WE HATE IPA’s

Okay, so in case the title of this post does not give it away we REALLY hate India Pale Ales and their family members the American Pale Ale, the Belgian Pale Ale and any others we missed……

For some reason, when we tell people that they all have suggestions about “did you try this one?” I want to say NO, because they suck. I don’t get the appeal. Mostly, they taste okay when you put them in your mouth. Then, that grapefruit bitterness appears. I love grapefruit. Ralph loves grapefruit. I hate IPS’s. Ralph hates IPA’s. Scott hates IPA’s (and grapefruit). Lance hates IPA’s (and grapefruit).

Last week, Lance and I went to one of our local ‘by the bottle’ type stores. One of the salesmen asked if they could help us. We always like to ask them what they recommend, because sometimes they have something brand new that we haven’t tried. Unfortunately, they always tend to recommend IPA’s.  When we asked we thought that we would give this guy a chance, and he started out well, but asking what we liked, or have tried. We rolled out the list of what we have tried this year. It (for only being July) is pretty big…. His eyes got big, then he started (without really looking at the list) to suggest. I interjected that we haven’t found an IPA that we have liked, we really don’t like them. Immediately, he started to suggest ‘great’ IPA’s. (UGH! I’m rolling my eyes at this point). Lance reminds him that we don’t like IPA’s, but he continues to tell us about how great this one is, and how this one won awards for being such a great IPA. Okay. Finally, to get him to stop we told him that we would take one of the ones that he “highly recommended”. I will give him that it was slightly better than most other IPA’s. It still sucked. Let me give you a run down on our IPA experience….

Left Hand Brewing: Stranger American Pale: VERY Bitter, very grapefruity…. This is the taste that made me say I don’t like beer.

Scott: Hell No

Rob: Hell No

Lance: Bad

Holly: Hell No

Left Hand Brewing: 400 Pound Monkey: This one passed up the grapefruit flavor and went right for the grapefruit peel…

Scott, Ralph, Rob, Lance, Holly: Hell No!

Mad River Brewing: Steelhead Double IPA:

Scott, Ralph, Rob, Lance, Holly: Hell No!

Magic Hat Brewery: Encore IPA: Ralph’s description “F’in UGLY!”

Scott, Ralph, Lance & Holly: HELL NO!!!!!

Sierra Nevada: Ruthless Rye: Ruby Red grapefruit!

Scott, Ralph, Lance, Holly: HELL NO!

Stoudt’s Double IPA: (The highly recommended one) As they go, this one is one of the slightly better IPA’s. It doesn’t finish with the bitter taste because it starts with it…

Scott: (as an IPA) Bad Okay

Ralph: Hell No!

Lance: Bad

Holly: Bad

Wychwood Brewing: Wychcraft: Also along the lines of a better IPA. All together, it’s our favorite IPA. (That’s not saying much) It has less of that grapefruit taste than a normal Pale Ale. It’s not quite as hoppy either. It would be a great summery ‘blonde’ beer.

Scott: Good Okay

Ralph: Hell No!

Rob: Hell No!

Lance: Bad Okay

Holly: Bad Okay

If you’ve made it this far with us, I bet you’re noticing that we HATE IPA’s!!!!

I seriously would like to know what the appeal is. Please- if you are an IPA fan respond to us and let us know what we are missing. Obviously, by the number of people who like IPA’s (they even have their own webpage!) we are missing something. I would love to start a conversation and learn what I’m missing!