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Pop a cold one and argue about hoppy beer

1K views 40 replies 22 participants last post by  High/Deaf 
#1 ·
#4 · (Edited)
My bigger complaint with craft beers is the alcohol content. I've seen them as high as 8 1/2 percent. In order to get that content, the beer must be outrageously sweet.
um, no - a) the yeast eats the sugars and converts it to alcohol - look at the label; no sugar is in the ingredients; they just add more malt and /or brew longer b) is it too bitter or too sweet - make up yer dang mind ;P

I like IPAs. I like sessions more. If it weren't so dang expensive I'd drink dry-hopped New England style APAs all the time (all the fruitiness; almost none of the bitter). Anyway, like any class of beer - some are better than others (and what's better will vary person to person).

Then again, go back to the classic Eastern European pilsners (my first beer love) and they are pretty dang bitter too (see Radeberger - old school/old world hoppiness), but without the fruitiness. Personally I like the grapefruit flavours in American IPAs.

Hell, it beats the whole sour beer thing, and don't get me started on overspiced saisons (including many local craft brewers fall/holiday season offerings that are just drowning in clove). I'm not a fan of darker beers anymore either; used to like porters n such when I was a teenager but now I can't stand them. Heavily flavoured beer is not a new thing at all; in fact, watery beer (like anything mainstream/big international brand) is in the grand scheme of things the abomination.

Now if you want an easy drinking conservatively flavoured beer, there's nothing better than Mill St Stock Ale (forget their organic lager with it's rather skunky aftertaste -Stock's the cleanest finish ever).
 
#5 ·
I like hops in my beer, but I agree that some beers go way too far with it - though some people seem to like them. Our local brewery seems to strike a nice balance with all of their beers - I have yet to try one that I felt was too hoppy. They recently launched a double-hopped IPA, which I was a bit leary of, but it is very well balanced - one of my faves, but it is 8.5% alcohol so I have to plan ahead.

I also always claimed to not be a fan of Saisons, but now two of my favourite local seasonal brews are Saisons.

Still not a fan of Porter or Stout - though our local brewery has yet to make a Stout - maybe they will manage to win me over with that too.

FWIW, Keith's IPA is pretty good for mass-produced beer, but it's not IPA. ;-)
 
#15 ·
Our local brewery seems to strike a nice balance with all of their beers - I have yet to try one that I felt was too hoppy. They recently launched a double-hopped IPA, which I was a bit leary of, but it is very well balanced - one of my faves, but it is 8.5% alcohol so I have to plan ahead


FWIW, Keith's IPA is pretty good for mass-produced beer, but it's not IPA. ;-)
Innocente in Warterloo has a smooth DIPA which is an ass kicker if not careful.
And agreed with Keith’s. Ok beer but no closer to an IPA than Budweiser or Coors light is.
Of course YMMV
 
#6 ·
It all depends on what variety of hops are used. My favourite beers are pilsners which as has been mentioned can be quite bitter but if done right are very thirst quenching. Done wrong, they need a water chaser which defeats the whole purpose. It seems many craft brewers are in a contest to make the hoppiest IPA possible. I much prefer the milder versions. When in the UK my favourite beers are bitters, which are not usually that bitter, but I’ve never tasted a decent bitter in North America yet.
 
#10 ·
The bitterness of a hoppy beer is an acquired taste. Used to hate it at first, now I enjoy it quite a bit. Find it refreshing!

My average 'hoppy' meter would be the Tankhouse. Some of Flying Monkey beers can be over the top. Not a big fan of double IPAs, it's just hops and no taste.
 
#12 ·
it took off years ago and I wish it had been sooner to the mainstream. the majority of Canadian beer was/is terrible and the US a joke for the most part but teenage me wasn't going to really complain. the Europeans have been doing a great job on the lighter beers and the craft market filled the flavour gap that was ever so lacking here. I like reading that Keith's IPA is considered 'hoppy'
 
#14 ·
I love the super hoppy beers, though they are not a hot summer quaffing beer. My favourites are East coast styles such as Hu Jon Hops from NB, Tatamagouche from NS and Gahan from PEI. The Ontario brews that come close are Headstock and Collecive Arts’ Life in the clouds and Ryme and Reason. These have a balance between bitterness and bouquet. Unfiltered too please...
For those Hop Heads out there...
 
#18 ·
I'll take a Belgium Blonde or gueze or a trappist ale or a Weiss, before I'll think about a Canadian beer.
 
