Mixing Fruit Juices with IPAs

I grew up with my old Romanian grandmother giving me a ginger beer/beer shandy from the time I was around 9 (what I just learned is Carribean style). I still love it.

 

The trend with fresh IPAs and especially with Southern Hemisphere hops seems to be that floral/grapefruit flavor, which I enjoy as much as the next hophead. Even with beers like Julius and Grapefruit sculpin, it is getting fairly close to drinking fruit juice. I will throw coffee stouts in the mix also, have you added coffee to these? IMHO, if I want a coffee flavor, I drink coffee, and fruit juice for 1/10 the price of a less fruity IPA. So, it makes me question what my goal is in tasting all these flavorful beers, which are good, but never hold up to the real thing. As for adding juice, I am all for it if you enjoy the taste!

 

Ballast Point is getting ready to do this for you. Save the citrus and mangos for breakfast.

 

Instead of adding fruit to the beer, add beer to the fruit

 

I don't quite understand the popularity of IPAs flavoured with hops that taste of grapefruit...That anyone would want these strange tasting beers to be more 'citrussy' seems a little peculiar...

 

Some real closed-minded sons of bitches up in here. Jesus...

For those that aren't boring as fuck, throw a dash of pineapple juice in your next nelson IPA for some juicy goodness.

 

OJ and Zombie Dust...Zombosa's do it all the time

 

After recently having several Tree House IPA's for the first time, I can think of a host of fruits or juices that would be great in them. Anything from mango, to guava, to orange or tangerine juice would be a good addition to Green, Julius, or even Haze.

 

Yuck. I could put ketchup on a dry aged 1.5" thick ribeye hot grilled over hardwood charcoal too. Or mix coke with my macallan 18 too. This thread should go into the "beer cocktail" area. Good idea? Maybe. But not for me.

 

Hell, I've only mixed beer once before because I wasn't fond of the first one I opened. But put fruit juice in an otherwise perfectly good and tasty beer? Sounds more like something one would do to a macro lager to give it some taste. If there isn't enough taste for you in the beer you're drinking, it's time to find another beer, IMO. And similarly, I'm not a fan of barrel aged beers because they make what's in the glass taste like something other than beer.

 

Not a beer cocktail guy

 

If Tree House beers were any juicer I'd be convinced I was drinking actual juice and not beer. Not that anything is necessarily wrong with that, but I just don't think they need any added juiciness.

 

Not sure about in an IPA, but 25% Banana Juice (or Mango Juice) in a Hefe is awesome at brunch


As an aside, it's interesting that so many people hold the Germans up as being at the pinnacle of beer making, and yet when people bring up the idea of mixing juice into a beer (something that is widely accepted and traditional over there), people scoff, make fun of it, and act as if it is somehow something crazy and unacceptable for anyone who likes beer to do.

 

Yah pussification is a great way to put it. I just wouldn't feel right putting juice into my ipa. Its kinda like those people that put ice in their red wine to cool it down. Not natural. Hey if you all wanna juice up your ipas, youre not hurtin anyone!

 

So easily excited! Seems like you need less juice in your beers. I might make a batch of kool-aid with a growler of pale ale but never fruit juice to an ipa. Just my opinion but what do I know about me?

 

Cherry kool-aid 50/50 with zombie dust. Ohhhh yeahhh!

 

seriously though.

When I introduce some fruit/juice into IPAs we are talking something like a half ounce of ruby red into 12oz of an already citrusy IPA. Or a little bit of pineapple juice into a big nelson ipa pour. Just enough to really enhance that juiciness without making the beer watered down, or lose its hop character. Good stuff.

 

I've mixed Passion Fruit juice with a Schlafly T-IPA once. It was tasty and no fucks given. Also added a shot of Elijah Craig 23 year into an Aged Storm King. It didn't do anything good (Flavor-wise) but gave me a great Buzz.

 

I am very surprised at the amount of comments on here that are not open to this kind of experimentation. What does everyone think brewing is about in the first place? Anyone heard of a French press/randled, barrel aging, Grapefruit Sculpin? Around these parts, people go crazy chasing down Pineapple Bodhi and Jungle Juiced Head Hunter.

Anyway, I usually experiment when I have some older beers in the fridge. I like Stone IPA for a base beer. Some work, and some don't. I have squeezed some mandarin orange, pineapple, and peach juice into the glass. I do this with bourbon and rum quite often too. Also, don't overlook beer floats. A had a Cigar City Maduro with a scoop of ice cream that was awesome.