Topic: Double IPA is the essence of America

[Mooning Freddy]

I need to confess: I like IPA. It is possibly my favorite style of beer.
This special brand of English pale ale was originally produced for export to India. To preserve the beer for the long journey, the brewers infused it with an unusually hugh amount of hops. The result was an ale with a distinctly bitter-sour taste, the bitterness a result of the high percentage of hops.

It is special. It is distinct. The unusual flavor makes many beer drinkers dislike it. But being a wannabe beer connoisseur, I love it.
When I visited America, I found out that Americans have a special taste for IPA. Interesting, I thought. The people who usually drink the soda that they call Budweiser can truly appreciate IPA?

I was excited to taste an American IPA. And once I tasted it, I was overwhelmed. Horrified, I stuck my tongue out in disgust.
What the hell is wrong with that beer? Is it spoilt? Have I not cooled it enough? WHY THE HECK IS IT SO DAMN BITTER?
Of course, there was nothing wrong with the beer. I was simply overwhelmed with the extreme consistency of hops in it.
I tasted another IPA, and another. They were all equally bitter. For a while I wondered, what's wrong with the Americans? Why does their IPA contain such an overwhelming percentage of hops?

Then I finally understood this. I wasn't drinking IPA. I was drinking DOUBLE IPA.
The double did not just mean double the alcohol (6%-8% alcohol instead of the regular 4%-5%). It also meant double the hops.
Good lord. Double IPA. The beer that for most people is too bitter, you decided, hey, it's not bitter enough! Let's double the bitterness! And double the alcohol while we're on it!

Ah, America. You're all crazy. But I love you. 

[JR]

Huh. Never tried an IPA before...think I'll stay away from the domestic ones if I try one. I usually just stick to wheat beers. On a scale of "piss water" to "black death," they seem to be somewhere in the middle.

[Mooning Freddy]

Huh. Never tried an IPA before...think I'll stay away from the domestic ones if I try one. I usually just stick to wheat beers. On a scale of "piss water" to "black death," they seem to be somewhere in the middle.

Well, as far as I'm concerned, it goes like that:

Lager = piss water. What bros chug on college parties. it's cheap and boring, but I'll drink it when there's no other option.

Ale = beer you can enjoy. Quite soft and different variations are really nice. Englishmen are right for appreciating it.

IPA = basically ale with an attitude.

Wheat beer = kinda sweeter and fruitier than malt beers. Which makes them fun to drink, especially for people who don't like malt beer.

Stout = black death

Porter = drinkable black death

Kilkenny = Irish beer for bastards. It killed Kenny.

Trappist beer = you hit the motherload! Extremely rare and expensive monastery beer, but once you drank one, chances are you won't wish to drink anything ever again. It's the cocaine of beers.

[Flame]

Trappist beer = you hit the motherload! Extremely rare and expensive monastery beer, but once you drank one, chances are you won't wish to drink anything ever again. It's the cocaine of beers.

related- my brother works as a distributor in Argentina, mostly sweets and pastries, but he's recently expanded into wine, and he sells a brand of wine made by monks. They specify they dont want to sell it to chain stores. he gave me a bottle once, of really sweet table wine, that shit was glorious. Don Bosco, if anyone wants to know.

[BMC_War Machine]

Im one of the American piss drinkers i guess lmao, my brew of choice is Heineken. Yeah,imported but according to scale a lager lol. Most people i know think Heineken is bitter, to me ita got just the right amount of hops, that is when its at the right temperature.  Cant have it ice cold or just a "little" warm or its bitter as fuck. I recently tried and IPA and i could drink them. Not something I'd drink regularly tho. And as for the budweiser soda thing, nah dude, i wouldnt even say its that strong. Maybe perier soda water haha

[Bloodreign]

Not of the beer drinking these days, I prefer the harder stuff. Whiskey with soda or vodka with mango orange juice or V8 juice. If I drink beer, I stick with Red Stripe.

[JR]

I don't know much about whiskey...mostly drank scotch if I went that route. Went through a bottle of Johnnie Walker...not bad, but Chivas Regal...ugh. Watered-down taste...I think it's still in my freezer.

I think my favorite liquor is probably gin though, just because Tanqueray and 7-Up seems to go so well together.

[Mooning Freddy]

The only drink I could use in a cocktail is vodka. Okay, maybe tequila too. Or rum.

But not whisky. No way. The high status (and price) of that drink in my country makes mixing it with anything (well, maybe soda's okay because it doesn't alter the taste) almost sacrilegious. My friends are such whisky connoisseurs that if I dilute whiskey with anything, they'll probably never speak to me again.   

[JR]

I've never had Crown Royal without mixing it with Coke to be honest, but if I drink Johnnie Walker, the only way for me is chilled with a couple of ice cubes. Man, that's good.

[Mooning Freddy]

Johnny Walker, second harvest, oh yeaaaaaaah 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nvqn12B6Wm4

[Belmontoya]

I like a lot of different beers.

Lately I've been comfortable with Stella.

[PFG9000]

I love IPAs.  Couldn't stand them the first time I tried one, but it didn't take me long to get hooked.  Definitely an acquired taste.  My two favorites are only locally available.  Moon Man is an IPA by New Glarus, which is only sold in Wisconsin.  It's been my longstanding favorite for probably 5 or 6 years now.  And Titletown Brewery's Green 19 IPA is my newest addiction.  It's brewed right here in Green Bay, WI.  I'm not sure how far they distribute, but I don't believe they specifically limit their sales to Wisconsin like New Glarus does.

[Mooning Freddy]

Now that I live in London, I find it oddly difficult to find the IPA that I like. Some of them are too hoppy for me, while others not hoppy enough. Ironically, I found a really cheap one sold in the supermarket chain Sainsbury's that I liked.

[Dracula9]

All I have to say is:

[Mooning Freddy]

It helps you get a proper job done.