One of the ideas commonly repeated today is that the best IPAs are fresh and local to you. When looking at my bottom five in the style, I found this:
2 from KY (my home state)
1 from IN
1 from MO
1 from “Ireland”
Of these beers, 2 were served from cans, 2 were from keg, and 1 was from a bottle.
Where are your bottom five IPAs from? And how were they served? To be clear, I am not looking to bash specific beers, so please do not list unless you feel compelled to do so. |
1 English IPA bottle from many years ago that I got in the mail when I lived in the UK
1 bottle from Wisconsin I got at Trader Joes
1 can from New York, my review doesn’t say where I got it.
to reinforce your thought, I got my bottom two on draft at the brewpub, one in Arizona, and one at a brand new brewery that opened this past spring in Virginia. Sadly, that Virginia brewery is jam packed every single day, and all their beers are sub-par. I hope people there get a clue |
and thank you for spelling IPAs correctly |
2 from Colorado
1 from Minnesota
1 from Alaska
1 from Ireland
3 bottles
1 can
1 draft
If I expand this to Bottom 25, 9 are from Nebraska (home state) and 5 from Colorado.
On the other side, my Top 5 are:
1 from Florida
1 from Michigan
1 from Colorado
1 from California
1 from Japan
4 cans
1 bottle
Of my Top 25, only 1 is from Nebraska and only 5 from a bordering state.
So for me, local and fresh definitely doesn’t determine quality for me.
I didn’t include Imperial IPA’s either...
|
|
|
1 from Switzerland, 2 from England, 1 from Scotland, 1 from New Zealand.
4 from bottle and 1 on draught from the brewery.
Lack of freshness doesn’t play so much of a part as thee beers would have been awful no matter what. I also think that three of them are IPAs in name only but we don’t have a style for ’Unclassifiable Bloody Mess’. |
1 from CT
1 from ME
1 from England
1 from Mexico
1 from SC
4 were in drafts only the Mexican was in bottle they were just bad beers in general |
Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Germany, Italy.
One tap, 4 bottles. The tap one was poured by the brewer at a festival, it was a complete mess. This distribution is probably owed to the fact that many people in Middle Europe think they’ll have to brew IPAs and don’t know how to do it. And since I live there, I also rate some of the bad beers there. |
I’m gonna keep this simple; I’ve rated "hoppy" beers made at Minhas Brewery |
|
|
3 out of my bottom five were served fresh on draft at three different California breweries.
The other two are from breweries owned by large companies. One draft and one bottle. |
One tried a few times, both bottled and on tap, local at the time (Vermont)
Three from brewpubs - Maine, PEI, and a national brewpub chain (location in Illinois)
Fifth bottled (Wisconsin)
All of them theoretically fresh at the time
All rated 1.8-2 |
My bottom five are all from California, in fact, 9 of the bottom 10 are from California. The one exception being a Minhas beer.
Perhaps surprising to no one familiar with their work, 4 of the bottom 11 are from Area 51 (including the three worst). |
