NC's Best Drinking IPAs/ DIPAs

Haven’t had them frequently enough, but HopFly really has a great thing going, especially for the east-of-95 part of north eastern NC. Had their Juice Box NEIPA during a little travel break today and it was very good and refreshing. Glad to see them popping up on draft lists around the triangle.

I also second the above comment on fresh hawkbill!

 

Went to Brewery Bhavana for Fathers Day, Pulp was absolutely outstanding!

 

Wise Man’s Blissed Out mango tangerine milkshake IPA is fantastic.

 

Burial, Heist, New Anthem.

My top 3 for ipa’s right now.

 

I would go New Anthem, Resident Culture, and Heist in a top 3 list. My top 5 would include Brewery Bhavana and Burial. Casita and Wilmington Brewing are just on the outside. We are getting spoiled.

 

This tangerine/mango batch of Blissed Out is their best IPA so far. That one seemed to go pretty quick in the Triad, but I believe they still have it on tap at the brewery. I would dig it if they did batches of blissed out featuring other tropical fruit (guava, papaya, pineapple, etc).

 

Does anyone know where I can find a Brut IPA in the Triangle? After reading about it, I'm curious.

https://www.sfgate.com/beer/article/How-Brut-IPA-became-San-Francisco-s-newest-beer-12771517.php

 

Burial has been too inconsistent this past year for top three.

Heist, New Anthem, High Branch... in that order for me.

Everyone is sleeping on High Branch.

 

Really? When I think of consistency, Burial is the first name that comes to mind.

 

Just had Savages of Ruminating minds and it was a far cry from the last burial IPA I had which were the RAR and other half collabs last year. Also stopped there maybe 8 months ago and wasnt super impressed by their ipas but this was way better.

Only had High branch once (McGill) and it was ok though I think there was something wrong with the batch or it was oxidized. Going up to charlotte at the end of this month and Ill be stopping by there in addition to Heist and Resident Culture.

 

hmmm...

Page 21 of this thread discusses Burial's inconsistencies.

 

From March 2017? You said this past year.

 

Burial is notorious for tinkering with their recipes. This made some of their IPAs "inconsistent" in the past because Burial was altering their hops, yeast, malt bill, etc.

Since the start of this year, I have had 9 different Burial IPAs and some of them I will hold up as on par with the best on the state. Burial seems to have locked down a strategy to making really solid hazy IPAs. A year or two ago, I would have said IPAs were their soft spot compared to their great dark beers, farmhouse styles, and lagers. Now, I'll readily put Burial in the same sentence with a few other breweries as making some of the best hazy IPAs in the state.

 

Also, I think this fresh batch of Bandwagon from Four Saints is really great. It sounds like they only did kegs this time, so be sure to check the dates if you see cans.

 

Yeah I mean, they had some growing pains just like every brewery and have had some consistency issues going back to early 2017. But that feels like ancient history now. Their stuff has been super dialed in over the past year, especially all of 2018.

 

I have a friend picking me up cans from Resident Cultures release this weekend. Just wondering how busy they get and does he need to get there before the release at 1pm? TIA

 

The High Branch Is It Hoppy that was released on 7/27 is a great one. Perfectly balanced between the juicy and bitter elements without any of the big malt flavors you sometimes get from an 8%+ ABV DIPA.

 

New Anthem's recent Kill The Headlights and Throwing Shade can releases were tremendous.