# IPAs



## powpig2002 (Feb 5, 2011)

we have people that know beer. let's hear your fav. IPAs.


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## Glenn (Feb 5, 2011)

I've always enjoyed Harpoon. Dogfish Head is really good as well.


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## powpig2002 (Feb 5, 2011)

drinking sierra nevada torpedo. good stuff.


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## roark (Feb 5, 2011)

Heady topper. Pliny. Ithaca dipa. Harpoon Leviathan.


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## ctenidae (Feb 5, 2011)

Generally don't like the style, mostly because most brewers go too nuts on the hops. The beer should be suitable for shipping from London to New Delhi, unrefrigerated, and srtrong enough to only ship half or so as much. 

Sorry, i just think of it as a style that doesn't need interpretation. Bass was one of the first. Done.


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## jaja111 (Feb 5, 2011)

powpig2002 said:


> drinking sierra nevada torpedo. good stuff.



Ditto. The more cascades the better. Also like Smutty Nose's, Victory's Hop Devil (spicy notes - different kind of IPA), and Great Lakes.


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## roark (Feb 5, 2011)

ctenidae said:


> Generally don't like the style, mostly because most brewers go too nuts on the hops. The beer should be suitable for shipping from London to New Delhi, unrefrigerated, and srtrong enough to only ship half or so as much.
> 
> Sorry, i just think of it as a style that doesn't need interpretation. Bass was one of the first. Done.


Wussy.

ETA: you didn't even know Bass was technically an IPA until I pointed it out


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## ChileMass (Feb 6, 2011)

Sierra Nevada is a classic as is Harpoon here in Boston.  Saranac is a good semi-mass-brewed choice upstate.  

Was just in NJ this week and had some Hoffman Helles which was very tasty.  I guess it's technically a lager, but it was very hoppy and I considered it an IPA........


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## Geoff (Feb 6, 2011)

ctenidae said:


> Generally don't like the style, mostly because most brewers go too nuts on the hops. The beer should be suitable for shipping from London to New Delhi, unrefrigerated, and srtrong enough to only ship half or so as much.
> 
> Sorry, i just think of it as a style that doesn't need interpretation. Bass was one of the first. Done.



this

I don't care for the overhopped mess churned out by US breweries that once were microbreweries.   I think Sierra Nevada is close to undrinkable.   Long Trail has too heavy a hand with a lot of their beer.

If you go to the UK, a pint of bitter actually tastes good.


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## BMac (Feb 6, 2011)

Dogfish 60 min and Brown's Harvest IPA are my fav.  The Harvest is made with all NY hops so unfortunately there isn't much of it and it never last more than 2 weeks.

As far as Sierra Nevada and Long Trail being mass produced swill, I always thought I was a beer snob until now.


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## powpig2002 (Feb 6, 2011)

Geoff said:


> this
> 
> I don't care for the overhopped mess churned out by US breweries that once were microbreweries.   I think Sierra Nevada is close to undrinkable.   Long Trail has too heavy a hand with a lot of their beer.
> 
> If you go to the UK, a pint of bitter actually tastes good.



ahhh, who asked ya? wait, what? oh yea. i did:beer:


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## ChileMass (Feb 6, 2011)

BMac said:


> As far as Sierra Nevada and Long Trail being mass produced swill, I always thought I was a beer snob until now.



Good comment.......


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## riverc0il (Feb 6, 2011)

BMac said:


> As far as Sierra Nevada and Long Trail being mass produced swill, I always thought I was a beer snob until now.


:lol:

I understand where the IPA nay-sayers are coming from. Its become quite common place to have really strong and aggressive IPAs. It certainly takes a lot more effort to make them taste great and make them at least somewhat easy to drink. I really enjoy IPAs but I have to be in the right mood for something aggressive when drinking many of the stronger offerings out there. Sometimes they really are truly too hoppy even for my taste. But that doesn't mean people don't enjoy them and breweries shouldn't continue to try to do new things with them just because the beer is no longer following the true path of its name sake. 

The Harpoon Leviathan IPA was really good. While I like IPAs, my favorite beers are decidedly not IPAs even though I am always seeking new IPAs to try.


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## powpig2002 (Feb 6, 2011)

had a harpoon ipa today. first one in years. don't know if i'd buy another. funny how they are all different. harpoon-so so. dogfish, sierra nevada or raging bitch- excellent. but must be in mood for IN YOUR FACE.


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## Greg (Feb 6, 2011)

I like virtually any IPA. The hoppier, the better. That's the whole point as far as I'm concerned. I like Hi.P.A and Lucky Kat from Magic Hat. Red Hook Long Hammer is good too. Harpoon, fine by me, and so is Long Trail, but I'm nowhere near a beer snob, and will drink Bud Light in mass quantity too, so what so I really know....


