The Northwoods Beer Guy Podcast
We love craft beer! Each week we will taste a number of beers from around the country and give you our thoughts, not only will we talk about the flavor, but also the artwork and anything else that comes to mind.
We will also go on location and visit breweries and try a number of their offerings and give you our thoughts as well.
Come sit around the campfire and join in on the fun!
The Northwoods Beer Guy Podcast
Ep 170 - Are Modern IPAs Still About Hops
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
An IPA episode that starts with skepticism and ends with us genuinely impressed. We line up six different India pale ales and do a true side-by-side IPA tasting, the kind that exposes what labels and marketing blur: some IPAs are hop-forward and dry, some are mellow to the point of confusing, and some modern fruited hazy IPAs barely resemble the old-school “bitter grapefruit and pine” stereotype at all.
We crack into Dale’s Easy IPA, then move through bigger names like Stone Brewing and New Belgium’s Voodoo Ranger series, comparing aroma, bitterness, dryness, and that all-important drinkability. Along the way we drop IPA trivia that clears up common myths, including where IPAs actually originated and why they were built for long trips. We also talk beer glassware, including the idea of an IPA-specific glass designed to hold aroma and preserve head, and why drinking IPAs cold still matters.
The real plot twist hits when the fruited and tropical IPAs show up. Voodoo Ranger Fruit Force and Voodoo Ranger Tropical bring loud fruit aroma, surprising sweetness, and the dangerous kind of smoothness that hides a 9.5% ABV punch. If you’ve been searching for “best fruited IPA,” “tropical IPA review,” or a craft beer podcast that tells you what’s worth buying, this one gives you clear rankings, honest scores, and who each beer is for.
Subscribe for more tastings, share this with the IPA skeptic in your life, and leave a review with the next beer style you want us to put on the table.
Thank you for listening to The Northwoods Beer Guy Podcast. If you have a question, comment or would like us to review your beer, please feel free to contact us at northwoodsbeerguy@gmail.com.
You can also find us on Facebook, YouTube, X (Twitter), Instagram and Tik Tok.
If you are on Untappd, look up NorthwoodsBeerGuy and send a friend request.
Subscribe to our podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pandora, YouTube Music, or wherever you listen to podcasts, or you can click on our RSS feed as well.
Welcome Back And Why IPAs
SPEAKER_02Grab a beer and pull up a chair. Welcome to the Northwoods Beer Guy Podcast. Hey, hey, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome back to the Northwoods Beer Guy Podcast. This is Mike, the Northwoods Beer Guy. And as always, I am joined by Jim. Hey, buddy, how are you doing? Doing good, man. How about you? Another day in paradise. Living a dream. Exactly. Yeah. So we're back in the studio here. And uh we had to we just threw away our bottle opener because we don't have a bottle today. We don't. Nope.
SPEAKER_01Drink beer.
SPEAKER_02Oh, we got cans.
SPEAKER_01Oh, remember we're still gonna be able to do it.
SPEAKER_02Oh, yeah, we're still drinking.
SPEAKER_01Okay.
SPEAKER_02I mean, that's kind of a silly question. Of course we're doing it.
SPEAKER_01I just wanted to make sure because I was like, you threw away the bottle opener.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Well, I've I've been watching some videos on other ways to open bottles, but we just went with cans.
SPEAKER_01Sure.
SPEAKER_02So well, these all even look the same height. Yeah, they're all 12 ouncers. When's the last time we had nothing but 12 ounce cans? I think it's been a while. Shinerbach.
SPEAKER_01They're all 12 ounces.
SPEAKER_02That is gonna haunt me forever. I just want to make sure you didn't forget. It pretty much, I think, is last time that we probably had all of them in a 12-ounce can. Well, hopefully, this doesn't end up the same way.
