TOPIC:

"Saruman":51ehwlxb wrote: Had one what?[/quote:51ehwlxb]

60 Minute IPA (sorry, thought it was the only beer mentioned above).

Made the exact same point at the time, last 60 Minute I sampled was very early on in my craft beer journey and I remembered it as being spectacular. Now, it was just decent.

"TheBeerNut":1tsd9ydh wrote: Possibly not, compared to the other great American and American-style beers we get, but they certainly have a good reputation.[/quote:1tsd9ydh]

"brian_c":1tsd9ydh wrote: Made the exact same point at the time, last 60 Minute I sampled was very early on in my craft beer journey and I remembered it as being spectacular. Now, it was just decent.[/quote:1tsd9ydh]

The caveat with 60 Minute is that it is a (perhaps the prototypical) East Coast IPA - big malts, sweet, lots of chew, then also hops.

Some DFH beers are museum pieces by now, but others have not been topped simply because they were so innovative that nobody else has tried anything similar.
Palo Santo Marron, for example, is still spectacular.

A lot will depends on retail pricing for me.

Agree: DFH has been (and is) one of the most innovative breweries around; they have some PURE MADNESS in their beer list (have you got a sip of the 120 minutes?)

There's also stuff a little bit more "easy", which may not really tell much to a beer connoisseur, but overall, having them in London, it's a great deal.

I actually had a brief chat with Sam Calagione himself in Turin, and he was mentioning SOMETHING related to the opening of a brewery connected to Eataly in London...........

"KeeganAles":o341rtj2 wrote: (perhaps the prototypical) East Coast IPA[/quote:o341rtj2]I always had Harpoon IPA pencilled in there.

"TheBeerNut":3l71dyvw wrote:

"KeeganAles":3l71dyvw wrote: (perhaps the prototypical) East Coast IPA[/quote:3l71dyvw]I always had Harpoon IPA pencilled in there.[/quote:3l71dyvw]

Harpoon IPA predates 60 Minute by about 10 years, it's true.

However, Harpoon take themselves out of the running by having claimed, at one point, that theirs was "an interpretation of the English style."

In fairness, everyone did that in the 90s because there was no such thing as an American IPA (yet.)
And they're wised up since: they now state that it's a "New-England IPA[/url:3l71dyvw]" while head brewer Al Marzi has called it a "North American IPA[/url:3l71dyvw]."
At 45 IBUs, it was more bitter than just about anything British or American in 1993, but with a healthy whack of Goldings and a distinct woodiness, it's still more English in character than American.
(The assumption here is it must be a good example of an American IPA before it can be a good example of an East Coast IPA.)
By way of comparison, Goose Island IPA, which came out the same year, is similarly dosed with an English-descended flavor hop (Celeia this time) but measures 55 IBUs and has a more American key lime pie-type citrus character, yet has always called itself an English Style IPA for competition and now even says it on the label[/url:3l71dyvw].

TL;DR - Harpoon IPA = needs more hops.


East Coast is balanced while West Coast is out of balance on purpose but the thing is, both types are still well hoppy.
AND... this whole dynamic is a bit Naughties (00s) - there are plenty of abusively hopped East Coast beers these days.

If you're not into 60 Minute, HopDevil is a good old school East Coast IPA.

Since you asked...