Strange how much I dislike certain world class IPAs

Traditionally, IPA was always a long-aged brew, and not just a result of the "long voyage to India" (best evidence seems to indicate that like Porter, the best pale ales were vatted/aged before the journey). The aging was not done out of neccessity as is commonly argued; the aging was done to develop flavor and was standard practice for premium brews of the day.

The whole freshness/IPA obsession is a recent conceit, a modern American invention. I'm not saying that there's anything wrong with that since it seems to be the current preference, but it's true nonetheless. It's certainly good for the brewers, since most are not equipped for (and not very interested in) tying up tank space to allow for aging. As the saying goes, "time is money."

 

Read the user reviews here, or go directly to brewery sites, to get the details and you should be able to identify which hops, malts, etc. you like and dislike.

 

I'm going to take a complete guess and say Cascade

 

Everyone is going to have world class beers they don't like. For ipas there must be certain hop varieties you don't like.

 

I would say that you are probably correct that there are hop varieties that you don't like, you are also correct that it is difficult to find out what hop varieties those are because most breweries are reluctant to share that information as proprietary. Some good resources to help you discover the varieties when the brewery doesn't divulge them include; look for a clone recipe online or from a brew shop, you can also visit a local brew shop and they can help you discover the varieties you might like or dislike (I would suggest during the week when they aren't as busy).

That being said, the qualities of the wort will also have a big effect on how you taste the hops. So you might find that you like Citra in an IPA but not in an Imperial IPA.