#21 ·
The Ontario brews that come close are Headstock and Collecive Arts’ Life in the clouds and Ryme and Reason. These have a balance between bitterness and bouquet. Unfiltered too please...
For those Hop Heads out there...
I've been impressed with most of the Collective Arts stuff. Ransack the Universe is a really good west style coast IPA. Have you had the sour hoppy beer yet?

Mash Up the Jam – Collective Arts Brewing Store

Strange as hell, but it grows on you.
 
#24 ·
Hoppy beers? Not so hoppy beers? Saul Goodman. Vive le choice. It's not like their taking away your Canadian or Bud. Don't worry, boring beer ain't going no where.
I've always been reluctant to call that stuff "beer"; it's malt pop and I can't remember the last time I drank it.

Despite my starting this thread with a complaint I've been a huge fan of the many real beers that craft breweries brought to the market, eventually forcing the big guys into adding things closer to real beer to their malt pop lines.

Some of them, though... no thanks. I wanna taste some of the OTHER stuff that's in beer too, not just bitter hops no matter how interesting they may be.
 
#25 ·
And yet, it sells like crazy. I'm always amazed that the vast majority of the people I know drink one of those (or similar). The fact that there is now fruit-flavoured beers tells me that some people just don't like real 'beer-tasting' beers. I'm like 'em all and enjoy the variety.

Hell, I just about wish I could find a beer I didn't like and then they took all the other ones away. I might actually lose a few pounds. Nahhh, I'd just drink more whisky.

The one down side of micro-breweries is that there can be tiny variations from batch to batch (because of small batch brewing, I've heard). I used to drink a lot of Granville Island pale ale. One 6 pack I bought tasted different (not bad, just not what I was expecting). A month later it was back to what I was used to. I've since moved on though. Probably a half dozen times.
 
#26 ·
Hmmm, ....

Here's what's in my fridge. And, it's kinda gross.

Drink Canning Tin can Beverage can Aluminum can



My wife will only drink watermelon beer. We uber to Barnstormers and stumble home. I hate the flight delay, but my wife keeps buying it for me. A lot of hops is fine, but there has to be something to offset the hoppiness. They have this dutch motherfucker that's 8.5%, and it's easy on the tastebuds. I pound that shit out of a lame-ass wine glass-thing and get the fuck outta there.

I brewed beer for about a year and half, and got to experiment with a lot of different things thanks to working closely with a brewmaster. I learnt a lot. There was an award winning beer that came out of that shop called John's No Blame where hops were added to every part of the process. It was good, but it didn't taste like beer at all.

Ultimate opinion:

1) hops are lame, and we can do without them.
2) cap sniffers are gayer than corksniffers
3) anything that gets my wife drunk and open to suggestion is ok in my books - even if it makes you burp watermelon
4) Fuck Martinez
 
#37 ·
Something bizarre happened to me the other night. Someone gave me a '50', which I haven't had in many many years.
It actually tasted quite good compared to some other domestics I've had more recently. Even a hint of IPA.
a) Has something changed? b) were my taste buds messed up? c) it was always good and I've finally caught up?
 
#39 · (Edited)
Something bizarre happened to me the other night. Someone gave me a '50', which I haven't had in many many years.
It actually tasted quite good compared to some other domestics I've had more recently. Even a hint of IPA.
a) Has something changed? b) were my taste buds messed up? c) it was always good and I've finally caught up?
It's thick (dense) and on the sweet side - like Pabst Blue Ribbon or Molson Old Time Pilsner. I dunno if it was always like that (I only tried any of those for the first time like 5-10 yeasrs ago) - could have changed when Labatt was bought by Interbrew in 95 or when Interbrew merged with AmBev in 08... all I know is it did not change when InBev merged with Anheuser-Busch in 2016. Incidentally, for a large corporate beer Busch is not horrible. Take it over Bud any day.
 
#38 ·
I did the hoppy IPA thing for a while, and I still like a nice IPA, but none of the ones that are ridiculously hoppy. My faves are Mill St. Tankhouse and Goose Island Honkers IPA.

Currently, I'm digging Session IPAs a lot more. My list of favourites right now is:
1) Muskoka Detour
2) Sawdust City Golden Beach IPA
3) Collingwood Farmhouse Ale
4) Collingwood Whitney' Vintage Ale
5) Collingwood Kingpost ESB (Wintertime only)
6) Mill St. Hopped and Confused
7) Beau's Lugtread
8) Samuel Adams (almost anything they make, but especially their limited runs)

We're lucky to have SOOOOO many tasty beers available to us right now!!
 
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