Funny you mention this. I had a couple… in Bangkok.
Many craft brews may not make it out of Oregon, but the continued innovation and experimentation is quite astonishing. Places like, Deschutes, Bridgeport, 10 Barrel, Rogue and Ninkasi are starting to incorporate the fruity, hazy IPA that are famous in the Northeast and putting them together with the floral, hoppy, dry West Coast IPA’s. The results are absolutely gorgeous.
If you see them at your local tap room or bottle shop, pick them up. I think they are slowly starting to trickly in national distribution. Mostly west coast though.
Have you ever been down to Engine House 9 down in Tacoma? I went to the Univ. of Puget Sound and, back then, we went there to get “good” beer when the cheap crap didn’t sound good. Well, fast forward and a bunch of us beer geeks were down there for a reunion and E-9 was having a Sour Fest. Seriously, like 10 sours all on tap. It was amazing. I’m not sure if they have an email list or events calendar on their site but, if they do and you see that, it’s worth a trip for a Sour lover.
Another vote for Deschutes Fresh Squeezed
And a third for fresh squeezed.I will add Bear Republic Racer 5. Sierra Nevada BC Torpedo is an easy go to also.
Funny how some people interpret “significant distribution” per the OP:
I was wondering what you all though was the best IPA with pretty significant distribution > around the country?
Quite a few of the recs are regional.
Never been but I think I’ve had their stuff at festivals and I’ve seen bottles around. I’ll have to give them a shot. Thanks.
Great call on Racer 5…I forgot about that one. I think that’s a great IPA that is pretty easy to find.
I don’t see Racer 5 around the country. Not on shelves in MI, FL, or MN, for examples. Maybe I’m just unlucky …
as it is, however, IPA is definitely a beer type for which I prefer to Drink Local. ![[drinkers.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/8/82916bed5ad74ac8470bc04089d9758b0c80c9fa.gif "drinkers"){kind=small}
R5 is on MI shelves these days, for the past year or 2 anyway. At least in decent shops in SE MI.
Nice! Hopefully it’s made some in-roads up north, too.
Another vote for Two Hearted. It’s well balanced and citrus oriented, without being OTT. Bell’s isn’t nationally distributed (at least they weren’t a few years ago) but I think it’s getting close.
A lot of those mentioned I’ve never seen in MO or IL, and STL has a lot of good beer overall, but relatively poor distribution of NE breweries I think.
Cigar City Jai alai, Guayabera and invasion are all very solid
Sam Adams New England IPA is really good, reasonably priced at $10 4pk and easy to find
Dogfishhead 60 minute
Thankfully, Stone does make it to the East Coast. Amazing stuff.
Here are several local beers on the east coast with reasonable distribution.
• Sea Hag – New England Brewing Co. – CT
• Counterweight – Headway – CT
• Unfiltered – John Hooker – CT
• The Correspondent – Relic Brewing – CT
• Building 8 – BLDG 8 Brewing – MA
• 18-Watt – Single Cut – NY
Lawson’s is again expanding distribution and now avail in NH.
Ever since they began brewing at the Two Roads facility in Stratford CT I have been seeing it regularly here in NYS as well which is a welcomed development.
I don’t think Knee Deep brewing has been mentioned as of yet but they make an assortment of IPA’s which I seem to be reaching for more and more of late.
The problem IMO with IPAs with significant distribution is that by the time you get them, they are old. I like to have IPA’s that are brewed within 2-3 weeks. I think the biggest problem with IPAs this day is that a lot of them are over the hill by the time a lot of people drink them. Specifically, NE style IPAs are really best consumed within 2 week of canning IMO. The hop flavor drops out pretty quickly which is what makes IPAs great. I will not but a beer that is stamped on the bottle or can that says “best by XXX”.
Although I think IPAs, even some of the hazies, can go up to 4 weeks post-canning, I agree with your position.
On a somewhat related note, my beer loving (but by no means beer geek) neighbor recently told me he had obtained a few cases of free beer from a guy who sent out a message indicating he was leaving beer on his porch for anyone willling to pick it up. My neighbor was really excited by his haul, so out of curiosity I asked him if I could see the beers. Most were breweries I’ve never heard of, but a few good ones (e.g., Maine Beer Company), and all but a few were IPAs or pale ales. After examining the bottling/canning date on a few, I noticed they were 2-4 years old! I informed him those were worthless due to the age and we went through the entire lot and they were all 1-4 years old. What a bummer. Funny thing is he did not believe that the beers were shot, so I watched him open three different beers and spit them out in disgust.
Speaking of Ballast, I much prefer the Manta Ray to the Sculpin- but the Sculpin is much more their main production (even see it at costco now)