best IPA ever?

I think La Conner's IPA isn't quite the same as it once was, but the brewer who used to brew it is now at Rogue's Issaquah Brewhouse, and when he has occasion to brew a hoppy beer there, it's very good indeed.

Diamond Knot's IPA & Industrial IPA are the same as ever, and now that they have the B2 production brewery running, I expect to see more handles around the region. That won't suck.

Another reliable IPA comes from Boundary Bay. It's one of the permanent handles at my local.

These days, it's more like an outstanding three: Scarlet Fire, Bhagwan's, and Meerkat, and sometimes something else as well.

Dang, that's a good question. None available at BevMo? I don't recall Pike on tap anywhere in the City, but then, there's a *lot* of competition for handles these days. I like all the North Coast beers on at the Hog Island Oyster Bar at the Ferry Building.

"John S." wrote in news:1147032170.811886.250810 @g10g2000cwb.googlegroups.com:

New River Pale Ale is actually an APA (to split a beer-hair). That being said, I'm going to go cry now, as I used to live 15 miles away from Dominion and always had New River in my house as my standard beer. Perfect balance of malt and hops, wonderful mouthfeel, IMO the best beer on the planet pound-for-pound. It's about the only thing I miss from living on the East Coast.

To be local again, I'll vote for Masala Mama from Town Hall in Minneapolis. Brewpub-only, but damn, it's spectacular stuff. Bottled, dunno. Hop Devil, like everything from Victory, seems to have gone downhill in recent years. Maybe SNCA by default as the best.

The Meerkat hasn't been on for a month or so but at the moment they have the Decade IPA going. One of their tastiest IPAs in my opinion, too high acohol for me to drink too much of but really excellent big IPA.

Dave

New River is certainly a good APA. I've had it as my home draught beer on a number of occasions, as well as the Tupper's Pils. While solid, at least for as East Coast beer, it's about fair-to-middlin' when compared to a number of West Coast entries. Vinnie Cilurzo's stuff at RRBC comes to mind, as well as the beers Paddy used to brew at Moylan's, and when Marin IPA was on, it was untouchable.

Was just there last Saturday, and things don't seem to have gone downhill in the least. Hop Devil is likely become a victim of palate creep as people titrate up their hop resistance, but it remains largely unchanged from the pilot batches.

With Old Dominion's recent sale, I have to wonder if there'll be some reracking of the lineup and maybe some new products.

I just bought it again tonight after the current discussion, and at first it seemed a bit uninteresting, compared to sundry hop monsters and hop flower goddesses. But by the end of the bottle (which was best quaffed quickly for maximum effect) it turned out to be a great, quenching guzzle on warm/humid day.

I'll drink to that. Actually I enjoy the New River as well as the two Tuppers. Although the Pils would probably rank third of the group in a close race.

Did you ever make it to the pub? Pretty decent food and the freshest beer.

Hehe..

"John S." wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@q12g2000cwa.googlegroups.com:

The Tuppers Hop Pocket Ale was the beer that really hooked me hard as a beer geek. Miss that one as well, but nothing as much as New River.

Dozens and dozens of times. Going to be back out East for a few days and need to make a pilgrimage there. Wondering how many growlers of the brewpub version of Oak Barrel Stout I can get into my carryon . . .

"cg" wrote in news:Zyu8g.133$5Z.71@dukeread02:

Definitely a personal preference thing, but I tend to find a lot of West Coast beers fall prey to the usual West Coast stereotype of unbalanced towards the hop side of things. New River's perfectly balanced between a lovely hoppy bite and actual full, sticky malts.

I've read something that Victory claims their recipes haven't changed, but about everyone I know agrees that in the last two years Old Horizontal and Storm King have really taken a significant step backward. I've only had Hop Devil a couple of times in the last year or two, but it just didn't have the bounce it used to. It wasn't that it seemed less hoppy or anything but that the malt seemed thinner than it used to.

OH and SK used to be my favorite beers on the planet, but something's been off for the last few years. 2005 SK was at least decent, but the

Certainly could, but OD's been pretty successful as a growing regional brewery and I'd like to believe nobody's going to screw with what's proved to be a reasonably good business model. That being said, if they want to ramp up distribution and bring their beer to Minnesota, well, I wouldn't exactly pout about that.

The fish and chips is a favorite of mine, but the burgers are down right tasty too. You might look into a keg instad of a dozen growlers (grin). Dominion sells a fair amount of their beer to local restaurants too. Red Hot 'n Blue is currently selling one of their ales and Oak Barrel Stout. A 22 ounce glass of stout and ribs...yum!

it's not an ipa it's a pale ale..and it's called alpha king

They certainly *call* it a pale ale. But if it quacks like a duck...

Alpha King is as much an IPA as any. What the brewer calls it is irrelevant

And it's delicious. It has this satiny mouthfeel, a lustrous orange/copper color (it is really a visually beautiful beer), and it takes it's time spreading across the palate in shades of hop intensity. If wine drinkers only knew about the spectacular flavor available in great beers like this, they would save a lot of money.

Ahh, a local.

Yes, Hoptown IPA is quite tasty if you like your IPA's just a tad on the sweet side. I do. Another sweetish IPA along the same lines is Wet Mountain, a very good IPA from a small pizza chain/micro brewery called Il Vicino's. As a bonus, their pizzas are killer. The best I've tried.

nb

Joe, the bottled stuff, which is contract brewed, is nowhere near as good as the real deal. If you can get to one of the breweries (CO SPRNGs), do it. The bottled stuff is really inferior. You can buy growlers to go (2L) and they will even fill your 5 gal corny keg for $40 (roughly 4 cases of beer). Wet Mountain. Yum!

nb

The first time I tried Racer 5 I was less than impressed. Turns out one of their early releases just didn't get it and a few cases escaped. I tried the newer stuff and it's not bad. But, I'd much rather have my favorite, Drake's IPA from the Drake's Brewing CO in San Leandro CA. This is a very malty and hoppy IPA without being too syrupy and heavy. Not everyone will like the strong malt profile, but the equally strong hops profile balances perfectly and still leaves a clean underwhelmed palate. In fact, I just talked myself into a sixer.

nb

Unless Drake's have cleaned up their act considerably, and done some reformulations, there's no way their IPA would hold a candle to Racer

1. Given the limitations of the brewhouse (admittedly, I haven't seen the inside of it sine 2002), there was plenty of reason to question the consistency of the product.

Racer 5, OTOH, while having gone through some minor growing pains when Richard expanded, has never been less than outstanding. We lived in Santa Rosa back when Richard was brewing Racer 5 as a "seasonal" four times a year, and were gratified to see it move into regular production and year-round availability.

Hoptown's DUIPA, although a "double" IPA, is one of the few Northern CA beers that comes close to Racer 5 (Marin IPA and RR IPA being the others). Drake's is a good enough beer, but just doesn't stand up against the competition.

Will reevaluate at the end of the month when I fly out and spend 3 nights at Barclay's in Rock Ridge sampling the local wares.

cg