Just started drinking IPAs.. What to look out for?

It's expensive but grab yourself a 6'er of Ballast Point Sculpin IPA. It's out of this world.

 

Too bad at least half of those aren't available where the OP lives.

 

yeah, too bad, I think it's exactly half. It's a shame that you are bound by the beer you drink simply from whether or not it's distributed in the state you live in. wait..

 

Yes! Their IPA is wonderful. I'm in Washington too, and there are a lot of local IPAs. I'd day just start drinking them and becoming aware of which characteristics you enjoy about IPAs, then when you find out the hops and malt you like the flavor of you can seek out IPAs made with those ingredients. Enjoy!

 

I do too depending on the IPA. Some are just better fresh, most are good at 30 days IMO.

 

Check out Fremont, Black Raven and Caldera. All three are local and usually fresh.

 

Fremont's The Sister and The Brother are both great Imperial IPAs. The Sister is on tap at the brewery right now and I've seen growlers at Whole Foods RSQ recently. Black Raven makes some killer ones as well.

And yes, it must be repeated: Boneyard Boneyard Boneyard

It's Cowiche Hop Lab #2, so I'm guessing we'll see it back.

 

vs.

This issue came up a while ago and has yet to be resolved. "Washington" appears in the OP's profile, as it does in mine. For most profiles, that field represents the state you live in. But when you click on it, you get a map of the city of Washington, D.C. When building your BA profile, under "edit location" there is a drop-down option for District of Columbia, which should take users to that map. But for people who selected Washington users should be taken to a map of Washington State.

BA needs to make sure that clicking on that location link takes users to an accurate map based on which location the person selected. A bunch of us took the time to give the OP detailed recommendations based on the assumption that he's in either Washington State or Washington, D.C., but in one or the other case some of our recommendations are useless to him. This is a practical example of why doing this matters. If there was a U.S. state named Boston, I guarantee this problem would have been rectified long ago.

 

I hit the Washington tag in his avatar space and it put out a map on DC, so I assumed...

 

Precisely my point. When this issue came up before (I believe in the PNW forum) I think Todd said it was a Google issue, that clicking on the link basically puts the word "Washington" in the search field in Google maps and produces the map for D.C.

I just think (could be wrong about this) that there must be a way on the BA side to have the string "Washington State" appear in that same search field for those of us who've selected Washington as our state/province, and to have the string "Washington, D.C." appear in that search field for those of us who've selected District of Columbia. I mean, it's 2013.

I don't want to sidetrack this thread but I think this issue needs to be resolved. After all, I lived in Washington, D.C. for 3 months and it was enough to make me want to move to the other side of the country.

 

What to look out for? The bottling date; IPA's don't keep well at all. The fresher and quicker you drink it, the better.

 

What to look out for? Your taste buds to die a slow and wonderful death.

 

So you want a guy who is just getting into the style, who doesn't know what he likes yet, to trade for a bunch of beers he may not care for? I'd say let him get his feet wet with local ones first, then maybe start trading for others. I mean, there are *sooo* few IPAs available out west.

 

I doubt you will be able to get it in Washington but I'll go ahead and say Columbus IPA anyways. I think that'll be my response to any question from now on, beer related or not.

 

IPAs.

 

Nope, never once did I ever mention the word trade. Open your mind up a bit, people travel. I'm glad people mentioned how good two hearted and jai alai are, and recommended it even though I live in New Jersey. If it weren't for them, I probably wouldn't have ordered them in my travels.

 

Look for THIS BAG OF DICKS TRIED TO DOUCHE ME playing in summer music festivals near you!!!

 

Ha, solid! Is that a SKA band?

 

I haven't had all of these but I will say that Two Hearted is world class. I prefer Stone IPA and Hop Stoopid to Ruination. And 90 Minute and Maharaja do have many similarities, with Maharaja taking the cake.

 

I know they (Brew Kettle) have had issues getting Citra in the past, and it feels like it drastically changed White Rajah. Do you know if they've been able to get any more? The first time I had it I was blown away, but subsequent six packs haven't been quite as similar - still good, but clearly different.

My store just got a bunch of it in, and if they're back to Citra, I'd love to pick some up before it goes.