Can an IPA be TOO balanced?

if I've got 90% of my weight on my new downhill ski and 10% of my weight on my new uphill ski as I'm initiating a carved turn, I'm not balanced equally but I'm not un-balanced either; I'm balanced to an acceptable degree for what I am doing or trying to do at that moment.

I never understand what anybody means when they talk about "balance" and IPAs. Obviously (well, to me anyway) a well-made beer is always balanced; it's inevitable, tautological. The balance point is just struck within one range for IPAs and a different range for, say, Dortmunder Exports and still another for, say, Abbey Dubbels.

The interesting beers--or, one group of interesting beers-- are the ones that push the balance point further than perhaps one expected it to be pushable, but it turns out even on first sip, that previous conceptions were wrong and it really was pushable to that point. On the other hand, it is possible (to my palate, I can't stress enough; yours may be different) for the brewer to push past the last acceptable balance point, even for an IPA, and the result is a bad beer.

Somehow in my experience this happens most frequently not with IPA's or DIPA's, but with attempts at session IPAs, leading to the conclusion that it's not just a hops/malt dichotomy but more of a three-legged stool whose component legs are malt, hops, and alcohol strength.

 

Amen!!

I have yet to drink a beer that is labeled as "Session IPA" that I can enjoy drinking. All that I can think of when drinking those beers is "hop water".

One counter-example I can think of s Carton Boat Beer. That beer is not explicitly labeled as being a Session Beer but it is a 4.2% ABV hoppy beer that is akin to the intended Session IPA sub-style. Carton Boat Beer is more of a malt backbone to it which I ascribe to good brewing process for this specific beer. Augie Carton in a past thread provided some details here:

“boats bill is mostly 2 row with some flaked wheat and a touch of acidulated”

Cheers!

 

This is exactly my opinion. The premise of this entire thread is flawed, or at best, very poorly defined.

 

I like my IPA balanced, but my definition of balanced is hoppy!

 

This.....so much This.

There is a local English-style IPA brewed near here, Bisbee Brewing's Double Hop IPA (http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/25483/102144/). The head brewer at Bisbee apprenticed at a few breweries in England for a number of years. He is really good at what he does (their stout is impeccable). Their IPA is perfectly balanced with caramel/biscuit malt and just a touch delicious herbal hop bitterness. A perfect english-style india pale ale.

Unfortunately a lot of beer enthusiasts don't "get it" because when they read "Double Hopped" they think it's gonna be a west coast bitter hop bomb and, as you can see by the some of the reviews, it gets slammed because it isn't what they expected. I really hope that the English style can become more popular and respected by modern craft beer fans.

 

A noble hope. If I was a betting man I would not bet on this happening.

Cheers!

 

Of course, if that balance is on the bland side of the scale. For my taste you can't get too balanced on the hoppy side of the scale. I love a good hoppy beer, I loved hoppy beers before they were popular and I will love them long after they cease to be popular, if you can get me a really well balanced hoppy beer then I am happy. For all the hoppy beers I drink, many of them with very high IBU's the most important factor for me is balance. I can take the hop juice but to my taste it's not nearly as enjoyable as a well balanced but highly hopped IPA.

 

I feel that an IPA is too balanced when neither the hops, nor the malt shine in any particular way. I prefer my IPA's to deliver a One-Two punch of sweetness and bitterness, of equal intensity if possible, but they need to start out sweet and malt forward and be followed by an equally intense bitter finish. That's what makes a perfect IPA for me!

 

People who drink IPA as a regular beer just complain about any malt character. That is the consequence of being a hophead...You can't enjoy the very malt that makes the beer, because all you want to taste is hop juice.

Learn to appreciate nuance of all character, multi cultural tolerance of malt, brings peace to beer...and it'll get ya chicks too

 

Balanced = too malty

 

Funny this question is asked... it's how I felt about Dogfish Head's Romantic Chemistry.

 

Ugh.

I hate hearing all this "BALANCE IS BAD" nonsense. No, an over-malted IPA is not "balanced", it's over-malted.

 

Can sex be too good?

 

See Hopslam, See Green, See Julius, See Haze, See Double Dry Hopped Congress Street, etc. I love the fact that Hopslam doesn't apologize for what it is and has been all these years. I love the fact that all these fantastic New England breweries are improving on the style by creating bigger flavors alternatively rather than simply pouring more hops in to the beers like every other brewery in the country. Im sick and tired of chest pounding over IBUs. Just make a good balanced beer! #endrant

ps I wrote this while crushing a growler of Green and it was good balanced fun.

 

It might not be a question of balance, perhaps just a question of blandness.

For what it's worth, you really can't have to much malt for me. But I love hops too.

 

Two Hearted isn't a blow you away beer, it's just damn good. If I had to choose only beer to have for the rest of my life, Two Hearted is high on my short list.

 

No, I really like a well balanced ipa. I also love a lot of really hoppy beers, but sometimes I'm not looking for anything for that.

 

I think an IPA that is too balanced is just a really damn good beer. Too much malt or hops would make it unbalanced, even if IPA's are hop forward. If it has a good hop : malt ratio it is balanced.

 

I think a lot of times we think of "balanced" purely in terms of malt/hops balance. It that's the case, then good god, an IPA should not be balanced at all!