Attempting to jumpstart my IPA palate

Just keep drinking Heady, if you don't like it at first that's fine, your tongue will eventually be beaten into submission.

It took me a year to get into hoppy beers. I started much slower though with mild IPAs.

 

I wouldn't force it.

When I first got into craft, I absolutely detested IPAs and could not see the appeal. I loved maltier styles, though, like brown ales, porters and stouts. I drank those almost exclusively for a year or so and then, after seeing so much praise for it online, I decided to pick up a Dogfish 90-minute. I tried it and fell in love not just with the beer, but IPAs in general.

I think this happened because even though those styles were nothing like an IPA, they did in a roundabout way start up the ol' "lupulin shift". They aren't hoppy as far as craft beers go, but they were far hoppier than the Yuengling and other lagers I was drinking before.

You should be enjoying beer -- not trying to enjoy beer. That being said, if you want to learn to appreciate IPAs, perhaps you could start with pale ales and go from there.

 

Personally I would start with Uinta Wyld, and Founders dry hopped pale, Big and biscuity. In my opinion the brighter more floral stuff is more accessible so than I would bump it up to headwaters pale plenty of tropical fruit in that beer. IPAs that are tropical Flying dog double dog, Left hand twin sisters, Flying dog El Dorado if you can still find it. Just my personal opinion, but when I first got started dank pine and resin was to much for me. If you have a store with good employees you frequent ask what else they have that fits that bill. or try and tell them or us exactly what you do AND don't like about what you have had, and they should be able to point you in the right direction. Slower is always better in my opinion gives you the chance to try more without drinking things you aren't acclimated to/ don't like yet.

 

Have you tried Harpoon IPA? Its taste is very muted compared to most, and it's quite popular.

 

I think your going in the wrong direction. Start with lighter hopped beers and then work your way up to the hop bombs.

Try Pales and smaller IPAs (Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, Sam Adams Latitude 48, Dales Pale Ale, Harpoon IPA, Smuttynose Shoals Pale ale, ect). I would try and get your hands on any "english style IPA's". Any Local craft Pale Ale should fit the bill.

After that you can start complaining that nothing is hoppy enough and only drinking things like Ruination IPA, Hoptimum, Palate Wrecker, Double Jack, Hoop Stoopid and the like.

 

Heady Topper is just another IPA. If you don't like IPAs, you won't like Heady Topper and that's fine. There are plenty of other drinks available.

 

Since the current hoppiness trend was gradual lead-in for many of us current hopheads [or for me at least], I believe the OP should start slowly, as others have suggested, with pale ales that were considered hoppy at the time of their first release. But remember - be patient and experiment - all IPAs were not created equal.

 

Mine evolved on it's own. Start with some good pale ales like Sierra Nevada and work from there. Heady is AMAZING, but you probably aren't ready for it. Hell drink one anyway...its Heady.

 

My thoughts as well, though I will add Anchor Liberty Ale and Lagunitas New Dogtown to the list of suggestions- Liberty, in particular, seems like the perfect bridge between the styles.

 

Did my post come off as me really telling you to go with Heady? I just said it will beat your tongue into submission. It's not a starter IPA by any stretch of the imagination. Get something like a Founders All Day IPA, or a Sierra Nevada Pale Ale and start working your way up.

 

I agree that you should start on some American Pale Ales, like Stone Pale Ale, Sierra Nevada Pale ale. You could also try going for a more fruity IPA - something like Phillips Hop Circle from Victoria, British Columbia. It's got a firm bitterness but it's also got a lot tropical fruit flavours which are accessible to anyone getting into the style.

 

This is pretty much my journey into IPAs as well, right down to the DFH 90 Minute. Decided to try a growler of it on a whim and ended up falling head over heels for it.

Honestly, if you're starting with Heady Topper, you're setting the bar really, really high. Heady's probably the best IPA I've ever had, so everything else may just come up a little short.

I'm not sure what kind of distribution this particular beer gets and if it's even near you in Boston, but Three Heads "The Kind" IPA is low on the bitterness, but big on citrus and pine. I would recommend it, just to show your palate that pine # bitterness.

 

Now, that's FUNNY!

 

Why don't you just drink what you like instead of forcing yourself to drink beers that you don't like?

Hopheadedness is viewed by many American beer geeks as something to "work your way up to" or to which you should aspire, which is an absurdly narrow-minded viewpoint. Personally I find it irritating when people insist that the natural evolution of the craft beer drinker is for everyone to eventually transform into a hophead. People seem to believe that you're not "enlightened" and haven't reached the pinnacle of becoming a beer lover unless you're infatuated with ultra hoppy beers. "Oh don't worry, you'll get there one day, your palate just isn't developed yet". No, you're wrong, I've been drinking craft beer and homebrew for long enough to know that I prefer pretty much every other style of beer over IPAs. There are many other beers out there besides IPAs, and not everyone is destine to evolve into a hophead.

There's nothing wrong with challenging your palate and learning about new beer styles, but there's nothing wrong with not liking IPAs either. Not everyone likes every style of beer, and that's OK!

 

i would start with a Pliny the Elder from Russian River first and if you like ill trade you one for a Heady which i Cant get here in AZ so if you or anyone you know ill trade

 

My advice? Go buy all the Heady you can find and send it to me, then you wont' be tempted to drink it.

My second word of advice? Just give Heady a try, it's a super hoppy beer, but it's very smooth and drinkable and not insanely bitter (like Smutty Finest Kind). Don't get me wrong, I love Smutty, but damn it's dry and bitter.

Try it, you'll like it.