Looking to experiment and try new things

Pseudo sue, enjoy!

 

Just in case you really want information I will tell you 1, Corona is not an IPA, 2, If you want to try IPAs that have low IBUs pretty much any of the trendy New England IPAs are there or since you are in Iowa I would highly recommend any of the Toppling Goliath IPAs or pale ales. Pseudo Sue and King Sue are highly rated but pretty much anything they do is above average.

 

Just start grabbing things you haven't had before, and write review here. It's an easy way to help define what you like and don't.

BTW, Dead Guy is not a typical Maibock, so don't expect other examples to taste like it. Rogue uses the same yeast in all their beers, so if you like that profile, try some other Rogue beers.

 

+1.

 

Thought I clicked on Tinder for a minute...

Anyway. I will echo @beertunes post all around. Definitely find a place that sells singles and have at it, because you’ll never know what might hit the spot.

That being said, since you specifically mentioned liking darker beers and trying ipas, it reminded me much of one of my first posts here. I was turned off by ipas in the early 2000s and pretty much drank import lagers and High Life until I got addicted to stouts and porters. I recall asking everyone here for recommendations for re-exploring ipas about a decade later and several (including @TongoRad) suggested imperials/double ipas because of the higher malt content several would offer a lot more balance/sweetness. I would say you are a lot better off than I was because you could experiment with hazy and/or milkshake ipas that generally have no bitterness. Also, many breweries seem to be producing Mexican Lagers right now. Toss a couple of those and a Helles of any kind in the cart and I think you will open up some possibilities.
One more, ok, 2 more things. If you like Corona and haven’t had Modelo, I recommend you do. And I would definitely sample some Vienna Lagers if I were you.

 

Some very good advice there

@JackHorzempa and I were talking about a local beer a couple of weeks ago that somehow bills itself as a "Mexican lager"; but without knowing that I would have guessed that it was a Classic American Pilsner. Maybe it isn't quite as hoppy as a Pilsner, but isn't shy about the hops either.

My guess is that this terminology is a convenient way for craft brewers to make an adjunct lager while still standing apart from the so called big guys. Either way, it drinks like a good blue collar brew, which is just fine by me.

 

Honestly the only way your going to know what you enjoy is to sample. What I enjoy may be horrible in your eyes, etc. If you want to explore IPA's hit your major stores like Total Wine and get mixed 6 packs and see if any do it for your tastes.
Good luck.

 

If you do go to Total Wine as suggested, check the dates on the beer. Total Wine is notorious for having really old beer that will not do any IPA or PA justice.

 

All but one (Fat Heads) “Mexican Lager” I’ve had so far was just that. Which isn’t a bad thing. Other than the price...

 

+1 to @beertunes suggestion. Just try stuff. And try not to have preconceived notions, keep an open mind.

Also, at this point in your journey I’d recommend you just find stuff easily available locally. There will be time later to chase rare stuff, maybe trade if you are interested. Right now you are just finding out what’s out there, what you like, what you don’t, etc. Your palate will develop and evolve to the point that you generally know what to expect from a given style, especially if you try a good cross section.

Enjoy the ride!

P.S. I think there’s a way to sort a list for the most rated/reviewed beers in your state/region (as opposed to highest rated, which will generally be a bunch of unobtainable rare beers). Try some of those. They are popular by virtue of being tried by thousands of people. And this give you a good sampling of various popular beers in your area.

 

I'd start looking for milkshake ipas, "hazy" or "juicy" ipas. Specifically IPA made with lactose and/or oats. They tend to be more full bodied and sweeter, and I think bitterness is generally lower but probably lots of varia ability.

I can't recommend any brewers or brands cause it's not really my style preference but I think if you poke around you'll find the polar opposite of the IBU war ipas and you can follow your own rabbit holes if you find beers or brewers you like

 

The Pseudo Sue recommendation above is a good choice. Its primary hop flavor comes from the Citra hop, which is arguably the most popular hop for consumers, so consider beers that are easily available to you that primarily use the Citra hop. Some beer labels will list Citra along with other hop names, so you need to discover if the Citra is the major flavor hop.

If you haven't started yet, you can also look into New England-style IPAs, usually referred to as NEIPAs. They are very popular right now, typically not bitter at all, and somewhat like drinking a mixture of orange juice and papaya juice (or many other juices).

P.S. Welcome to the BA site. Hang around as much as you'd like.

 

I used to dislike ipa, the beers that bridged me from malty to hoppy

Our new total wine somehow has the most fresh imports in town.

 

Wait a year and check again. Some of the same sixpacks will still be there.
Not too unusual for a newly opened retailer to have been stocked with relatively fresh beer from the distributor. (Of course, that is dependent on the distributor having fresh imports, which seems to be rare these days.)

Not that the opposite also doesn't happen. I recall a store opening by me and finding a few west coast beers that local distributors' websites listed as carrying but that I had never seen on local shelves. Picked one up and saw that the "Best before" date was nearly six months before they even broke ground to build the store I was in. I guess stocking a new store without a sales history is easy way for some distributors to clean out some old partial pallets...

 

I love most styles of beers, including dark beers.You like Rogue Dead Guy (IBU 40), so you should be able to enjoy either a lighter IPA or session IPA higher than a 7 IBU (Corona). Otherwise you will be pigeonholed into very sweet unbalanced NEIPAs/Milkshake IPAs. RateBeer lists IBU and calories for beers, might be helpful in your search based on what is fresh and local in your area.
https://www.beeradvocate.com/ratebeer/?path=/beerstyles/india-pale-ale/17/

Founders All Day IPA (IBU 42) is a nice light balanced session IPA with good hop flavor at a great price. Pseudo Sue is a good suggestion as well, especially since you are in Iowa.

If you are picking up packaged beer, try to get fresh (0-30 days optimal, 30-60 is the limit for me) IPAs to ensure you are trying the product at it's best. Many dark beers hold up well for much longer, but IPAs fade quickly. Always keep refrigerated (try to purchase that way as well) once you bring home. If you have good local breweries near you, they can steer you in the right direction in terms of samples or flights.

Enjoy exploring the style, and hopefully you find BA a good resource for future discussions.

Cheers!

 

Not to shy you away from any of the great recommendations (and they are great) that have been provided in this thread so far but beer, like a lot of things, is a journey.

Open yourself up to the experience of trying things you may or may not like. Learn from the things you like to better define what you do like, learn from the things you don't like to better define what you don't like or are less willing to accept.

The important thing is always to be open to new experiences. Life's way too short to limit yourself to a narrow taste for beer.

 

Bell's Two-Hearted. In recent years, a couple of years running, it's been voted best beer in the country. I don't necessarily agree with going that far, but it's a classic IPA, so emblematic of the style you could almost just say "this is IPA." It's malty, slightly sweet, impeccably balanced. The bitterness is soft and rounded. Has a zenlike degree of balance. If you don't like 2H, you probably, truly just don't like IPA.