Chicagoland NE IPAs (2018)

I may have to trade for some of the Treehouse stuff sometime soon, just to put this whole thing to bed for myself. I find myself in line with @croush, (who, despite buying more of this style IPA than me, probably also likes them less) in that I'm kind of tiring of the style. It may be that I'm just not drinking good enough examples (hence wanting to get some Treehouse), but after picking up a 4-pack of Navaja a week and a half ago, and drinking a bunch of Alchemist stuff last week, I've found that I was actually missing the more traditional bitterness and feel of IPAs (that I thought I might not prefer). Either way it's not a bad thing (there's no way I'd be drinking all NE stuff all the time, anyway), but I'm pretty curious where I stand on the whole thing.

 

I agree with what you're saying, but I don't think it's entirely that. To use the Alchemist example, I didn't find any of them particularly new; they all tasted familiar, but familiar in a perfected way. It's entirely possible that I'm getting style fatigue from the NE IPAs (because the ones I've had have all been sweet and tropical and low on bitterness, to the point where I've noted that it was sometimes cloying), but it's not like I just "returned" to more traditional IPAs; I've been drinking them while trying the other stuff (there's a reason I've blown through 2 or 3 4-packs of Navaja in the last month or two, but still have 2 of my 4 cans of Galaxy Bowl). I think I've (so far) just kind of realized that there's a balance between hops and malt that I really like (I always think of it as the beer being "full" and almost "salty," but I think it's just that there's a good amount of malt presence), and the NE beers don't have that. The Alchemist stuff would be perfect to me if the bitterness were lower, for example.

Anyway, main point is that I want to see if Treehouse's stuff can make me question yet again, what it is that I'm looking for in an IPA.


edit: I'd also like to say that I'm almost OCD about the way I go about drinking beer (and bourbon). I will try to drink almost exclusively on a mostly empty stomach (I don't drink if I'm eating), and I will usually brush my tongue and rinse out my mouth before drinking if I have any concerns. Yes, it's super weird and stupid, and yes, I make fun of myself while my girlfriend laughs at me. The only reason I'm pointing this out is that I try as hard as possible to have as little palate variation as I can, from beer to beer. I know that's impossible, but I do my best.

(and now I've embarrassed myself)

 

This is what kills me, and amuses me infinitely about our tastebuds.

Well, I'm definitely leaning towards cracking open a GB this weekend, then!

 

This would be a good time for BA to let us post memes...

 

I don't really consider TG to produce NE IPAs (despite King Sue having sharing some of their characteristics) and PW certainly doesn't; was there any reason to assume it was an NE-style collab, or just based on some of TG's cloudier beers?

I'm not super worried about it, for whatever reason. It's weird; it's arguably my favorite of the Chicago NE IPAs, but I'm in no rush to finish my last two cans. I'll definitely roll it around and whatnot before drinking, although usually pouring the last remnants of the can into my glass (one straight pour, the whole can) tends to do the trick.

 

Yeah, I wasn't trying to be a smartass, just genuinely asking. And agreed.