Let me start by saying I'm really sensitive to herbal medicinals... a little elderberry or echinacea and I can beat any cold! Same holds true for IPA's... hops were once used as a medicinal cure for insomnia, so whenever I had a pint or two back in the day I'd get drowsy and be "out of it" for a couple hours - hence why I never really drank it whenever I was out and needed to drive home. Even though they're not my favorite style *ducks for incoming bottles and cans* I can still appreciate the flavor on a well crafted one, but I've been noticing something recently... Whenever I drink an "older" style IPA with "older" hop varieties (like sierra, stone, dogfish, etc.) I may just get drowsy, but it seems like if I'm drinking something with "newer" hop varieties (especially the ones with insane AA) I get a headache as I'm drinking the damn beer. Case and point - last night I had a single 12oz bottle of green flash segal ranch session (Tomahawk, Centennial and Cascade), and after sipping on it for 20min. I had what I only could describe as a mild persistent migraine - so much so I couldn't finish it - drank a ton of water and hot tea and it finally went away after 2 hours. (I've had plenty of beers with centennial and cascade and never had a headache, so I'm guessing the tomahawk is the culprit here) This is the tenth time in about two years I've had a beer that I've tried for the first time do this to me. I know it's just anecdotal at this point and I'd have to do a blind taste test to see if its a specific family of hops or a single hop variety, or even a specific brewing practice that does something to the oils in the beer - but has anyone else had this happen to them?
I have it happen sometimes ... but I'm pretty sure mine's because of drinking booze without eating. Sometimes I notice I get sniffly when drinking hoppy beers, so I probably have some sort of slight allergy.
