. [DOUBLE CROOKED TREE] I have a friend that has roughly a 10 year vertical.

I opened my last bottle from 2012 or so a couple weeks ago and found it was a boozier version of 5 year old Bigfoot so it was good?

This used to rustle my jimmies.

CCB brought a keg of this aged with peaches to FOBAB in 2012 (I think). JFC that smelled good...

That was definitel the case here shortly after the launch but the distributor eventually made good. Now there's a fresh keg of Lunch on at my local every two months or so.

My local (Chicago-area) has a keg pretty much 24/7 and I'd say I get a pour every other time I'm there.

RE: Yellow Rose. I was at pre-FOBAB get-together a few years ago and air showed up with a growler of it (pre-bottling batch). It's still my favorite pour of a pale ale I've ever had and was by far the best beer I had that night, which had some impressive barrel aged/lambic things opened. I subsequently got my brother-in-law -in the northern burbs of Houston- to start buying it regularly. He still brings a half-case of it to our annual summer get-together. I think it's better than 98% of the IPAs people are pushing out these days but I don't think anything will touch that first growler.

 

[coach1]

Haven't seen this one mentioned yet. I used to go back and forth on whether I liked this or Dreadnaught more. I haven't had either in several years. I wonder how I'd feel about them now.

And these were some go-to IPAs when I first moved to Oregon in 2010. Haven't touched either for years.

 

[FoudreGuy]

I remember going to a tasting back in 2013 hosted by this guy who had just moved to Seattle from San Diego and drove up with a cooler full of growlers of Societe IPAs and some Alpine bombers. All the beers got weighed out in little schooner glasses so everyone got their fair share, it was pretty crazy at the time. There was also a growler of Toppling Goliath Zeelander IPA. Man, people there were so excited about all of it.

Someone brought this too. We all thought we were super special. Now it sits on shelves in Nebraska.

 

[EvenMoreJesus]

I guess im also glad red ipas have also died off

Shudder.gif

If you don't like red IPAs, you don't like beer.

 

[lambandtunaphish]

All the beers got weighed out in little schooner glasses so everyone got their fair share

Wait

People actually weigh out their midwest pours?

How have I never heard of this happening? How does it work with today's IPAs and their high hop turd content?

 

[FoudreGuy]

Wait

People actually weigh out their midwest pours?

How have I never heard of this happening? How does it work with today's IPAs and their high hop turd content?

This was 2013 so juice wasn't really a thing yet. I mean look at that Toppling Goliath IPA, you can clearly see through it.

We all chipped in some cash for all the California beers the guy hauled up, so making sure people didn't get more than others was apparently a thing. He had so much beer that people were asked not to bring bottles. I dunno.

 

[flexabull]

Was this one mentioned yet? I remember when this was a big deal 10+ years ago. (I remember it being pretty good too)

 

[SeaWatchman]

Was this one mentioned yet? I remember when this was a big deal 10+ years ago. (I remember it being pretty good too)

Yeah but last year’s batch was hoppier.

 

[EvenMoreJesus]

Was this one mentioned yet? I remember when this was a big deal 10+ years ago. (I remember it being pretty good too)

Yeah but last year’s batch was hoppier.

The funniest thing about this beer is that this discussion/debate still goes on over on BA. That, and people have taken it upon themselves to report these "inconsistencies" to the brewery. Knobs.

 

[yeahnatenelson]

The funniest thing about this beer is that this discussion/debate still goes on over on BA. That, and people have taken it upon themselves to report these "inconsistencies" to the brewery. Knobs.

In a strange way it makes me kinda happy that some things -- even stupid ones -- haven't changed in The Community.

 

[flexabull]

Yeah but last year’s batch was hoppier.

I thought that critique was reserved for Celebration.

 

[Stubs]

Headhunter is the Ohio/Western PA Two Hearted.

 

[Stubs]

I thought that critique was reserved for Celebration.

That one is the spices have changed.

 

[EvenMoreJesus]

Headhunter is the Ohio/Western PA Two Hearted.

Post that **** over in Toxic Topics, brah.

 

[yeahnatenelson]

If you don't like red IPAs, you don't like beer.

So long as we're on the topic:

 

[coach1]

I don't think this was the first canned craft beer, but it was among them. My uncle gave me a can of this when I visited Oregon in 2008. My mind was blown by an IPA in a can. Simpler times.

It's still pretty decent, and a solid value at around $10/sixer. I need to drink beers like this more often. I think I'm finally starting to tire of the ticking lyfe.

 

[lb304854]

Wookey Jack was the only drinkable one of the bunch. **** I hated that trend

Bite your tongue:

Have we talked old Flossmoor Station 22s yet?

Vishnu's Vice and Shimkos' Simcoes were legit. F.U. DOB was great. Hop Huffer sucked. That's all I remember.

Bonus points to anyone who remembers the d0b reference.

 

[JulianB1]

Bite your tongue:

This was the beer involved in some infamous BA saga of a growler that was traded multiple times, wasn't it?

 

[lb304854]

This was the beer involved in some infamous BA saga of a growler that was traded multiple times, wasn't it?

Yeah. Back when the southeast exploded onto the shitlord scene, some asshat was convinced this DONG was going to be a whale. A growler that was traded twice became a running hyperbolic joke that growlers were traded dozens of times. Then they bottled it and people were trying to get rid of it as extras.