SPEAKER_01Right. This is not a category that I'm looking forward to, but it's a category that we probably need to do.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, you know, it's we've done some on these styles before. This should be interesting because I think these are pretty well, they're similar, but they're not, you know. Right. This is gonna be a good palette test. There you go. There you go. Gonna see how how much you've evolved, so to speak. No, it's not sours, ladies and gentlemen. It is IPAs. I can hear the excitement in your your voice there, and yeah, it's gonna be good. Well, I'm not gonna, I shouldn't say it's gonna be good, it's gonna be a good test.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I've been so looking forward to this. I mean, the the hard part again for me, it's like we talk sours. You have sours, then you have sweet sours. Yeah, it's like how are they in the same category? And just like these IPAs, you've got super hoppy IPAs, and then you've got the sweet ones that are fruited.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, you got the ones that taste more like fruit and are very little of that hop right stuff to it. So my hope is that we've got more of the fruity ones. You we'll see you. Hopefully, you never know. I I think a couple by name might be. So we're gonna we're gonna try it.
SPEAKER_01So oh, and uh just FYI. I did find some more questions. Oh, great. So I I am I'm ready for that too when it comes to that. When it comes to that time, when you get too happy, okay.
SPEAKER_02Let me know, and I'll put you bring you back to Earth. Sure.
Dale’s Easy IPA Surprise
SPEAKER_02All right. Well, hey, we might as well break into the first one. I'll let you open and pour. I'll read the uh info here. All right. So this one is Dale's easy IPA.
SPEAKER_01Got a cat call.
SPEAKER_02Got a cat call, Alabama boss. This is from Oscar Blues Brewing. It is 4.9% ABV. Now it didn't say anything about IBUs, so we're kind of going into this blind. Now, this one is by far the lowest ABV of the class. So down there. So I'm guessing an easy IPA is gonna be like a session IPA where it's really pretty low, you know. Let's hope. So let's see what they said about Dale's easy IPA. They said the aroma of this easy drinking IPA is chalk full of tropical and citrus notes. Chalkful. You heard that, right? Chalk full. The flavor has a light bitterness. Are you still okay? I'm still you said light. Light bitterness and an effervescent mouthfeel backed up. What does that mean? It's effervescent. If you don't know, I can't explain it. Can you buy that at Walmart? Maybe.
SPEAKER_01Is that next to Ambiance?
SPEAKER_02Yes. Let's see, where was I at mouthfeel? Backed up by a surprisingly substantial body, finishes clean, dry, and refreshing with another tropical punch delivered by El Dorado, Citra, and Mosaic Hops. Some people have asked, this is just piner, right? And we said, good question. I'm not sure what piner is. So I'm a little concerned. Going into it, dude. I thought this was gonna be probably the most mellow one. And now it's talking about bitterness, dry, you know, stuff like that. So it's uh yeah, it's gonna be interesting. Well, there's a little aroma. Yeah, you can smell a little bit of aroma, it doesn't smell bad. More citrusy than hoppy. Yep, I agree with you there. That's that's not bad.
SPEAKER_01No, I mean, for all the words that they had in there, those big words, yeah. Those kind of scared me more than the actual flavor. Uh you're right.
SPEAKER_02Honestly, okay. Like I said, I I was going into it thinking this is gonna be real mellow. The write-up, I was like, uh oh, this is gonna be you know, almost punch you in the mouth kind of thing. This is not bad. This is pretty smooth.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I would definitely say when it says easy IPA, this is definitely easy tasting. Yeah, I would agree. I mean, this this could be a lawnmower beer. Almost, yeah. It's almost there, but I don't like IPA, so I wouldn't buy it. So right, I wouldn't be able to have it for my lawnmower.
SPEAKER_02I under I understand.
SPEAKER_01But this well, what is this is just piner. Yeah, I don't I'm not sure. Did you get the answer to that one? No, yeah. I mean it it's to me, it's for a non-IPA guy, it is okay. It is not if you if you're one of the if you have the same palette as I do where you don't like IPAs, you shouldn't be scared by this one. I was definitely gonna be scared because it doesn't say anything about like the other ones where it actually has fruit in the name, right? This one doesn't, but it's it doesn't have fruit, but it's a little more citrusy flavor-ish. Yeah, it's not over the top citrus, but it's got a little bit of a hit to it.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I agree with you. And like I said, this being cold, and and that's really kind of the important part of IPAs, you gotta drink them cold. Yes, it is pretty smooth, you know, and we've had a lot worse, yes, you know, and so I mean this one, you know, again, I I don't usually recommend IPAs to new people that have never tried them before because you know the hop flavor is so polarizing. Yes, but this one is not bad. I mean, it's it's pretty pretty good for not being like a juicy IPA, you know. So I mean, this is one I think people could could possibly drink for their first one.