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## Geoff (Feb 6, 2011)

BMac said:


> As far as Sierra Nevada and Long Trail being mass produced swill, I always thought I was a beer snob until now.



I said "mess", not "swill".   Sierra Nevada is a national brand and it's grown to be roughly the same size as Boston Beer's Sam Adams brand.   It is not a microbrewery.   It is a large corporation that has branded itsself as a craft brewer.   I like their wheat beer but I think their flagship IPA is undrinkable.

Long Trail has grown like crazy.   They bought Otter Creek recently because they had run out of capacity in their Bridgewater plant.   It was some culture shock in Middlebury when the plant went from a sleepy little craft brewer to a beer factory with multiple shifts cranking out as much product as possible.


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## Cannonball (Feb 6, 2011)

Magic Hat's Demo is treating me pretty damn well at the moment.  Part of their "Tour of IPAs"


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## ctenidae (Feb 6, 2011)

There are some good IPA's out ther, I just can' tthink of them, and most are not good. Result of our "extreme" culture, I suppose. No one's doing a malt devil beer, I notice.


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## BackLoafRiver (Feb 7, 2011)

Greg said:


> I like virtually any IPA. The hoppier, the better. That's the whole point as far as I'm concerned.



Agreed. I like to be able to chew the hops.

I have several favorite IPA's.  The Lagunitas IPA is delicious.(not distributed in Maine but you can get it in Mass)  Also like Bell's Two Hearted but I can't seem to get it up here.  

My "go to's" are: 1)Stone's Ruination and 2) Red Racer IPA.  The red racer is a new discovery and it is quite good. You can get it in a 6 - pack and  it comes only in a can.  

The DFH 90 minute I enjoy far more than the 60.  

Recently discovered Stone's Lucky Bastard. I have only seen it on tap but it is absolutely spot on.  

Has anyone tried the new Sam Adams IPA??  (I think it is called  48 longitude or some such thing) I am generally not a fan of their stuff but was intrigued.

 :beer:


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## roark (Feb 7, 2011)

Sierra Nevada Pale Ale (Green label) is not an IPA. It pretty much defines the 'American Pale Ale' style and nearly singlehandedly kicked off the microbrewery trend. The sharpness you're tasting is not an overabundance of hops but rather a lot of crystal/caramel malt (like, 3-4x what one would normally see in a british pale ale). Yes, there's some cascades in the aroma, but not as much as you might think.

And yes, they've grown since then.

What thrills me is that american microbreweries have driven innovation worldwide. In the 80's, even the small breweries still produced just the standard british ales or german lagers. Now we have an ever expanding array of choices. If a standard old british style IPA still gets you excited, well good for you. I'm happy to have something that makes me say WOW.


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## roark (Feb 7, 2011)

ctenidae said:


> There are some good IPA's out ther, I just can' tthink of them, and most are not good. Result of our "extreme" culture, I suppose. No one's doing a malt devil beer, I notice.


Already exist, in many forms:
Bocks, barleywine, malt liquor...


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## HD333 (Feb 7, 2011)

Stone Ruination for the win.


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## ctenidae (Feb 7, 2011)

roark said:


> Already exist, in many forms:
> Bocks, barleywine, malt liquor...



Touche. Though, throwing down the malt liquor card in an IPA thread is ballsy! OE8 for the win!


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## RootDKJ (Feb 7, 2011)

Geoff said:


> Long Trail has grown like crazy.   They bought Otter Creek recently because they had run out of capacity in their Bridgewater plant.   It was some culture shock in Middlebury when the plant went from a sleepy little craft brewer to a beer factory with multiple shifts cranking out as much product as possible.



No kidding.  I've been to Otter Creek a few times and always thought their beer was pretty good (food also).


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## roark (Feb 7, 2011)

RootDKJ said:


> No kidding. I've been to Otter Creek a few times and always thought their beer was pretty good (food also).


Their Alpine black IPA is pretty good


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## rocojerry (Feb 7, 2011)

BackLoafRiver said:


> My "go to's" are: 1)Stone's Ruination and 2) Red Racer IPA.  The red racer is a new discovery and it is quite good. You can get it in a 6 - pack and  it comes only in a can.
> :beer:



I was reading this thread looking for my favorite IPA, Bear Republic's Racer 5 IPA, and I thought you had it -- but looks like close but no cigar.

http://www.bearrepublic.com/ourbeers.php

It is top notch.  If you see it, try it!


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## prophet0426 (Feb 7, 2011)

Shipyard Fuggles is really tasty!


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## roark (Feb 7, 2011)

rocojerry said:


> I was reading this thread looking for my favorite IPA, Bear Republic's Racer 5 IPA, and I thought you had it -- but looks like close but no cigar.
> 
> http://www.bearrepublic.com/ourbeers.php
> 
> It is top notch. If you see it, try it!


