It was in early april I think.
I think it was the April 5 show. Pietro ever do a blind tasting of fresh east/west coast ipa? I gotta say I’ve had HT once and was not impressed. It was good but didn’t blow me away. I don’t know how fresh it was. It was given to me by a friend who traded for it. I’ve also had Younger which I know was fresh and it was good but I don’t feel it lived up to the hype either. To me it seems like some beers have so much hype that they could never live up to it.
I must admit I have not done them blind, but I did try Pliny (~3 weeks old, bottled, from the brewpub) next to Heady (not blind, with 20/20 vision), and for me, the hop flavor was far better in the Heady. The two guys I was with had not had Pliny before, and were incredibly psyched to try it, and felt the same way. While Pliny was a great IIPA, it still had the pithy bitterness when compared to Heady. Again, some prefer that bitterness, and all palettes are different, so it does not taste the same to different tasters.
Heady definitely varies batch to batch, so I would encourage you to try it again. In fact, the first one I had was itself relatively high on the ‘mehmeter’.
I also agree with you on hype. However, I do remember my first pint of fresh Pliny at Cheeky Monk in Denver, and it was one of ‘those’ moments. Incredible. Few beers live up to the hype, but both California and VT are the Napa and Burgundy if you like hop-forward beer. My two faves so far from Cali are Blind Pig and Pizza Port Swami.
I would really be interested to do a blind triangle taste of them, but I think at this point, I could probably identify the origin. This is the real point of my OP, that they are so different (but both so good in execution and in flavor) that it may warrant a stylistic separation.
Why can’t we all meet in the middle? Like in the CLE where there is Fat Heads Headhunter and Brew Kettle’s White Rajah? I think I will start calling them Midwest IPA’s :cheers:
I know you meant this as a joke, but I honestly do find that a lot of midwestern IPAs are way more malt (particularly caramel malt)-heavy than East or West Coast (the above-examples excluded). They are on (or completely over) the line of amber territory.
I’ve particularly found this with many of the Chicago-area beers, including Pipeworks, Finch’s, Revolution (but not necessarily Half Acre or FFF), and, I’m sorry GLBC, but Commodore Perry as well. Same with Surly’s hop-forward beers.
Finally, don’t misunderstand me: I’m not meaning to say one is better or worse, but they do have stylistic and consistent differences EDIT: across geographies, which was the meaning of original post, and the whole reason there is a difference between helles and german pils.
I know you meant this as a joke, but I honestly do find that a lot of midwestern IPAs are way more malt (particularly caramel malt)-heavy than East or West Coast (the above-examples excluded). They are on (or completely over) the line of amber territory.
I’ve particularly found this with many of the Chicago-area beers, including Pipeworks, Finch’s, Revolution (but not necessarily Half Acre or FFF), and, I’m sorry GLBC, but Commodore Perry as well.
Finally, don’t misunderstand me: I’m not meaning to say one is better or worse, but they do have stylistic and consistent differences, which was the meaning of original post.[/quote]
GLBC is for sure caramel malt happy. They put it in their Dortmunder for crying out loud! While I still enjoy their Chillwave it’s a bit too sweet for my tastes after spending the last few years gorging on west coast IPA’s. It’s much better on tap though and seems less sweet for some reason.
Listening to this again while on a meaningless conference call. I know everyone is entitled to their opinions, but these guys are clueless. JP is getting caramel malts and diacetyl out of Heady Topper and SoS. They slammed just about all of them including Alesmith.
I do agree with you pietro that there is a difference between west coast and east coast ipa and it would be cool if they had there own style. I would love to try more HT and other east coast beers, but there just hard to come buy on the west coast.
Do you think that this will have a bitter (pun intended) end like the east/west coast rap wars? Cilurzo will have Kimmich gunned down. Lawson will retaliate and Cilurzo will get his at the next May weather/Pacquiao fight?
LOL!! funniest thing I’ve read all day!
You really want this to be a thing. Kimmich is a big enough dog that he doesn’t have to jump on trains or cater to fan boys. Creating differences for the sake of differences changes the conversation away from the basics of the beers. His beer stands up. Good enough.
He isn’t native, but he no doubt appreciates the Vermont aesthetic. He didn’t mince words. He disagrees with you.
