best IPA ever?

Racer 5 is great, try the Bear Republic Hop Rod Rye and THAT will become your favorite IPA!

Other good ones:

Great Divide Titan IPA Deshutes Hop Henge

LaConner IPA, Stone IPA, and Boundry Bay Imperal IPA get my nod, but if I ever see a Racer 5 I will give it a try. And when did Pike Brewing Company IPA go away? It is still at my local markett last I looked

Really? I heard Pikes was no more. I guess I'll have to look into that...

Didn't know Pike Brewing was closed. Are you sure about that? Seems like they're still in business (pikebrewing.com).

My current favorite is the Pelican IPA. The brewer also made an unfiltered limited batch IPA call "Dirty Bird" which was even better, though I don't know if Pelican is going to offer that one again. Terminal Gravity also makes a great IPA, as does Caldera.

Sometimes LaConner puts fresh hop pieces in their IPA, also one of my favs.

Pike's disappearance will come as a complete surprise to the various staff, including management and brewers. Considering that I've been out drinking beer with two of Pike's brewers on different nights in the last five days, they're going to be especially bewildered.

Pike is very much alive and with us, thank you very much.

Not necessarily.

-Steve

My current favorite is Three Floydes Pale Ale. It is so hoppy I think it is an IPA.

Dan

Feel that way about Brutal Bitter too, though I don't think Rogue calls it an IPA. Whatever, it's delicious.

By the way, most of what I 've tried from Three Floyds has been great.

Yup, I immediately thought of Alpha King when I first read this thread. Definitely an IPA if you're in the Stylisto camp. I'm drinking a Hercules Double IPA right now. Great beer, and its little brother Titan IPA is also a very nice example of a (regular, American-style) IPA.

Don't know about the best but...Bridgeport IPA and Founders Centennial are probably the 2 I'd pick out as amongst my favourites.

Dogfish Head 60 minute or 90 minute beats anything I've had before.

mike

Hoping to add something constructive, "Dr. Ernst Primer (again)" typed

Try Lagunitas IPA and if you can find it Hoptown IPA

I like it fine. I had some Racer X a while back up at their pub, and it was even finer.

I'd put in a word for AVBC's Hop Otten, a very successful bottled IPA; Sierra Nevada's Celebration Ale (a bottle half-consumed on my desk as I type); and Speakeasy's Big Daddy (draft only; they haven't really figured out how to bottle it yet).

Drake's IPA is pretty darned good, too.

Hard to come up with a best, I guess.

I'll second that. The 90 Minute is incredible. And now, Dogfish Head has come out with a 120 Minute IPA.

60 Minute is a good enough beer, but the 90 and 120 aren't worth the time or money. Dogfish Head does a couple of beers really well, but their 90 & 120 just highlight the fact that they're a one-trick pony. You can only go so far with abusively hopped, syrupy beers. Of course, the American beer drinking public is largely stupid, so they'll likely continue to produce the 90 & 120.

The best IPA is the one you like the most. It won't be the one that somebody else prefers (at least not usually). Excellent IPAs over the past few years include Alpine Duet, LaConner IPA, Big Time's Scarlet Fire, Victory IPA, SN IPA, Russian River IPA, etc., etc. . . IMNSH, Dogfish Head doesn't even come close.

For me it's a virtual three-way tie between Victory Hop Devil, Tupper's Hop Pocket, and SNCA. Wish I could find Tupper's on Long Island...

So many good ones to choose from. Near the top imho would be: Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA Old Dominion New River Pale Ale (that name is a mouthful!)

Pike Brewing is still very much in business. You're wrong.

HTH. HAND.

While I consider the 120-minute an underattenuated mess, I findthe 90-minute to be a very nice combination of firm malt backbone and American hop flavor and bitterness. Nothing syrupy about it.