The best IPA I have had

When I was visiting my son at Lewis/McChord I bought a few 4 packs from 3 Magnets in Tacoma, just tremendous IPAs by any standard, I think one was Sunstorm, the other maybe Rainstorm.

 

For me - Pliny represents the start of the current phase of new beer discovery post the 80/90/early 00’s UK modeled US brewpub scene. Beer hunting during that time consisted of seeking out the best and newest brewpubs in a given city and then maybe one brewery visit if you could find one doing tours. Now it’s the opposite although RR still has the kinda-unique distinction of operating both an awesome brewery and a killer pub. Pliny was the first beer I had to have regularly but couldn’t get — at one point some friends and I were buying 3 at a time mailorder from a place in CO and shipping them to NH; then I had a friend that was going to LA for work every week and he’d bring back as much as he could pack in his checked luggage. I tried to homebrew PtE w/some success and had a blast researching /sleuthing all the threads online to figure out the secrets...and when I found a 2 hour podcast of Vinnie talking about his dry hop research and techniques - I must have played it for two weeks in the car while driving to/from work. Vinnie is a true original and PtE definitely stands on my Mt Rushmore is American Craft brews.

 

I had Boneyard on tap in Tacoma, I thought it was an awesome beer.

 

I'll say the best IPA experiences I've had are when I was given beers that I'd never heard of and ended up being mindblowing. Specifically, this was Lunch and Julius for me.

I got Lunch up at a restaurant in Maine. I wanted an IPA, and hadn't heard of anything they had on tap, so I grabbed Lunch because I thought the name was kind of funny. My response after my first sip was "HOLY SHIT." and I forced everyone at my table, even the ones who don't like beer to take a sip of it.

For Julius, my wife and I have friends who live near Treehouse, and a couple of years ago they popped by with a can of Julius. I'd never heard of it, I kinda fell off of the craft beer thing for a couple of years, and I cracked open a can before my wife and I were going to a movie, and I was just baffled by what I was drinking, it tasted like pure mango and orange juice. Unfortunately, I had to pound it pretty quickly, because an Uber was coming to pick us up, but I went to get more as soon as I could, and that's how I found myself back here, with a mini-fridge and cabinet filled to the brim with beers...

 

This was also the very first Dipa that I had to have. I traded my first CBS the first year it was bottled for Pliny and Blind Pig. I probably got rooked a bit on that my first trade, but I prefer IPAs to the Founders. When this stuff is fresh it's just such a great beer. I had a guy in SD id buy beer from, I usually bought a mixed case of Pliny and Alpine, he bitched about selling me Pliny because he didn't make much money on it, so he upped it $1 a bottle. It just was weirdly expensive with shipping and his handling fees.

 

I homebrewed one clone batch of PtE based on Vinnie's article; that batch came out excellent!

Cheers to Vinnie!!

 

Yesterday I attended a Black Friday beer event at a local beer bar. My favorite IPAs yesterday were:

• Pliny the Elder
• Alpine Nelson
• Epic Citralush NE style IPA

I am also really digging this year's version of Celebration IPA.

Cheers!

 

You can always rerate it.

 

Epic has become one of my favorite of the larger breweries. Even their doppelbock is great.

 

Ah, Jack was at Monks Cafe.

 

I would say my best is yet to be found and I'm dedicated to the search.

 

PtE was a definite "holy shit," "this is perfect" beer for me.

My favorite new-to-me IPA this year was Beachwood Amalgamator.

 

My favorite overall, which I actually just tried on Thanksgiving, is Skadoosh.

My favorite that I can get whenever I want (when in season) is probably Nimble Giant or Nugget Nectar.

 

A local beer - Trailway Brewing Co. Hu Jon Hops. It's the first time that I feel like a local beer could compete with any of the big national breweries. It's perfect for my tastes in just about every way.

 

Nope, I was at Capone's for Matt's annual Black Friday event. He had lots of great beers to choose from. I even got a chance to drink a glass of Cantillon Grand Cru.

Cheers!

 

If we're talking about the American IPA style, then FW Union Jack. If we're including APA's and DIPA's, then pretty much anything from Toppling Goliath.

 

Looking at my ratings on Untappd... the highest rating I gave an IPA was:

Cellarmaker Orange Julian

I actually don't like Cellarmaker IPAs very much, as I think they are the best in the world for hoppy blondes and pales. But I think they nailed the flavor profile for Orange Julian. The most recent batch released a couple weeks ago wasn't the same as the original, but it was still pretty good. Explosive fruity hop flavor, light crackery malt, and no booze. That's my jam.

Edit: I see people mentioning DIPAs. As far as DIPAs and TIPAs are concerned, Cellarmaker's Are You Afraid of the Dank and Russian River's Pliny the Younger are my favs. Treehouse Green ain't too shabby either.

 

I totally agree!
It reminds me of the ultimate IPA I was drinking 58 years ago...the flavor, bitterness and aroma of which has never been matched (though SN Celebration does come close, except for the aroma).

 

Back in the day I loved trying as many IPA from all over the country as I could get/trade for. Loved old school Alpine and Boneyard.

Nowadays I stick closer to home and drink mainly IPA from NY and our neighbor state Vt.

But lately I have been sticking even closer to home and don't even bother with other breweries for IPA. Equilibrium hops is all this old hippie hop head needs.

 

Us old hippies aren't all that hard to please!