NBeer’s 10/10/10/10 “End of the World IPA Showcase” 牛啤堂10月10日10人10款特殊啤好者世界级IPA终极末日

Modern IPA (and “double” IPA) poses a conundrum to the beergeek with historicist inclinations.  A style of beer that was historically meant to survive a long journey through tropical climates, is ironically today one which nearly everybody tries to consume as fresh as possible.  Such is the way human tastes evolve over the generations.  For an example from the wine world: most Champagne prior to the 20th century was quite sweet (and before the 17th century were intended to be non-carbonated still wines, devoid of bubbles), but today the fashion is for the crisp, dry acidity of Extra Brut or even Brut Nature Champagnes.  What we assume as commonplace today can differ greatly from that which came before.

Concurrent with improved technology and transport, as well as the seemingly unceasing development of new hop varietals, nowadays the craving for freshness has some consumers literally chasing delivery trucks to get their unadulterated hop fix.  Alas, this often means that for consumers in faraway locales such as China, procuring the putative “best in world” of these beer styles, while still in their supposed “optimum” state, proves a near impossibility.

But every so often, an opportunity arises for me to share the bounty with others… I recently had to make a quick trip back to the USA, and so tasked myself with the mission of bringing back the freshest samples I could obtain of among the most highly-rated IPA’s and Double IPA’s currently buzzing in the (alas, still largely) Americentric craft beer world.

As such, NBeer and I decided early on that this tasting should predominantly target Chinese consumers, since most Westerners can much more easily seek out fresh, top notch IPA’s in their home countries.  Soon the theme was set, in Xiao Biar’s emphatic style: 10th month (October), 10th day, 10 beers, 10 participants – The “Judgement Day of IPA tastings.”  Announced, in Chinese, on NBeer’s WeChat account a couple days prior, the precious few seats filled up in UNDER 15 MINUTES.

Wow.  According to all my new co-workers, this was the fastest signup ever for any NBeer event – even with a 100 RMB deposit required for each reservation.

So let’s see what the early birds caught, shall we…?

I started the evening with a comparison of Ballast Point Sculpin IPA and its flavored variants.  While currently only #112 rank on BeerAdvocate, that’s only because the competition has gotten so intense in the years since it first debuted.  Sculpin is nonetheless still considered a classic or foundational West Coast American IPA.  And at NBeer Pub, we also had the additional opportunity of comparing between my relatively-fresh cans (packaged in late July to early August) with the stock of bottles that is currently available in China (packaged in early March).  This latter experiment is how I decided to start off the evening, and which Xiao Biar wanted an emphasis on from the very beginning: FRESHNESS MATTERS.

Sometimes ignorance is bliss.  Fans of what they thought was Sculpin IPA, soon realized that all they had ever experienced prior to this was a version of the beer after enduring several months of transport, warehousing and distribution – without any guarantees of temperature control, no less.  My handcarried cans of continuously-refrigerated Sculpin exhibited all the hallmarks of a fresh IPA: citrus zest, fresh pineapple, hints of passion fruit, floral pine notes.  The older batch only had echoes of citrus and pine, with the malt sweetness becoming dominant and almost cloying.  I almost didn’t want to do this to them, but learn they must…

Next up was Grapefruit Sculpin.  Some palates were quite surprised by the combination, others bemused, and yet others unimpressed.  Opinions seemed to correspond with how much each person happened to like grapefruit itself, although that’s just my guess.

And of course, then came Habanero Sculpin.  Needless to say, nobody at the table had ever had anything like it, not even a well-seasoned international traveler like Xiao Biar.  I had even warned some of them ahead of time not to eat up their complimentary chunks of Kerrygold Reserve Cheddar.  Perhaps I have a sado-masochist streak in me after all?  Nah – I made sure they got more cheese to quench that chilli pepper burrrrrrnnnn.  Cuz I’m nice like that.

After a brief rest, allowing everyone’s palates some recuperation time, it was onto the “Main Event”, so to speak: some of the most highly-rated IPA’s and Double IPA’s on BeerAdvocate’s Best 250 list.

I started with Pliny the Elder, as I usually do.  It’s basically the “gold standard” in Double IPA and a legend in itself.  Despite the low probability that Russian River features any of the newest “trendy” hop varietals [ :cough: Citra :cough: ] in this classic beer, Elder has nonetheless managed to stay in the Top 10 after well over a decade in existence.  That’s a feat only skilled brewers can achieve.  Even at this table, with all the other contenders, Elder would probably still be the beer I would most want to keep drinking all night and beyond.