SPEAKER_01After I've had that last sip, my mouth is a little bit dry, but nothing obnoxious, right? You know, it's not like it's just sucking the moisture out of my mouth. It's it's letting you know I think that there's hops there.
SPEAKER_02Yep. But I think it might have the right amount. I I agree with you, honestly, because well, last week, remember we had the one where it was had a dry right. It wasn't an IPA, but there was that hop, really kind of a dryness to it. Suck the water right out of your mouth. Yeah, and we've had some IPAs that are extremely dry and and woof, they're kind of tough, you know. This one, I don't mind this one.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, this isn't this is okay.
SPEAKER_02Do you what are you gonna do for a score? Honestly, on Dale's easy IPA, I might go like a 2.7.
SPEAKER_00Wow, that's solid.
SPEAKER_02Wow, yeah. I mean, I think that's it's a good one. And like I said, I think a new person, newer person, could probably drink it and you know be fine with it.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I was gonna go right in that same range too. I guess the my challenge is that I haven't ever rated IPAs high right above a 2.5. So you're you have a conundrum, yes. So I'm not trying to like say anything bad about it, I'm trying to just come up with a score that's reflective of that that beer. And I know this is our first one, and I think we have I think we're split down the middle. Half are fruity and half are not fruity.
SPEAKER_02Yep.
SPEAKER_01So I'm gonna say a 2.7 as well, just because I don't know what the future's gonna hold for us for the rest of these.
SPEAKER_02I'm glad I was sitting down because that's crazy for your kind of score that you normally give. So I know awesome.
SPEAKER_01So are you ready for your first easy question?
Where IPAs Really Came From
SPEAKER_02Sure. All right, so these are all on IPAs, all IPAs.
SPEAKER_01Okay, yep. Were IPAs created in India? No. No, why? So because it's called an India Pale Ale.
SPEAKER_02If I remember right, weren't they created in was it England or somewhere and they had added more hops to survive the because they shipped them by boat, so they had to stay whatever longer, isn't that part of it?
SPEAKER_01So I'll fill in the gaps. Okay. While IPA stands for India Pale Ale, India was not the country that created it. However, it has a lot to do with it. During their efforts to colonize India, the British made several failed attempts to send beer to their troops overseas. Extreme temperatures and lack of refrigeration cause spoilage every time. So adding extra hops is what helped them.
SPEAKER_02So it was almost kind of like a natural preservative, a little bit.
SPEAKER_01Yes. Interesting. So the other ones all dovetail off that very first question.
SPEAKER_02Okay. So that's what was the name of the dude that well that's coming up next.
SPEAKER_01Oh, great. Great. I got the year, the dude, and the name of the brewery.
SPEAKER_02All right. So what do we got next? All right. Well, the
Blaze Lightning With Almost No Bite
SPEAKER_02next one we have, we actually have three from this company. So it's gonna be an interesting. Well, we should say we have two from Oscar Blues as well. Oh, yep. So it's gonna be kind of an interesting comparison. This one is by Voodoo Ranger, or I should say their their series voodoo ranger. It's by New Belgium, yep, and out of Fort Collins, Colorado. And this is their Voodoo Ranger Blaze Lightning. Yes, this is a 7.3% ABV and 20 IBUs. Now their description says a flashy, hazy tropical IPA, big flavor and personality with a high flying 7.3% ABV. If you remember, one of the episodes when I had my brother on there, I was asked him about, you know, when they always say, Oh, tropical flavors. And I go, Does that come from from hops? Right. And he said, None that I've ever used. Right. I was gonna say typically it's always like a grapefruit or a pine, right? So I'm not sure what else they there has to be some other things that they add to get a little bit more of a tropical fruit flavor, right? Just guessing, but and I see they didn't tell us either. No, that was a trade secret. Yeah, no, the the the thing that's cool with the voodoo ranger, I do like their mascot. Yes, it's like kind of a skeleton-looking guy that's he looks like he's a a fighter pilot or has like the goggles and the helmet helmet and such. Except for this guy. Oh, this one is oh, he's wearing some sort of oh dang.
