some damn good IPA's out there

[dookeyXXX]

Cereal Dilution American IPA
Sonoma Springs Brewing Co., Sonoma, CA
ABV: 7.3%
Hops: ?
IBU: 44

A tad bit syrupy up front, but rounds out with a nice, mellow bitterness. A decent and eclectic (i.e. not your average) West Coast-styled IPA.

[dookeyXXX]

Incredible Pale Ale
Henhouse Brewing Company, Santa Rosa, CA
ABV: 6.9%
Hops: Cascade, Simcoe, Mosaic, Belma, Hallertau Blanc
IBU:
BOD: 6/04/19
Drink Date: 6/30/19

One of the most well-balanced West Coast IPAs I've had in a long time. Even bitterness from start to finish buffered by a smooth mouth feel. Tasty and refreshing. But then pretty much everything I've had from this North Bay Area brewery has been on point.

[dookeyXXX]

Captain Save A'Mo Hazy Mosaic IPA
Sonoma Springs Brewing, Co., Sonoma, CA
ABV: 5.6
Hops: Mosaic
IBU: 38
BOD:
Drink Date: 6/30/19

I purchased this primarily on the name alone, what with being from The Bay Area and a longtime fan of E-40 and The Click crew. I'm also a huge fan of the brewery, too.
For those that don't get the reference:



But back to the brew, itself. This is a supremely even-keeled haze. Not terribly sweet, nor overly citrusy or bitter.

[FussyDutchman]

This beer is very aptly named. Does not drink like 8.1%. Nice balance, smooth finish with orange and mango flavors prominent to my palate.

[Vt-Freeheel]

Drink the other 3 cans, report back. ^^^

Friend of mine gave me a pack of those Treats, tasty they were.

[dookeyXXX]

Just came here to state that New Belgium Citradelic is my new least favorite IPA of all time. What a piece of shit, tastes like a tootsie roll for some reason, and a citronella candle. Too fucking lazy to use real fruit? Clearly tangerine extract perfuminess. Ugh. [/rant]

Completely wrong thread, man!

This should be in the "Incredibly Shitty IPAs Out There" thread...



FWIW, I have found that most of the "flavored", "juicy", "dank", and "hazy" IPAs from the bigger "small" breweries or the breweries that used to be craft, but now are not really (Lagunitas, Sierra Nevada, Firestone, Deschuttes, etc.) are not very good at all. I feel like they are all trying to jump on the haze wagon and the dank wagon just to capitalize on the beer drinkers who aren't going to their local nano brewery or live in an area where they can't get real craft beer easily or they just don't have that discerning of a palate and really could care less what they drink or they already drink other beers from these breweries, so they have "brand loyalty" to an extent.

FWIW2: Personally, I have never been a fan of any of New Belgium's brews...

[jackstraw]

Smooth.

[PlayItLeo]

Cushnoc Brewing - Gigantic Dad Pants Ipa.
Pretty, pretty, pretty good. And a great name.



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[KQ]

[SB]

For some , evah day is ipaday.


Me , I have to be flexible and drink for research and development.

[Phall]

In Ithaca for a wedding then heading to VT for 10 days. Had finback multicolor today, simply amazing. Also found the motherload of foreign objects


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[donutlynx]

^^^guessing the foreign object stuff is pretty good? Keep seeing singles pop up at the local shop here in OR...

[FussyDutchman]

In Ithaca for a wedding then heading to VT for 10 days. Had finback multicolor today, simply amazing. Also found the motherload of foreign objects


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Give a shout if you are in the BTV area and mniaw and I will try to meet you for a few.

[Phall]

So, I’ve been working through the older stuff first. Apparently everything they make is DDH, but the oldest one was from Sept of last year. It’s all been fine, but I’ll follow up once I get to the fresher stuff. The two I’ve had that were older were fine but definitely could taste the age(never thought I’d say that)


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[EWG]

Find this. My goodness. Bright crisp hazy with little malt showing. My kind of stuff. If you like Treehouse put this on the list. Final Gravity, Doppler Effect. Richmond.

[EWG]

And while we are on the Richmond train, this is also very good - though not quite AS good as Final Gravity. Mosaic by Triple Crossing. Also hazy.

[dookeyXXX]

^^^guessing the foreign object stuff is pretty good? Keep seeing singles pop up at the local shop here in OR...

I've had a few of their brews and they've been decent.
Biggest problem here is that the ones I've been getting are usually 3-to-5 months past the BOD, so I'm never quite sure how much that affects their taste (eerything I've read and discussed with brewers says that the hop profile immediately changes once an IPA is canned and that by 28 days post canning the beer is nowhere near what it was tastewise when it was brewed; most of the brewers I've talked to advise drinking a craft IPA no more than a month after canning, 3 months at the very longest being the absolute drink-by-date).
I would prefer to try some of their brews fresh off the line.

