Originally Posted by
Jason Roehl
Shawn, you just need the right gateway IPA. I used to dislike IPAs as well, but then I had just the right one...now I'll drink just about any.
Heh. I'm one of those people that says that people who don't like cats just haven't met the right cat, but I can say definitively that isn't true about IPAs. I'm sure that you are correct for most people, Jason, but I wanted to share what I call "a tequila moment" with IPA that has kept me off it forever: When I was in grad school, I volunteered at a local microbrewery - I helped run the bottler and stacked cases, got paid in beer and the ability to order brewing items through them. One day, someone hopped the IPA but didn't record it on the clipboard; sure 'nuff, later someone came buy and hopped it again. Wound up with something like 160+ IBU. Of course, they couldn't sell it, so we all got (corny) kegs of the stuff if we wanted it. I was able to drink about half the keg before I had to give up, and ever since, the grassy/hoppy flavor just puts me off. I'm probably limited to something like 60 IBU, these days.
daniel
P.S. "Tequila moment" doesn't mean I got sick drinking too much beer, but the my reaction to hops is the same. I had lots of friends that drank too much tequila and wouldn't touch the stuff for years afterwards, so that's where it came from.
Not all chemicals are bad. Without hydrogen or oxygen, for example, there would be no way to make water, a vital ingredient in beer.