HB best bitter.
They cross from IPA to double IPA and from there to barleywine.When I was in school and purchasing my first beers, there were about 15 choices available to us – mostly domestic fizzy yellow lagers. There were also a few premium beers like Michelob or Lowenbrau. Most were all the American regulars, Budweiser, Schlitz, Miller, Pabst and then larger regionals like Rainier and Olympia. You could also buy Schmidt, Hamm's, Lucky Lager and Blitz Weinhard, even Stroh’s was found in the beer case once in a while. Names like Coors were for trips into Colorado territory, they weren’t even sold in my area. Then of course there were a few of the Malt Liquors, whatever malt liquor was. Seemed related to beer, we weren’t really sure. Names like Schlitz Malt Liquor, Olde English 800 and Mickey’s. Then there were a few seasonal offerings, like Bock beer or dark beer every once in a while. That was the beer scene, love it or leave it.
Compare that to today. Talk about total market deluge of every type of beer imaginable. Plus all the hard seltzers and ciders digging in to the available beer market. Every time I head down to BevMo or Total Wine and More, I am absolutely blown away by the offerings. The types and varieties are spellbinding. The biggest one of all is the IPA market, both West Coast and NEIPA Hazy styles. Going up and down the IPA row, a single human cannot keep up with the rapid-fire release of every tweak on IPA’s you can think of, many brewers releasing 3, 4, 5 or more different IPA’s simultaneously. I’ll come right out and say it, many of these are IPA “flavors”, the base beer being similar with different hops and hopping levels constantly changing. Like going to a cookie or chocolate shop and being inundated with the thousands of variations possible. Those thousands of permutations are all available today in that thing we loosely refer to as IPA.
It really is like counting the stars in the sky there are so many IPAs out there. Then as soon as they exist, they burn out like a dying star, only to be replaced by three more by the same brewery! IPA’s have become a constant whirlpool of different beers. Some stay a few years, most are replaced quickly like a batch run by the brewer for drinking in their tasting rooms. Maybe that is what they are, the free expressions of their master brewers trying this or that hop at different flavor or aroma additions or dry hopping amounts – then sell the batch!
IPA’s traditionally were a British thing. It took quite some time for ships to make their way to the British colonies without spoilage. For the India run, brewers would stuff the wooden kegs with hops to prevent spoilage and souring (ironic how many sours there are too, but that’s another day.) By the time the kegs made it to their thirsty patrons, the beer was hoppy indeed. Today’s IPA’s have grown in every direction. During Pre-Prohibition a number of brewers released IPA’s, Ballantine being one of the more well-known early American IPA’s. Since that time things have really taken off. The West Coast, San Diego and Portland were early brewers of hoppy ales and IPA’s.
As they have grown in popularity, a feature of many of these is a huge leap in the ABV, alcohol percentage pushing constantly upward – 8 – 9 – 10% ABV and more. This really makes a huge presentation. Beers this hoppy and alcoholic are not for casual chugging. These are extra strong beers you drink to get hammered or to prove that you have the fortitude, constitution or mental desire to drink big beers. They are strong in terms of alcohol and they are strong in terms of hopping. The high hopping pushes out the maltiness of the pint, and not always in a good way. I think the human tendency is to push all things to the breaking limit and some of these IPA’s are there. In my own life, I’ve always enjoyed beers around 5% ABV. For me, I can drink a bunch of beer (I do like volumes of beer) – I’d prefer 4 pints of 5-6% ABV beer much more than 2 pints of 9-10% ABV for example. Most of these “BIG” IPA’s I think are for the “Dude it’s 10%, I’m so wasted” crowd, rather than regular drinkers. Not to say there aren’t big beer lovers out there, all I’m saying is you don’t chug 4 of those beers like you might on a 5% ABV beer. Most of the IPA’s especially those available individually in 16oz or 16.9 oz/500 ml or 22 oz cans are bigger beers.
This month I’ll be drinking a LOT of IPA’s. Most are California and West Coast breweries (not to be confused with West Coast IPA’s.) The process of collecting these samples takes a while, with trips to multiple locations that sell individual cans for the past month. I’m not into those “4-can for 20 bucks packs, I want ONE can to buy and to drink individually. There are a few from around the country, and notably a small batch from the North Carolina area sent to me by my beer-loving Daughter MD. Just what the Doctor ordered!
Many of you will be doing alcoholic gymnastic flips when I tell you that I’m going to water down this or that IPA with some Coors light after sampling and writing about the beer. Personally, I enjoy drinking beer at regular concentrations and some “10 percenters” are just too much for me to enjoy. Water it back in the glass with some flavor-neutral Coors light and you have a nice drinkable and delicious 6% IPA, score! Blasphemy! Plus you get more IPA to drink!
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