WCIPAs in Boston?

I love Jack’s Abby, but if you love them wait til you try Notch and Oxbow and Allagash!

 

There aren't many (any?) new ones but there are still a decent number of good ones being made that debuted prior to the haze craze. Freshness can sometimes be an issue but these are some notable local/regional ones IMO.

Ipswich Route 101 IPA (the best of the bunch for my money)
Cambridge Brewing Company Flower Child
Wachussett Larry (DIPA)
Wormtown Be Hoppy
Newburyport Greenhead (this one's a real tongue scraper if that's what you're looking for)
Nightshift Santilli

and Jacks Abby's Hoponious Union is essentially a WCIPA in lager form in case you didn't already know that. Welcome to Boston!

 

Excellent choices. I've never been huge into NBPT, but certainly scratches that itch (my FIL loves it and it's typically in his fridge -- check the dates though he's not a big drinker. Not uncommon to show up on Christmas and have a 2/13/20 WCIPA in there).

 

I'll jump in just to say I'm really digging this coming to CT now, been purchasing it a lot lately. Talk about scratching that WCIPA itch, nothing does it better for me. Well crafted beer.

 

Took the beers right out of my mouth!

I’d add Riverwalk IPA as another local WCIPA option too.

 

@sefus12

Seconding Santilli

Can't sleep on Maine Beer Co for clean IPA, worth it price wise, but look out for the bottling dates as Lunch in particular sits a little longer these days.

Foley Brothers Pieces of Eight and Skeleton crew fall into the "Vermont IPA" so, a little haze, little malt, and decidedly bitter.

Proclamation Tendril and Stalk. Their single hop series Derivative, is solid as well, but probably not what you're looking for in terms of hop grip.

Zero Gravity Madonna, why not throw this in, maybe more tropical than you are looking for, but its one of the rare DIPAs that I want another of.

 

Exhibit 'A' has put out some very good west coast-style IPAs as part of their Demo Tape series.

 

Proclamation Tendril for sure and also a new favorite of mines from Second Wind Brewing 100% Mosaic Double IPA. Brings me back to the old days when we seek for that grapefruit bitterness slam in your mouth.

 

Just popping in here to give another plug for Be Hoppy. It's a tremendous, widely available, pretty affordable beer WCIPA that flies under the radar of must of the beer geek crowd.

 

A lot of mentions here aren't true WCIPAs, which is fine, but it goes to show what the haze has done to our judgement. I was about to mention Second Fiddle, but is it really a west coast DIPA? More so than a hazey, but it's no old school Ruination or Pliny either.

Is Santilli really a WCIPA? I love Santilli fwiw.

The one no-balls-about-it WCIPA I used to drink a lot of was Smutty Finestkind, but that saw wide distro so OP probably has already had that. I also am not sure how it's tasting post-bankruptcy, but I was enjoying it fairly regularly up until a few months of that event.

 

I haven't had it in forever so I can't speak its quality/consistency these days, but what about Finest Kind?

 

Beat me to the Finest Kind suggestion by a few minutes.

I was also going to comment about the fact most of these suggestions aren't what many would have considered a West Coast IPA back in the early 2000s. This includes Be Hoppy.

But they're effectively West Coast IPAs these days, they probably lean more in that camp than a true New England IPA. Because there is NO mistaking a true New England IPA in appearance, taste, and mouthfeel in my opinion.

 

Funny, you said that to @AlcahueteJ who just about the biggest lager fan in the NE forum.

 

I had to balk at the couple mentions for Tendril. If memory serves me right that beer sits squarely in NEIPA territory, no? Maybe my memory is fuzzy on that one. And I guess I just associate all Proclomation IPAs with NEIPA.

Had a similar reaction to Santilli though it's also been a while since I had that one, too.

I know it's easy to think of any beer that isn't a murky juice bomb as west coast now, unfortunately. Partly our palates fault, and part fault that there aren't that many WCIPAs out there readily available.

As mentioned above, Hoponius Union scratches the itch best for me.

 

It's nowhere close to the beer it used to be. It's legit a bad beer.

 

It's not local, but we do get Surly Furious around here these days and it's a real solid beer when fresh. A close cousin to SN Celebration for me.

Locally, Lamplighter in Cambridge makes a beer called Space Monster that is their take on WCIPA. All chinook hops.