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bigchiefbc wrote:I love Beer Advocate, but Pliny being first is a fucking joke. Look, it's a good IPA. But first overall? REALLY? It just shows that Americans have these fucking one-tracked minds where all we care about are IPAs that are pure hop oil, and throw in a few Imperial stouts. I can name at least a dozen beers, if not more, that I'd much rather have in front of me than Pliny.

eggs fukkin zactly.

IPAs are the easiest thing to do, and even when brewers try to do something else, it always feels like theres a mentality of getting the basic checklist of flavor profiles instead of making a good beer. like black IPAs are starting to get big, and honestly i've only had a few legit good ones. most are just IPA + malt/coffee-ness and its just another style that gets shat on. its just a big brash slathering of hoppiness with some roasiness but with zero understanding of a good beer, and just a desire to make "a hoppy as shit beer with some malt and a shitton of alcohol." and its a really terrible attitude that i'm glad seems to be on its way out.

Gearmond wrote:

bigchiefbc wrote:I love Beer Advocate, but Pliny being first is a fucking joke. Look, it's a good IPA. But first overall? REALLY? It just shows that Americans have these fucking one-tracked minds where all we care about are IPAs that are pure hop oil, and throw in a few Imperial stouts. I can name at least a dozen beers, if not more, that I'd much rather have in front of me than Pliny.

eggs fukkin zactly.

IPAs are the easiest thing to do, and even when brewers try to do something else, it always feels like theres a mentality of getting the basic checklist of flavor profiles instead of making a good beer. like black IPAs are starting to get big, and honestly i've only had a few legit good ones. most are just IPA + malt/coffee-ness and its just another style that gets shat on. its just a big brash slathering of hoppiness with some roasiness but with zero understanding of a good beer, and just a desire to make "a hoppy as shit beer with some malt and a shitton of alcohol." and its a really terrible attitude that i'm glad seems to be on its way out.

+1

As an pretty avid homebrewer myself, IPAs are fucking simple as shit to make. Because an insane amount of hops are powerful enough to disguise any other flaws in your beer. The hardest styles to make are the lighter, milder ones, because there's nowhere for your off-tastes to go.

This recent trend of black IPAs, red IPAs, belgian IPAs and whatever-the-fuck-IPAs are just boring to me. It can't end fast enough. I'd much rather have a real schwarzbier, or red ale, or belgian strong ale, than some bastardized american IPA with a few different specialty malts in it.

Anderson Valley Booneville Ales (especially Boont and Summer Solstice Cerveza Crema)
edit: my faves as far as simple amber ales go. i'm liking all the talk about IPAs,
that shit is overrated and people think it's all about having a fuckton of harsh hops and that's it..
i do like some of the black ipas i've tried on taps at bars but can't remember which ones i liked.

bigchiefbc wrote:I love Beer Advocate, but Pliny being first is a fucking joke. Look, it's a good IPA. But first overall? REALLY? It just shows that Americans have these fucking one-tracked minds where all we care about are IPAs that are pure hop oil, and throw in a few Imperial stouts. I can name at least a dozen beers, if not more, that I'd much rather have in front of me than Pliny.

Agreed. Was Pliny good? Yes. Is it the best beer of any genre, ever? Absolutely not. A lot of IPAs are good. Sometimes I even crave them. But they are nowhere near my favorite type of beer. They're pretty one-dimensional. What's even more amazing than the obsession with hops is the absolute HYPE MACHINE we are able to create surrounding a particular product.

Also, darthbatman, you have the best avatar ever.

And also also, +1 to Gearmond. If any of you cats are familiar with The Bruery, I love the fact that they refuse to brew an IPA. They say they never have, never will. I dig it.

bigchiefbc wrote:

Gearmond wrote:

bigchiefbc wrote:I love Beer Advocate, but Pliny being first is a fucking joke. Look, it's a good IPA. But first overall? REALLY? It just shows that Americans have these fucking one-tracked minds where all we care about are IPAs that are pure hop oil, and throw in a few Imperial stouts. I can name at least a dozen beers, if not more, that I'd much rather have in front of me than Pliny.

eggs fukkin zactly.