I posted up a review of one a wee bit ago: https://www.tetongravity.com/forums/...67#post5674567

I do enjoy their can art, fwiw.

We have a local market that has a pretty solid selection of singles, but again, a l ot of the stuff they have is 3-6 months past BOD (plus I saw their storage facilities the other week and they just have stuff sitting around in a regular storeroom (i.e. not in a walk-in cooler, so again, no idea how many times the stuff has been cooled/warmed/cooled before it gets put in the display cooler for sale).

[donutlynx]

Thanks! Will check out some cans and their dates (and sample the goods).

[jackstraw]

I only drink this when I'm in FL for work, but it now is distributed in NH so the local store sold it to my son as the "new" thing. Tastes like orange juice. It's just not really good. Not terrible, but its off.

[EWG]

most of the brewers I've talked to advise drinking a craft IPA no more than a month after canning, 3 months at the very longest being the absolute drink-by-date).

Hazy IPAs go south even faster. Great Divide Hazy, if I remember correctly, has a 30 day shelf life. They pull it after that. (It might be 45 days). That's one of the reasons that there aren't more really aggressive Hazy IPAs from bigger craft brewers. Harder when you have to distribute. So they end up being dumbed down like the hazy offerings from Sierra or Firestone (Mind Haze).

Canning equipment quality matters too. A lot. You can get an extra 3 weeks or so out of a good canning process.

I have a keg at home and can tell the difference week by week. It's amazing. However, some beers seem to hold better or worse than others. Julius and Juicy Bits, for example, change quickly but then hold at decent for a while. Bright has some staying power. Sculpin, on the other hand, craters really quickly.

[EWG]

I only drink this when I'm in FL for work, but it now is distributed in NH so the local store sold it to my son as the "new" thing. Tastes like orange juice. It's just not really good. Not terrible, but its off.

This is interesting. Cigar City, who brews that, used to have serious packaging issues, and you could get some beer that was awesome, and some that was completely turned, and the only difference was the canning run.

Since they were purchased by Oscar Blues, they've changed all their packaging, and it's been better, in my opinion. However, Jai Alai does seem to really get affected by time, more so than many other IPAs. I try hard not to buy it if it's older than about 6 weeks.

However, I had some recently that was fairly young and it was completely turned - astringent, malt forward, just not at all itself. I wonder if it got really hot or it they are still having packaging issues, which would be really surprising?

[dookeyXXX]

...gHowever, Jai Alai does seem to really get affected by time, more so than many other IPAs. I try hard not to buy it if it's older than about 6 weeks.

Damn, dude, 6 weeks!?!?!?

28 days, maybe 31 max for me.
Every craft brewer I have spoken to says that an IPA's flavor profile changes the minute it is canned and they should be drunk ASAP; a month is pushing it.

[dookeyXXX]

I am back after "Dry July".

Mystic Haze IPA
Speakeasy Ales & Lagers, San Francisco, .CA
ABV: 7.1 %
Hops: Calypso
IBU: ?
BOD: ? (I bought this as a single at the local natural grocer. But I found a full sixer at another grocer on the south side of the lake and it was dated 7/17/19, so gonna guess that the batch I had was from July).
Drink Date: 8/4/19

Persimmon or Kumquat aroma followed by a spicy (cardamom or cinnamon) finish. Clean and well balanced. Reminded me a bit of Device Brewing's Integral IPA. I would have this on deck as a daily brew if I could score it with any regularity.

[dookeyXXX]

The Hustle Tropical IPA
Gigantic Brewing Company, Portland, OR
ABV: 6.3%
Hops: Southern Passion and African Queen (South Africa)
IBU: ?
BOD: ? However, the bottle does state "Not As Awesome After 11/20/19 (I purchased it on 8/2/19)
Drink Date: 8/4/19

Another zesty and super juicy IPA with a balanced and mellow bitterness at the finish.
This is the third IPA I've had from Gigantic and I have yet to be disappointed by anything I've had from them. Granted, my experience with Portland IPAs is limited to Gigantic and Breakside, but everything I've had from both of these breweries is solid and legit.

[EWG]

Damn, dude, 6 weeks!?!?!?

28 days, maybe 31 max for me.
Every craft brewer I have spoken to says that an IPA's flavor profile changes the minute it is canned and they should be drunk ASAP; a month is pushing it.

Ha - totally agreed. But if I'm buying Jai Alia then it's a good bet I'm really, really low on options in an out of the way place, so I'm just doing the best I can working with limited tools!