And as in my previous “Extravaganza”, I then moved onto the giant-killer and trendsetter, Heady Topper by The Alchemist.  Quickly, the subjective factor revealed itself, as people at the table immediately began debating which one is “better”.  No surprise – unanimity could not be achieved.  I also explained how this beer basically set off the trend of unfiltered, hazy IPA.  Most hadn’t even known that was a “thing”, understandably.  But they soon did…

Tree House Brewing Company is from my home state of Massachusetts, in the remote town of Monson, deep within the rural geographical center.  About two hours drive from Boston.  Started only in 2012, these wizards have managed, in only this tiny window of time, to capture the imagination – and thirsty palates – of possibly the entire world of craft beer.  They currently have two beers in the BeerAdvocate Top 10,  six within the Top 100, and nine within the Top 250 overall.  As with The Alchemist in Vermont, due to popularity Tree House quickly had to move from a tiny residential space into their current location, surrounded by farmland.  Only open 3 days a week, for very limited hours, beer pilgrims from all over keep making the drive and waiting in line, sometimes for entire mornings or afternoons.

As far as I know, Tree House doesn’t filter any of their IPA’s – and judging by the resultant consumer feedback, why should they?  Currently occupying the #9 spot on the BeerAdvocate Top 250, their flagship Julius is a “regular-strength” (non-double/-triple) IPA, which also puts it atop all others in the category.  Some explanation of the name was necessary, since a Chinese audience usually has no idea about the existence of a certain chain of stores selling an orange-flavored frozen drink.  Thus the name is meant to invoke fresh-squeezed oranges, among plenty of other citrus and tropical fruit notes.  Up to that point, this was the haziest beer in the bunch, to the surprise of many – but I also told everyone to be patient… the night wasn’t finished just yet…

But first a quick detour back to Vermont.  Instead of moving out to a farm, Hill Farmstead started on one from the very beginning.  Despite being accessible only via unpaved roads in the northerly reaches of the state, people from around the world still flock to try Shaun Hill’s creations.  Less than an hour from Vermont’s border with Quebec (Canada), it’s easier to leave the USA than to travel towards any major metropolitan area.  From funky saisons and barrel-aged sours, to imperial stouts and barleywines, this brewery is famous for them all.  It holds a whopping EIGHTEEN spots on the Top 250 list – more than any other brewery!  Obviously, their IPA’s aren’t too bad either, since they take up eight of those spots.  (4 more if you include their hoppy-but-not-india pale ales.)  The only other brewery coming close is another Massachusetts newcomer, Trillium.  But I’ll be saving them for a future episode… 😉

At #16, Abner is Hill Farmstead’s highest ranking beer, an “imperial pale ale” named after the Hill family’s great grandfather.  I presented this beer in a 750ml swingtop “growler” bottle, filled by hand at the brewery less than 4 weeks prior.  However, watchful eyes around the table soon noticed that the tag strung to the wire says it was “BEST CONSUMED BY: SEPT 24, 2015”.  Well ok, so we were a little more than 2 weeks off, BUT the growler was only just filled the week before that (around September 16).  Had to give a little spiel about how to keep a hand-filled growler in good condition – always refrigerated, never opened until ready to consume.

Anyway, Abner was of course pretty awesome.  Yes, another unfiltered, lightly hazy brew, but I think I liked it almost as much as the next beer…

So at this point is where we finished up the night, with two more beers, returning once more to Tree House Brewing, in my home state of MA.  Among all the hazy, unfiltered IPA’s I brought tonight, the next would not only be possibly the most turbid in appearance, but my personal favorite of this new unfiltered “style.”  Yet for whatever reason, the Internet consensus just doesn’t agree with me.  Tree House Haze (yes, that’s its name) only ranks #73 on the BeerAdvocate Top 250.  Go figure.  But a couple of the attendees that night concurred with my love for its more delicate tropical bouquet, with fresh passion fruit notes, into meyer lemon, mango and white peach.  A person’s palate is a subjective beast.  Never forget that.

Finally, as I often do with nightcaps, I did a little switcheroo for the 10th and last beer of the evening.  Instead of an IPA, I brought along yet another Tree House brew: their Double Shot with Sumatra Mandheling.  Although “only” ranked #120 out of 250, it was a worthy addition to the night, both because of its freshness (hand-bottled only 3.5 weeks before) and because of its rich and intense espresso coffee character.  Several people around the table almost couldn’t believe their senses – “How can a brewer achieve a coffee flavor so intense?!”  That just about sums up their sense of wonderment.

In the end, it was pretty clear that eyes were opened and minds changed.  Credit is due to Xiao Biar and NBeer for wanting to get their compatriots more exposed to this expansive world of creativity and exploration.  It was also eye-opening for me to hear more diverse opinions from native Chinese consumers themselves.  Looking forward to the next one!  😉

[FULL DISCLOSURE: I am currently a provisional member of the NBeer team, whose management compensated me for the cost of the beers and their transport.]