Heh heh... too bitter?

Yeah, just more overpowering than I was expecting. But I don't drink often enough to be anything approaching a valid connoisseur. I think the more of these beers I try, the more I'll come to appreciate this kind of taste.

I was exactly like you FT. I was fortunate enough to have a craft beer store open near me and they started having free tasting nights (by a sponsor distributor promoting a specific brewer each time).

I literally just started trying to stuff to find out things that I hated the least. Dark beers were much more palatable in the beginning. Ommegang's Chocolate Indulgence stout was my first eye opener. I hated IPA's.

Cut to a few years later and now can't get enough hops.

I'd take some of Kyle's cues as to dipping a toe into this stuff. A LOT of people here have used Allagash White to intro people into "other options" with beer.

While it should be something the average dude has to work up to a bit, palate-wise, it should NOT be something you have to learn to appreciate. Some people just don't enjoy either higher levels of bitterness (from hops that were boiled in the beer a long time), or the green/pine/citrus oils (which come from hops thrown in at the end of the boil, or even after it's cooled), or both. No shame in that.

To put the just the bitterness in perspective, Lagunitas IPA is at about 45 IBU's (international bittering units). Harpoon IPA, Smuttynose, etc, all the bigger-and-yet-sixpackable IPAs usually clock in around 45. Miller High Life has about 7 IBU's. Bud has 12. Pliny the Elder and Heady Topper both have about 100. Above 120, the human tongue can't really register more bitterness, so it is the theoretical (and pretty impractical) upper limit of what you can taste.

And when you picture all that, remember that as beers get more bitterness, it's being done to balance out higher sweetness as well. So in a weird way, it balances out but all at a MUCH higher "volume" or intensity of flavor. Like eating delicious-but-bad-for-you food at a restaurant... it tastes so decadent and good usually because it has shit-tons of sugar, salt, and fat, all of which sorta balance each other out at a combined new higher level of flavor.

So finally, if you're interesting in ramping up a little slower, I'd say explore:

- Belgian Whites (allagash especially)
- High quality pale ales, which are down in the 20-30 IBU range
- Good stouts, which tend to be low IBU but high flavor
- Belgians, but watch out for your wallet, because they're addictive and delicious... try blondes or "abbey ales" first, before the bigger dubbels and tripels.

Oh or shit, if you can find something (usually a "summer" beer from most breweries) that's a kolsch style, you might LOVE that. Harpoon Summer is one such. Total gateway drug beer style.

I could have swore that Pliny was about 70 IBUs. I'm almost certain that I read that somewhere from a credible source. It also makes sense to me because I really don't like many of the 100+ IBU hop bombs, but I do like Pliny. I went to look for confirmation though and couldn't find anything on RR's site and just general googling found estimates ranging from 68 to 120 but with most in the 90-100 range.

I've only had Pliny once but I wouldn't guess it to be in the 100 range. More like 80 or so.

As I was babbling about, bitterness is very susceptible to perception errors when mixed with a lot of sweetness. They sorta cancel out. Pliny and Topper both have a strong caramel-like sweetness to them, which in my opinion hides some of the bitterness.

I was relying more on faulty memory of having read that somewhere credible than mere perception. I agree though that it doesn't taste that bitter and you've pointed out why. But for the record, it is 90-95 IBU per Vinny Cilurzo.

http://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/r ... -elder-60-

Would make sense then if Blind Pig is 70'ish.

Ah. I agree - I believe it could totally be lower. Was just quoting what I could find. And shit, 90 is PLENTY.

Was looking at the Alchemist's (very outdated, like 2009) beer list on their website, and the IBUs are insane.

great info - thanks for all the suggestions!

Bob,

I hate hoppy beers. Could just be your palate. Although, Lagunitas IPA is pretty balanced in comparison to the hop-bombs that people around here tend to like. Good thing is, the hop-bomb/palate-wrecker beers are an American invention of the last decade or so, so there are literally thousands of beers that don't taste like these. Keep on trying because life is too short to drink shitty, watered down beers. Says the guy who drank 3 Bud tall-boys last night.

Kolsches, Weizens, and if you can find them, Alts. Shit I KNOW you can find a good wheat beer somewhere, they're everywhere, Bob. Ever had any of the real ones? Schneider is considered the top of the pile.

Quick history on german wheats that nobody asked for: The Bavarians were brewing them outside the law (Reinheitsgebot said you could only use malt, hops, and water, forgetting yeast of course because they didn't even know it was involved). The Bavarian Prince was granted a monopoly on it and taxed at 4x the usual rate. When it finally fell out of favor (brown beers got popular, sales fell), he sold the rights to brew wheat beer to a private upstart, Mr Schneider. So Schneider pretty much completely saved the style. A standard wheat beer is pretty mild, lightly spicey, really refreshing, not very hoppy, and goes killer with hot weather.

(Bob posts a screen shot from One Day At A Time in 4... 3... 2...)

Theeeere it is

Patting myself on the back for finding a pic so appropriate to the beer-centric discussion.

Also, I am 99.9% certain that will be used as the cover of my next mix CD.

Kate Upton body paint pics
http://swimdaily.si.com/2013/02/26/kate ... _sipopular

You can HEAR our hangdog posture when we reveal we've been listening to this. It's so, so shameful. I'd rather tell a story about smoking crack to the governor than admit I've been exploring Ringo's solo oeuvre.

He KNEW he'd pull me in with Billy Squire. Totally calculated.

I think you're the one who said near the beginning how long we've all known each other - we knew what we were doing bringing up The Beatles in the first place.

Well it was a nice ride to be taken on. Clearly I enjoyed it.

Episode 40 which includes something of a breakdown of the Strokes career and a review of the new album is up.

"It gives you a new perspective on Uncle Lance's friend Bruce."

awesome.

My god Dave, your sinuses... so bad. Poor guy.

And were you doing construction in the background?