OK, I'll admit it. I will probably never brew an IPA.

[jdog188]

I also never liked IPA's or dreamed of making one, until I tried Stouds's double IPA. It was my awakening! Well, sort of. I went crazy sampling IPA's, and hated most of them. But, Stoudt and consequently Brooklyn Brewery's IPA have shown me the rarity of this gem.

I have an IPA brewing right now!!! My first all-grain batch too. So, well see how it comes out.

 

[SumnerH]

When I first got into this hobby my best friend, who had been brewing for almost 10 years, told me that it's inevitable that I will become a hop head. So far I am about 15 batches into my new hobby and I find that more times than not I am reducing the hops in my recipes. I have fallen in love with stouts, porters, and wheat beers. During the hot summer months some ales are definitely in order too. So I wouldn't let the hop bomb crowd put any peer pressure on you.

I view it kind of like most kids are with spicy foods; they hate them as a child, then go through a "make it as hot as possible" phase often around college age, then eventually most people settle on wanting a balance most of the time with the occasional spicy craving.

 

[bigjoe]

I particularly like IPA much anymore. My friend and I did drink quite a lot of it summer 2008. He still drinks it constantly and I'm done with IPA's.

I like hops, but to me so many IPA's have little character other than hops.There are very few I will even drink commercially anymore.

 

[Yooper]

I drink all beers (except for sours, and most wheats), and brew most of the style guidelines.

I still brew IPA/APA most of the time because that's what I drink daily. We just had a brewday get together, and a few people brought kegs. Yep, everybody brought IPAs. We had three IPAs on tap, with a few bottles of other beers. I'm not really into the high alcohol hop bombs, because they just aren't quaffable in the summer. But a lower ABV hoppy dry IPA goes down great, no matter the weather for me. I just love IPAs.

 

[lumpher]

i love ipa's, also, but apa's are my normal. i prefer the 40-45 ibu range. i like all kinds of beer, though. oktoberfest and wit aging
doppelbock, porter, apa, st arnolds divine reserve #7 bottled
wit and dunkelweizen on tap
bavarian hefeweizen and oatmeal stout fermenting
vanilla porter on deck

i like them all

 

[gtpro]

Ignoring IBU, I find the interpretive difference between APA and IPA to be a very fine line. For example, the https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f66/cascades-orange-pale-ale-84558/ uses like 6 ounces of cascades, its a literal hop-fiesta, much hoppier than even most IPAs you can find commercially, but the bitterness profile is low, putting it in the APA category.

 

[g-nome]

I could have a whole year's worth of IPA, maybe even two or 3

I had thought about the same thing (brewing a batch for my occasional hankering), but it is the fresh hop flavor and aroma that goes first, and this is what I actually like about the APA and AIPA styles, not necessarily the actual bitterness.....(and why I order/buy one occasionally).

I feel the same about many Belgian styles and other complex beers.....I don't really want to make 12 gallons (my normal batch size) of something that I don't want regularly and now that I can buy many styles in more than one location, I will succumb to purchase an occasional craving. It also makes sense to buy a sixer of bud when you want one rather than go through the effort of making a difficult beer that doesn't have a great shelf life.....

 

[TheCapn22]

I have a similar thing, just with wheat and belgian style beers. I've tried them, but haven't gained the taste for them yet. I didn't really like IPA's much at first either, but the more craft beer I drank, the more my palette expanded and eventually I started to love the hops.

 

[johnmcc]

I also never liked IPA's or dreamed of making one, until I tried Stouds's double IPA. It was my awakening! Well, sort of. I went crazy sampling IPA's, and hated most of them. But, Stoudt and consequently Brooklyn Brewery's IPA have shown me the rarity of this gem.

I have an IPA brewing right now!!! My first all-grain batch too. So, well see how it comes out.

same here, never cared much for IPA's until I had a Brooklyn Brewery IPA and Flying Fish Hopfish.

 

[KillerKellers]

Before I started to brew, I really did not like hoppy beers. I loved brown ales, stouts, porters, etc. When I started brewing, I started picking up more and more commercial beers to get a good feel for different styles. Now I really enjoy hoppy beers. Not to say I dislike the previous beers, but I enjoy the bitter side of the spectrum better then the malty side these days.

 

[Mateo]

I am not crazy about IPAs either, for that matter Ales. I am not a big ale fan. I enjoy, Koelsch, Altbier, Hefe, and maybe a Cream Ale once in a while, but I love Lagers!

A world apart.

m.

