Do You Remember Your First IPA?

Escaped my mind too. Could be a contender for my first.

 

As my photo will attest, I'm pretty damn sure it was Celebration. If I didn't get it in 1981 when Sierra first released it, it had to be by 1982 at the latest. I also remember Bert Grant's India Pale Ale coming along a few years later, as it had by then found its way to the Bay Area. Red Hook's ESB was another favorite at the time, along with Pete's Wicked Ale. The craft beer industry has certainly grown since then (quite an understatement!).

 

Well, that means you have been Celebrating for a loooong time.

Cheers to you!

 

Wow, hard to think back that far and it's pretty hazy but it was probably Saranac IPA or Red Hook's but no telling which was first...as of this moment all I can tell you for sure is my last...which was last night....it was a Celebration Ale

 

I don't remember my first IPA... good guesses would be Magic Hat Blind Faith or Victory Hop Devil. But I do remember the first IPA that I liked, which was Heavy Seas Loose Cannon IPA. That's the first time I remember tasting that citrus grapefruit character. Immediately afterwards I sought out Dogfish head 90 Minute. I had a taste for IPAs from then on.


Funny, related story.... In my early craft beer days, when I thought IPAs sucked, I was at the Alchemist pub hanging out with a friend from high school who happened to be friends with the bartender. The bartender offered me draft Heady Topper on the house and I turned it down. Mind you this was years before Alchemist started canning; and Heady Topper was a DONG beer geeks were just discovering and starting to make pilgrimages for. I probably said something stupid about too much hops ruining good beer also- y'know, because of course I knew everything about beer then. Boy, was I dumb [and I'm sure I still am in ways I'm not aware]. Definitely a "Mount Stupid" moment for me.

(Comic Credit to SMBC: https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/2011-12-28 )

 

On a related note I just bought a four-pack of Heady Topper at my local Retail Beer Distributor.

A Christmas present to myself!

Cheers!

 

That's a good question ⁉️ I had think hard about that...
It was definitely Samuel Smith's IPA, which of course is an English IPA. But my first American IPA was Sierra Nevada Torpedo Extra IPA and Uinta's Trader Session IPA.

 

My first IPA was Two Hearted (seems popular with this group). I had it in 98 or 99 on draft at a bar that I was ineligible to drink at, but I was with a friend who knew all sorts of cool people and made fun stuff happen. She was surprised that I hadn't had it before (as if it had been around for years and years) and I was hooked. Wish I had one to open right now, I'll have to pick some up before the blizzard hits Minnesota tomorrow.

 

I was in college and a friend was passing through town. We went to the only good liquor store around and I found fresh 2010 Sierra Nevada Hoptimum. Neither of us had ever had big beer like that before and drank them like we would have a Boston Lager. Poor guy had a miserable drive the next morning.

 

At around 10%, ouch.

 

One of the rowdiest bars I have ever been in was a college bar in Michigan that we would go to for half off 20 oz pours on Sundays. That particular Sunday they had hopslam on draft, $4 for a 20 oz mug. That place got rowdy

 

Crunchy's as a longshot?

 

I believe it was Commodore Perry by Great Lakes Brewing Company and I think it was 1992. It’s a beer that still drink 28 years later. Its floral bouquet and firm bite of bitterness still please. In 1999 a friend brought a California IPA that really caught my fancy, Racer 5. That beer is hard for me to find, but I still love its balance and drinkability.

 

Haha nailed it! They were always epically irresponsible in their serving practices

 

Yes I do! Dales Pale Ale purchased at the Estes Park Liquor store in 1999.

 

I remember exactly what my first IPA was- Harpoon. I bought it in a store on my way to a friend’s party about 15 years ago. It was so powerful and bitter! I couldn’t believe a beer could taste like this! I had drank plenty of Sam and Bass ale and things like that but it’s amazing how bitter it tasted. I’m sure Harpoon IPA wouldn’t even register on my palate anymore.

 

Really funny you mention that...my aunt was a waitress at the brewery. Drinks beer but at the time thought SNPA was too bitter. So every week (or every other week?) she got a case of beer and would stash it in the guest bedroom closet. Beer was piled to the ceiling....so when I’d come to stay with them in the summers, I had all I could drink! I was high school age so I’d drink just about anything, but I acquired a taste for it and never looked back. Much better than the Budweiser they kept in the main fridge!

 

No. It was probably when traveling through England back in 1981. I was drinking whatever I ran across but I wasn't paying attention to what it was. I tried to drink at least one of every beer the village pubs had on hand.

 

Too funny -- too bad I can't recall what the waitress looked like, but what are the odds?

You should ask if she remembers the 3 crazy fan boys from Illinois!

Looks like it was 1993 -- the year Portland had the National Home Brewers Conference.

 

I’ll ask her about it . Small world! Cheers!