West Coast IPA Thread

Stop it.. their haze game is really good. They're one of the best versatile breweries out there

 

Drinking GC Pet the Tiger and it's damn good.

 

I don't agree. I think it is meh. Sometimes it is very good, but mostly mediocre to okay.

Their WC game is excellent, and yes, I agree they are incredibly versatile. Great wilds, stouts, WC Ipas, and pilsners.

DDH Achiever on cans was awesome.

 

Yeah. This one is real good.

 

I was actually thinking about this for a bit. I feel like there's a general decline in american IPAs.

I remember when Sculpin, Stone Enjoy By and Go To, FW Jacks, Green Flash DIPA, St Archer Mosaic DIPA, Bear Republic special releases, were all stellar and widely available to the public. Hell, even Karl Strauss' Mosaic IPA was quite delicious.

But in recent years it has become really hard to find a truly excellent IPA without paying premium prices, and even then stuff is extremely unreliable. All of the abovementioned beers have sharply declined, even when fresh. Enjoy By is nothing like it used to be. Not to mention things like Noble Ale Works and Alpine, which are truly unrecognizable as far as I can tell. Even Lagunitas, who generally managed to stay consistent throughout the years and growth, started to drop in quality in the last few years: the glorious peak days of Born Yesterday, Sucks and Waldo's are gone. Still great beers, but discernibly inferior to its prime days.

Hell, even premium breweries doing predominantly haze like HPB, Other Half, Monkish, Alvarado St, and Sante, Brouwerij West, have declined as far as I can tell. Green Cheek is good, but nothing like prime Noble was... The haze craze has also unleashed a previously unheard of number of absolutely mediocre beers to the market. Not to mention the simply absurd garbage put out by Offshoot, Dust Bowl, Mikkeller, Boomtown, and LA Ale Works (17-20 dollar four packs for not super fresh, relatively mediocre beer). Can aesthetics have distracted people from beer.

Now, the best I can hope to get reliably in LA is a sixer of fresh Mayberry or a four pack of fresh Amalgamator for 12.99 or so at Whole Foods. Or Madewest Pale, when I can find it fresh for 7.99 at TD Joes, which is very rare.

 

Just my opinion but this sounds like classic palate shift and fatigue.

Cheers,

 

I thought so too, but it's not because some beers stayed the same for a long time, like Born Yesterday.

I don't think anyone can with a straight face say Enjoy By, Nelson, Sucks, Racer, Noble, or Sculpin are the same beers they used to be.

 

No they're not, but the rest of those you mention, I.E. Monkish, Green Cheek, HPB, Other Half etc etc are making beers that are far better than you give them credit for. The last few Monkish releases of new product like Stackin Chips and Rap Shrapnel are as good if not better than anything Henry has brewed IMHO, and what Evan is doing with his portfolio is simply world class, whether it's a West Coast or hazy.

Cheers,

 

I'm sure most of these are still the same or really really close. Palates have changed. There's a hundred plus more ipas, haze and west coast, on the market these days. More and more hops have been introduced. Tons of options these days from your local supermarket, bottleshop, and local breweries... especially if you live in a nice sized metro area. This craft beer game isn't standing still, its changing literally everyday. It is what it is. I've read your posts before and you seem to tear down and rip almost every brewery and beer out there.

 

To be fair, I haven't been to Monkish in a while; the last time I went I was quite disappointed. But that was September. I also haven't been to GC in a while, so they might have upped their game.

Other Half, on the other hand, I was severely let down by at their taproom last time I was there. I think there is a sharp asymmetry between their canned product and their kegs: their cans are much better for some reason, in general. I just had Powdered Cheese at southland and it was meh as fuck.

I never cared for HPB haze, but their WCs are still very solid. I still remember 1up and Hello LA being better in the past. DDH Achiever was excellent, though.

I recently had a very good West Coast in Port's Surfin.

I was also in Peru a month ago and was blown away at the hazy offerings of Red cervecera, of all places. It struck me.

 

I am super enthusiastic about many breweries. Cellador and Homage in particular, lately, in the West Coast. I was also very happy to try that Surfin by Port, and recently have been quite impressed by Madewest's stuff, which tends to fly under the radar, but can be found fairly easily. I really enjoy their hazy and pale, and they are reasonably priced.

I also just said in a post that I think HPB is super versatile and good. Modern Times I recognize makes world class stouts and barleywines, even though I don't care for most of their IPAs or sours.

 

Hello LA tastes exactly the same as it did half a decade ago.

 

Maybe, I remember differently. But 1-up more clearly.

 

Good green is a solid IPA. Not a strong ale

 

Sounds to me like palate shift, probably somewhat on your part as all of our tastes change over time but also definitely on the part of the broader culture around hoppy beer. Just the sheer growth in hop varieties has introduced lots of new flavors into hoppy beer and obviously the culture at large has latched onto lots of those (primarily tropical fruits) and I'm sure some of the beers you mentioned (enjoy by without doubt, lag sucks, green flash, st archer) have added new hop varieties into the recipe and have changed them.
And the haze invasion has certainly changed the landscape considerably. But I for one haven't noticed a general decline in the quality of available WC ipas. As many hits from 5-10 years ago as have faded, new options that bring the same or better quality have popped up.

 

Just had an El Segundo Fresh AF at Tustin Brewing. Tasty, crisp and definitely West Coast IPA at it’s finest.

 

Dream River on tap currently at Modern Times is a new WCIPA and is fantastic. Check it out.

 

Opened one of last 2 cans of GC Happily Deceased during yesterday’s session. So clean and refreshing. As mentioned before my fridge is 60/40 haze to west coast right now. It is probably overloaded with too much cans. I picked up a sixer of the Pupil yesterday. I’ve been dropping off cans to my bro-in-law every weeks so I can make more room in my fridge. I think there are so many good to great IPA’s to choose from these days. If I see something (that I probably really don’t need right now) I’ll grab it. I’ll be up in Kernville for the can release in 10 days. So I’ll be bringing back a bunch of fresh cans of new and old. Most of the old stuff is still good. Just trying to mix the new with the old. It’s all good. Palate is still enjoying all these hoppy beers. Hazy or clear.

 

Finished a crowler of this over the weekend. Highly recommend!