So, I only bothered to make one prediction in the Brewing News' March Madness-style National IPA Championship. True to the form I tend to follow in basketball brackets, I bombed out early. Dogfish Head's 60 Minute IPA lost out to Flower Power from Ithaca Beer Co.
Shows what I know.
Check out the first-round results here.
The only other two brews in the field I'd actually tried also lost this weekend. Harpoon IPA was bounced by the entry from Green Flash Brewing, and Flying Dog's Snake Dog IPA lost to Crooked Tree IPA from Dark Horse Brewing.
Can anyone out there give me a scouting report on these beers? Were their victories expected or surprising? And how, pray tell, can anything top the 60 Minute? I mean, it says right there on the 6-pack carrier "perhaps the best IPA in America." (or is that the 90 Minute?)
Showing posts with label IPA. Show all posts
Showing posts with label IPA. Show all posts
Monday, February 25, 2008
Friday, February 22, 2008
Hops throwdown
March is just around the corner, which any college sports fan will tell you means there's a boatload of basketball headed our way. Well, the folks at Great Lakes Brewing News are taking that idea and running down the court with it, sponsoring the National IPA Championship, which kicks off Saturday.
Featuring hops instead of hoops, the contest will see brewers judging 32 American-brewed IPAs against each other in head-to-head pairs, through four rounds leading up to the final March 8 in Atlantic City.
Glancing over the tourney bracket, I see only two of the 32 entrants that I know are available in Calhoun County - the IPA from Massachusetts' Harpoon Brewery, and Flying Dog's Snake Dog IPA. There may be a few others in Alabama if you head toward Birmingham, and even more over the border in Georgia. The only other brew on the list I've sampled is the 60 Minute IPA from Delaware's Dogfish Head - knowing nothing of the others I'd have to put them down as a favorite for the finals.
As any basketball nut knows, March Madness means bracket contests, and the NIPAC is no different. Until noon EST Saturday, you can fill out a bracket online for a chance to win a case of the champion brew, T-shirts, posters and such.
Featuring hops instead of hoops, the contest will see brewers judging 32 American-brewed IPAs against each other in head-to-head pairs, through four rounds leading up to the final March 8 in Atlantic City.
Glancing over the tourney bracket, I see only two of the 32 entrants that I know are available in Calhoun County - the IPA from Massachusetts' Harpoon Brewery, and Flying Dog's Snake Dog IPA. There may be a few others in Alabama if you head toward Birmingham, and even more over the border in Georgia. The only other brew on the list I've sampled is the 60 Minute IPA from Delaware's Dogfish Head - knowing nothing of the others I'd have to put them down as a favorite for the finals.
As any basketball nut knows, March Madness means bracket contests, and the NIPAC is no different. Until noon EST Saturday, you can fill out a bracket online for a chance to win a case of the champion brew, T-shirts, posters and such.
Wednesday, January 9, 2008
NYT: To the extreme
The New York Times' Eric Asimov leads another tasting panel in a big feature today on "extreme beers." He defines that as:
His panelists started off skeptical of the style, but found some stuff to like in the beers, all of which essentially were super-IPAs. All of them, by the way, are prohibited in Alabama thanks to the 6-percent alcohol-by-volume cap. The only one I've had is Dogfish Head's 90 Minute Imperial IPA. I agree with panelist Florence Fabricant who called it "a very nice beer" in a nifty audio & photo feature that's paired with the story (btw, it wouldn't work in Firefox for me, try IE). There's also a recipe for wok-seared spicy calamari salad that Fabricant says pairs nicely with these big beers.
"... an all-American genre in which brewers are engaged in a constant game of 'Can you top this?' Whether using an inordinate amount of traditional ingredients like malt or hops, or adding flavorings undreamed of by Old World brewers, American brewers have created a signature style that beer enthusiasts seem both to love and hate."
His panelists started off skeptical of the style, but found some stuff to like in the beers, all of which essentially were super-IPAs. All of them, by the way, are prohibited in Alabama thanks to the 6-percent alcohol-by-volume cap. The only one I've had is Dogfish Head's 90 Minute Imperial IPA. I agree with panelist Florence Fabricant who called it "a very nice beer" in a nifty audio & photo feature that's paired with the story (btw, it wouldn't work in Firefox for me, try IE). There's also a recipe for wok-seared spicy calamari salad that Fabricant says pairs nicely with these big beers.
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