NW IPAs with Light Bitterness on Finish

I feel your pain. How about a slightly hoppy APA? Deschutes Red Chair at Safeway or if you are out in town a Manny's Pale Ale or Africa Amber. Also a local shout out to Silver City Ridgetop Red.

 

It would help to know what the missus considers too bitter. Like @chinochino, I'd steer her towards pale ales, preferably very fresh ones, where the fruitiness would tend to prevail over the bitterness. Fremont's Summer Ale would be a great place to start, assuming she hasn't had it. You should also look out for Block 15's Intergalactic Hop Shop the next time it's released, even though it won't be a regular offering here in WA or easy to come by. That beer was one of the juiciest and least bitter IPAs I've ever had, by far, though some would say, for that reason, it's more New England-style than NW. Speaking of which, you could trade for some NE IPAs, to keep her pleased. It may well cost you, but perhaps it'd be worth the investment...

 

What other styles of beer does she like? Maybe you should buy different beers for each of you and have separate "his" and "hers" sections in the fridge. I think the kind of rewarding conclusion to a night of beer drinking you are alluding to would more than justify a little extra expenditure on beer.

 

Dang. Forgot about Summer Ale.

 

Are you in Seattle? If so, stop by Seapine for some Positron.

 

Ill help a brother out. I got a crowler of Juicy Box from Great Notion. Fresh and dated 5/27

Easy drinking...almost too easy. Oh and its a DIPA

 

Bale Breaker Topcutter for sure. Georgetown Bodhizafa too (malty finish). and Boneyard RPM if you can find it.

 

Not an IPA, but the Fremont Summer Ale suggestion got me thinking about Sunriver's S.U.P. summer seasonal. Great hop presence in aroma and taste, but a lighter base style means less bitterness necessary to balance. Plenty of hop-forward beers in the NW not labeled as IPAs.

 

Block 15's Intergalactic Hop Shop is a great contender, but it had only one release in WA where it was in limited quantities. I would also recommend Alpine Nelson and maybe Deschutes Fresh Squeezed.

 

Ex Novo is releasing a 'Cloudy IPA' this week that used the yeast from Pulp Free. Haven't tried (or seen) it yet.