 

[petep1980]

I love them, but mine never turn out.

 

[david_42]

I don't brew IPAs simply because there are about 80 brewpubs within driving distance that all have great IPAs. Block 15, alone, has 5 or 6 big, hoppy beers. Even the Thrifty market has 4-5 of them available. I brew beers that are tough to find.

 

[heywolfie1015]

I am not crazy about IPAs either, for that matter Ales. I am not a big ale fan.

That's an interesting one. What is it about ales that turns you off? I could never go all lager; I'd miss some of my favorite flavors!

 

[petep1980]

I don't brew IPAs simply because there are about 80 brewpubs within driving distance that all have great IPAs. Block 15, alone, has 5 or 6 big, hoppy beers. Even the Thrifty market has 4-5 of them available. I brew beers that are tough to find.

Amen. I find good porters impossible to find, so I try to stick with them.

 

[Laughing_Gnome_Invisible]

That's the same reason I brew bitter. I can't buy an ordinary bitter without paying too much, so that's what I brew. If I want something else that I don't drink much, then I'll buy it.

 

[smizak]

I don't brew IPA's much, mostly because you have to drink them so fast before they turn. Then I get burned out on them. I hate IPA's that are too old.

I'm particularly satisfied when I brew a big Belgian beer. How much is a bottle of Westmalle Tripel, $6-$7? It cost me $20 to make over two cases.

 

[SpanishCastleAle]

I just don't like a lot of bitterness. Some of the IPAs and IIPAs I've tried taste cloyingly sweet to me and I don't like that either.

I agree that it (bitterness) is just another 'acquired taste', like beer/alcohol in general or coffee or unsweetened chocolate or cigars, etc. And that's not to make it sound like one is more 'refined' in acquiring said taste. We're acquiring a taste for something humans just aren't 'naturally' supposed to like.

 

[heywolfie1015]

That's the same reason I brew bitter. I can't buy an ordinary bitter without paying too much, so that's what I brew. If I want something else that I don't drink much, then I'll buy it.

Ditto. I love me a good bitter, but there aren't a lot of domestic craft examples, and the stuff I love is too expensive to justify. Same goes for the Belgian styles I love. (Having five gallons of saison on tap is just such a sweet justification for this hobby.)

 

[humann_brewing]

I use to not like bitter beers and thought even SNPA was too bitter but oh have times changed in the last couple of years. It is actually the complete opposite now and it seems like I can't drink a beer unless it has a distinct bitterness taste in it.

 

[HH60gunner]

Same boat... My taste buds have just never really agreed to super hoppy beer. I perfer the tastes of hefe's, and porters, dunkelweizens, and belgians. To each his own.

 

[blizz81]

I particularly like IPA much anymore. My friend and I did drink quite a lot of it summer 2008. He still drinks it constantly and I'm done with IPA's.

I like hops, but to me so many IPA's have little character other than hops.There are very few I will even drink commercially anymore.

Conversely, to me, they seem to be the easiest beers to brew in terms of being really hard to mess up. The three Cs hop character is pretty easy to attain. Balance, not as easy, but in comparison to beers that rely heavily on grain bill/yeast for flavor, altogether more simple.

 

[JOHN51277]

I like all kinds of brews, but my avatar speaks for me!!

<----------------

 

[Denny]

I don't like wheat or fruit beers. Some people don't like hoppy beers. Some people don't like dark beers. This is a news flash???

 

[SpanishCastleAle]

I don't like wheat or fruit beers. Some people don't like hoppy beers. Some people don't like dark beers. This is a news flash???

Well, I for one did not know you didn't like wheat or fruit beers. So it's news to me.

 

[heywolfie1015]

I don't like wheat or fruit beers. Some people don't like hoppy beers. Some people don't like dark beers. This is a news flash???

No, just a conversation starter.

 

[FromZwolle]

I don't like wheat or fruit beers. Some people don't like hoppy beers. Some people don't like dark beers. This is a news flash???

more commonly called a 'forum'

 

[FromZwolle]

i've never even had an ipa, but then again, i'm no hophead. i doubt i'll ever brew one for myself, but you never can tell if you'll stumble on to a great beer of any style that makes you want to whip out the old recipe book.

 

[triethylborane]

If chilled properly, I will go for an IPA every day. Still hard to beat a Hefe or an American wheat in terms of refreshing.

 

[Denny]

Still hard to beat a Hefe or an American wheat in terms of refreshing.

I'll take a German pils over either of those on a hot day.