What is THE Iconic Southern IPA?

I would say Jai Alai, but the southeast is an enormous region. Sweetwater definitely deserves a nod.

 

Jai Alai is way too sweet for an IPA of any kind.

 

Good call on both. I'd say SweetWater IPA since it's been around the longest. Solid IPA.

 

REALLY?? JUST ONE?? I like several from my home state of Georgia.
Basement (Scofflaw),Hoplin' IPA (Southbound), Chance IPA (Wild Leap), A Night On Ponce (3 Taverns),Hop Dang Diggity (Jekyll) and a lot more I'll not post. I drink all the above on a regular basis so I guess all are my faves!

 

I agree. I really love those two brews!

 

Foothills is a good brewery, have visited. Jade is a good brew! I like the dry hopping of Chinook and Citra especially. Love the hops!

 

A Night on Ponce is a great call. I had to give the nod to SweetWater IPA because of longevity but that one is very good. It Creature Comforts had been around longer their Tropicalia would win hands down IMO.

 

Sweetwater - for me, its a benchmark IPA kind of like Lagunitas - both been around a long time. Have to have one every now and then to remind myself how good it is.

 

I'll be another one to jump on the Sweetwater train. It is a very solid, consistent beer. I will also, give honorable mention to NoDa Brewing Hop Drop & Roll

 

As for my part of the Southern world, I'll go with @donspublic and Yellow Rose. It's been around long enough to get near state-wide distribution and to work out some of their consistency kinks.

Close second would be Electric Jellyfish from Pinthouse Pizza. Almost always mentioned at the top of the list for Texas (and especially Austin) IPAs. Gets docked for limited distribution though.

 

“Tampa isn’t the south”

Lol the fck?

 

I'm going to chime back in and say, if I must choose only one iconic IPA to represent the South, that I'll go with Sweetwater IPA--at least it's a brand that I regularly see and is available here in Louisiana (unlike Jai Alai, which I've only tried several times back when my brother was living in the Tampa area and occasionally brought me some--I've never seen it for sale here). Again though, I vote for Parish's Ghost in the Machine as the iconic IPA for Louisiana specifically. I will never complain about Gnarly Barley's Jucifer as an alternative either.

As I mentioned before, the South is a big geographical area , and you're going to have different answers based on where you're located and what you're familiar with. I would guess the OP based in Washington would have a hard time narrowing down only one representative IPA from the Pacific Northwest, as views will differ from state to state and even within states. It's opened up a conversation of interesting perspectives and insight though, and as a result I was on the lookout for some of the beers mentioned here recently while traveling through GA and NC. So, please carry on--it's good to hear different viewpoints and suggestions.