In honor of IPA Day (August 4), I figured I would write a few words about my favorite style of beer. I remember my first IPA. It was Baltimore’s Clipper City IPA. I remember crispness of the hops and the refreshing flavor on my tongue. Up until that point, I hadn’t really declared a favorite style of beer. But ever since that Clipper City, the IPA has been my favorite.
My top IPAs (in no particular order) that are available presently (alas, some breweries whose IPAs I loved are no longer around. I’m thinking of you, Lobsterback IPA, from the now-defunct Northeast Brewing Company of Boston): Pike Place IPA (Seattle), Victory Hop Devil (Downingtown, PA), Berkshire Brewing Company Lost Sailor IPA (South Deerfield, MA), Kelso IPA (Brooklyn, NY), Six Point Bengali Tiger (Brooklyn, NY) and Sam Adams Latitude 48 IPA.
No NYC pub crawl is complete without a quality IPA or three!
No Green Flash? I think you need to give Ruination another try as well.
You make a good point about Green Flash. I just like the six I’ve listed better than Green Flash. Ruination, like many of the other Stone products, is too heavy. I feel like you can’t drink more than one of those.
The brand new Corruption IPA from DC Brau is as good as any on your list. I would implore you to visit the brewery in northeast DC and give it a try. And Im with Dave, the Green Flash is outstanding!
But I completely agree on the Begali Tiger by 6-Point. Their distro will make its way to the DC market (officially) in about a month, according to the Washington City Paper Lagerheads (http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/youngandhungry/2011/08/04/brooklyns-sixpoint-brewery-heading-to-d-c/#more-43526). I cant wait!!!
Best American IPAs:
http://www.beerinfo.com/index.php/pages/top10americanipa.html
Of all the beers on this list, I have only tried the Humidor IPA. I have to concede, it is quite good!!
Here is another top-10 list:
http://aleheads.com/2010/08/17/best-ipa-in-america/
Of these, I have had the Lagunitas IPA and the Smuttynose IPA. Like the Humidor, these were great!
Of all the IPAs out there, perhaps the one that appeals the most to ‘hop-heads’ is the 120 Minute IPA
http://www.dogfish.com/brews-spirits/the-brews/occassional-rarities/120-minute-ipa.htm
http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/dogfish-head-120-minute-ipa/22904/
I had a bottle in late 2007 (I think; maybe early 2008). It is pretty hard to get your hand on this stuff, and as a result, I tried it just once. I went to Rattle N Hum (rattlenhumbarnyc.com) on 8/5/2011. I wanted to try the 120 Minute, which was listed on the pub’s web site. So, I asked for it as soon as I got inside. I was informed that the keg was tapped on Tuesday around 4pm and it was gone in less than 3 hours. $15 for 8oz makes sense. What doesn’t make sense is, who are these people who went to Rattle N Hum on a Tuesday at 4pm and killed the keg within 3 hours. Anyway, 120 Minute is something every IPA lover should try, even if only once in your life. For me, so far, it has been exactly once.