 
Racer X (doubt it makes it over here) is mighty fine as well. Also Hop Rod Rye, but I'm digressing from IPAs... but I will say they have a Catamount (now the Windsor Harpoon Brewery location) coaster in the men's room!


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## darent (Feb 7, 2011)

my son derek makes a mean IPA, I love seeing that box arrive from oregon city, derek if you read this send more!!


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## frozencorn (Feb 8, 2011)

My sister-in-law is bringing a case of Hopslam up from DC this weekend. Heard great things, so we shall see. I've thoroughly enjoyed Bell's other offerings, especially the 2-hearted.


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## powpig2002 (Feb 8, 2011)

BackLoafRiver said:


> Agreed. I like to be able to chew the hops.
> 
> I have several favorite IPA's.  The Lagunitas IPA is delicious.(not distributed in Maine but you can get it in Mass)  Also like Bell's Two Hearted but I can't seem to get it up here.
> 
> ...


 he said "i can't seem to get it up here" :razz::razz::razz::razz:


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## Riverskier (Feb 8, 2011)

Victory Hop Devil is probably my favorite, followed by Sierra Nevada Torpedo. Not a huge fan of the Dogfish 60, but like the 90. Gritty's 21 is pretty good for local. There are a ton, in this thread alone, that I still haven't tried though.


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## powpig2002 (Feb 8, 2011)

drinking a hop wallop now. alright. have a hop devil next. gritty's 21 this weekend. i,m gonna go on your word.


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## jaywbigred (Feb 8, 2011)

I love IPAs, but they are not my favorite style. I like both the more subtle type with a well rounded flavor, as well as an in your face hopped beer. 

Some of my favorites include Ithaca Double IPA and Ithaca Flower Power, Victory Hop Devil, DFH (I like all 3), Racer 5, and Stoudt's Double IPA. 

I also think its a hard style to really mess up, but a tough one to really perfect. There are  a lot of decent, but mediocre offerings out there.


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## deadheadskier (Feb 8, 2011)

Don't know if they went out of business, but I used to LOVE  Oregon IPA.  Anyone remember it? saw a lot of it in the late 90s, Sierra Nevada style brown bottle with a dark green label.

love IPAs myself.


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## frozencorn (Feb 9, 2011)

Finally found the Hoptinium last night. Bought the last two bottles. Steep at $9.50 a pop, but have heard good things.


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## Greg (Mar 2, 2011)

Bought a six of this last night. Tastes good to me...


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## ctenidae (Mar 2, 2011)

Greg said:


> Bought a six of this last night. Tastes good to me...



That one is pretty good- they designed a good beer to handle to hops, but didn't go nuts on it. Compared to some that, in my opinion, start with a crap beer and overload the hops.


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## legalskier (Mar 2, 2011)

Then there was Ballantine IPA, a niche brew before there were niche brews. Anyone remember it?  Tasty indeed. 
_"Also in regular production was a now legendary and very highly regarded world-class India Pale Ale (an intensely bitter and aromatic brew which was aged 1 year in wood prior to bottling)."_ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ballantine_Brewery


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## SummaSux (Mar 5, 2011)

Just had an Otter Creek Black IPA last night, def good more more like a Stout to me.

Can't beat a DFH 60 or 90 min IPA, but they're limited edition Squall IPA is to die for.
Just found 2 bottles at Bert's in Manchester NH on Tuesday, well worth the $8.25/bottle.


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## Geoff (Mar 5, 2011)

RootDKJ said:


> No kidding.  I've been to Otter Creek a few times and always thought their beer was pretty good (food also).



The other thing I learned the other day is that the Long Trail Brewery in Bridgewater is limited by their permitting for drawing water out of the aquifer.   They needed to buy Otter Creek to get a plant on another site to use the water there.   You'd think that with the Ottaquechee River flowing 100 feet from the Brewery, that water supply wouldn't be an issue.


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## jrmagic (Mar 7, 2011)

I think Otter Creek found a winner with the Black IPA.  We had quite a bit of it this winter. As for some others I really can't say anything bad about DFH. I like their 60 and 90. I'm also a fan of Victory Brewing's Hop Devil. Not sure if you NE guys can get it but Blue Point Brewery on LI has Hoptical Issusion for you hop heads. I especially love getting a few growlers full whenever we pass by:beer:


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## Grassi21 (Mar 7, 2011)

jrmagic said:


> I think Otter Creek found a winner with the Black IPA.  We had quite a bit of it this winter. As for some others I really can't say anything bad about DFH. I like their 60 and 90. I'm also a fan of Victory Brewing's Hop Devil. Not sure if you NE guys can get it but Blue Point Brewery on LI has Hoptical Issusion for you hop heads. I especially love getting a few growlers full whenever we pass by:beer:



+1 on the Otter Creek Black IPA.  I was in my package store looking for something else and decided to give the BIPA a try, very happy that I did.


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