You really want this to be a thing. Kimmich is a big enough dog that he doesn’t have to jump on trains or cater to fan boys. Creating differences for the sake of differences changes the conversation away from the basics of the beers. His beer stands up. Good enough.
He isn’t native, but he no doubt appreciates the Vermont aesthetic. He didn’t mince words. He disagrees with you.[/quote]
The above quote was typed with tongue firmly in cheek, but no I really don’t care either way whether this ‘happens’ or not. Its Kimmich’s beer, as its Hill’s beer, but as soon as art is created, it no longer belongs to the artist, and people are going to call it whatever the H they want. If ‘Vermont IPA’ helps someone understand what he/she is ordering, I don’t see this as a bad thing.
My comment about the train is that this is already happening whether they want it to or not. People are referring to beers as Vermont style IPA. I guess I’m just pointing out that defining styles can be a good thing. When you pick up a Helles, you presumably know what you should be getting.
I do disagree with Kimmich though that its somehow pretentious. When people ordered a beer in Munich back in the day, they knew what they were going to get. The same thing is happening now in Vermont, and that’s not pretentious, thats people that love and appreciate something categorizing it, which is natural.
I would suggest Best examples of the new East Coast IPA Style:
Ipswich Brewing IPA and Rt 101
Baxter Brewing Stowaway IPA
Smuttynose Finest Kind IPA
Heavy Seas Loose Cannon IPA
Maine Brewing’s Lunch
Atlantic Brewing’s 04609
[quote=“Greymane”]I would suggest Best examples of the new East Coast IPA Style:
Ipswich Brewing IPA and Rt 101
Baxter Brewing Stowaway IPA
Smuttynose Finest Kind IPA
Heavy Seas Loose Cannon IPA
Maine Brewing’s Lunch
Atlantic Brewing’s 04609[/quote]
No Heady Topper, Hill, Sip of Sunshine, Fiddlehead, or Foley Fair Maiden?
I don’t agree with Loose Cannon. Love that brewery, not a fan of that beer. That is the “old” east coast IPA in my mind (comparable to 60-minute).
[quote=“Greymane”]I would suggest Best examples of the new East Coast IPA Style:
Ipswich Brewing IPA and Rt 101
Baxter Brewing Stowaway IPA
Smuttynose Finest Kind IPA
Heavy Seas Loose Cannon IPA
Maine Brewing’s Lunch
Atlantic Brewing’s 04609[/quote]
I just had Loose Cannon for the first time last weekend. It was alright. Didn’t really have anything that made it stand out as different than any other IPA I’ve had. I also wasn’t very impressed with it. I’ve had other beers from Heavy Seas that I liked but this one didn’t really stand out to me. Maybe I’m just fatigued from all the hop-forward beers now…I still love them but if it isn’t exceptional then it kinda falls in the muddled middle.
[quote=“mattnaik”][quote=“Greymane”]I would suggest Best examples of the new East Coast IPA Style:
Ipswich Brewing IPA and Rt 101
Baxter Brewing Stowaway IPA
Smuttynose Finest Kind IPA
Heavy Seas Loose Cannon IPA
Maine Brewing’s Lunch
Atlantic Brewing’s 04609[/quote]
I just had Loose Cannon for the first time last weekend. It was alright. Didn’t really have anything that made it stand out as different than any other IPA I’ve had. I also wasn’t very impressed with it. I’ve had other beers from Heavy Seas that I liked but this one didn’t really stand out to me. Maybe I’m just fatigued from all the hop-forward beers now…I still love them but if it isn’t exceptional then it kinda falls in the muddled middle.[/quote]
Yeah, their best beer in my mind is Black Cannon, their Black IPA. Note I am usually not a fan of that style, other than maybe Sublimely Self-Righteous.
When Loose Cannon is fresh, it can be REALLY good. It just seems that since it’s a little under-the-radar, it tends to stick around longer than a lot of these other beers. Maine Lunch, for instance, tends to move as quickly as the bar/package store gets it.
My personal favorites in no particular order Sea Hag (NEBCO), Road to Ruin (Two Roads), Lost Sailor (BBC) . That’s off the top of my head.
If you’re in CT, you need to ship me all the Sip of Sunshine you can get your hands on then!
What will you trade ?