IPAs are the easiest thing to do, and even when brewers try to do something else, it always feels like theres a mentality of getting the basic checklist of flavor profiles instead of making a good beer. like black IPAs are starting to get big, and honestly i've only had a few legit good ones. most are just IPA + malt/coffee-ness and its just another style that gets shat on. its just a big brash slathering of hoppiness with some roasiness but with zero understanding of a good beer, and just a desire to make "a hoppy as shit beer with some malt and a shitton of alcohol." and its a really terrible attitude that i'm glad seems to be on its way out.

+1

As an pretty avid homebrewer myself, IPAs are fucking simple as shit to make. Because an insane amount of hops are powerful enough to disguise any other flaws in your beer. The hardest styles to make are the lighter, milder ones, because there's nowhere for your off-tastes to go.

This recent trend of black IPAs, red IPAs, belgian IPAs and whatever-the-fuck-IPAs are just boring to me. It can't end fast enough. I'd much rather have a real schwarzbier, or red ale, or belgian strong ale, than some bastardized american IPA with a few different specialty malts in it.

that whole trend isn't a fusion of IPAs its people figuring out how to make an IPA that isn't shitty. take take for example The Breuery's Mischeif and Bell's Two Hearted. both are basically playing with the same flavors, but one just calls itself an IPA but the other (while really good) flowers up it's description. or like the green flash Le Freak "belgian IPA." it just tastes like a shitty IPA.

and yeah, the lighter styles ARE much harder. thats why i like saisons the best of any style. because from what i understand about subtlety, THATS where you get the interesting flavors from the basic ingredients, but if you just shovel in the ingredients, it just goes to the predominant flavor profile of the ingredient, rather than allowing for it's own subtleties to come to light.

if US brewers want to step up their game style wise, i'd LOVE to see a big trend of scotch ale or red ale come around

sevenSHARPnine wrote:And also also, +1 to Gearmond. If any of you cats are familiar with The Bruery, I love the fact that they refuse to brew an IPA. They say they never have, never will. I dig it.

yeah, i really like the bruery, but i did kinda call out Mischeif for being "a hoppy belgian strong ale".

honestly the only bad beer of theirs i've had is the Tart of Darkness

Gearmond wrote:

sevenSHARPnine wrote:And also also, +1 to Gearmond. If any of you cats are familiar with The Bruery, I love the fact that they refuse to brew an IPA. They say they never have, never will. I dig it.

yeah, i really like the bruery, but i did kinda call out Mischeif for being "a hoppy belgian strong ale".

honestly the only bad beer of theirs i've had is the Tart of Darkness

I don't care much for Mischeif. It's a nice beer but it just doesn't get me too excited. They're Saison Rue is stupid good though. That's the beer that made me fall in love with the style.

......YOU DON'T LIKE TART OF DARKNESS? I am sad. I have a bottle of it in my fridge. I lurve it. My least favorite beer from them is definitely Old Richland, their barlywine. Waaaaay too hoppy.

maybe its because i was a few beers in already. but yeah, Saison Rue is one of my favorite american made saisons.

nope, i thought it was terrible, way too tart, whcih fucks with the flavor of the stout so that its just this mess of bad bitter coffee and tart. and i don't dislike tarts, ouds, etc. etc.

Gearmond wrote:nope, i thought it was terrible, way too tart, whcih fucks with the flavor of the stout so that its just this mess of bad bitter coffee and tart. and i don't dislike tarts, ouds, etc. etc.

I can see where you're coming from. Maybe I just think of it as drinking a sour beer rather than a true stout. Or maybe I'm just weird. They recently released a sour version of their Rugbrod, I think it's draft only but it's really effin good.

i just think that the sour was overpowering and just hamfisted. good sours should taste like thick ciders that are tart. like a combination of wine, beer, and cider.

I went to Halifax this week and I tried some local beer from Garrison and Propeller.
They where very good especially the London Style Porter from Propeller... so delicious.

Tried this last night, I totally get what you guys say about IPAs. Though, I do wish we had more here so I could continue to bitch.

So happy that my friend's shop is now stocking my favorite Berkshire Brews (Coffeehouse Porter and Steel Rail Pale Ale), AND Allegash Black. Huzzah! AND I got to have Mayflower Winter Oatmeal Stout, Founder's Breakfast Stout AND a local Dry Irish Stout on tap tonight.




Man, waking up at 7:30 tomorrow is gonna suck.