SPEAKER_01All right, so so this is yeah, so they get at least a tenth of a point for their artistic artwork there.
SPEAKER_02Yes, for sure.
SPEAKER_01And uh the other part, too, and I like IBUs are low right off the bat.
SPEAKER_02So yeah, let's hope that's hope that that's the taste essentially true.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, the score they gave it. Pretty mild, yeah, no, a lot of aroma.
SPEAKER_02No, that one's got a little different flavor to it compared to the first one.
SPEAKER_01I mean, it's yeah, what flavor are you picking up? Because I'm not getting I don't know.
SPEAKER_02I've got almost like kind of that little bit of a bitter, almost like a dank.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I'm not not super I'm not picking up a lot of flavor of anything, so it's like I don't know. I'm trying to I I really don't know what the flavor profile is.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, hop-wise, there's not a lot of hop bite to it. No, this is a little confusing.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I'm I wish I could describe it better. I I don't know big flavor and personality. I fly yeah.
SPEAKER_02I I'm not really picking up any tropical fruit flavor either.
SPEAKER_01No, I don't I honestly don't get a lot of flavor or bitterness or anything. No, which is so weird. I mean, you're usually expecting from an IPA something to slap your own, right?
SPEAKER_02Well, I was gonna say the initial on the initial swallow, it had kind of a little bit of a weird, funky type thing to it, but there's no aftertaste really. There's no there's no dryness, so that's no dryness. That's good. But I this is like drinking cold water with a foam. Kind of it's it's there's not, I don't know. I don't know how to uh what else to say.
SPEAKER_01It's kind of I mean I I thought maybe it was just me, but I'm not I'm not picking up hardly any flavor, any anything.
SPEAKER_02Like I said, there's a flavor, but it's pretty mellow.
SPEAKER_01I mean, and and they say big flavor and personality, but I don't know and the and the hot like I said, hop wise, it's not bad at all.
SPEAKER_0220 20 IBUs and this one is pretty pretty mellow. Yeah, this is this one. I think the IBU taste is lower than the first one. Yeah, the easy one.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah. So if you haven't ever had an IP, this would be the most this could be another one that's actually not a bad way to start. You're not you're not gonna really know what you're gonna probably be lulled into a false sense of security when you yeah, you think, well, is this the way all IPs are?
SPEAKER_02You're gonna come across a few other ones. Uh yeah, this is really weird. Yeah, that is that's interesting.
SPEAKER_01Wow.
SPEAKER_02Uh I guess you get to go first.
SPEAKER_01I guess the hardest thing for me to squirt is, and I don't know how to say this the right way, but I mean, we're always looking for flavor, except me, I don't like the flavor of IPAs, and this doesn't so this doesn't have a bad flavor, it just doesn't have hardly any flavor. So I'm gonna say a 2.5, I guess because it's lacking flavor, but it's there's nothing really bad about it, it's just for an IPA. I don't know if I've ever had one that's had this low of flavor to it.
SPEAKER_02I I don't, it's really hard to explain. I would agree with you. I'm gonna go a 2.4. Oh, a little lower, just a little lower, just be because of the same thing. There's you know, they're talking big flavors and tropical fruit and all that, and I didn't get any of that. I did give them a tenth of a point for the artwork. Oh, there you go. Awesome. Well, I'm sure you did too. Right, that's what mine's 2.5. Yes, and like I said, that there was on that initial taste, I did have that little bit of a kind of a weird flavor at first in the in the initial swallow. Yep, and it's like on on the second third swallow, it it wasn't bad. Right, you know, it kind of went away, but it's still just what they were what what I was expecting, and what you know from what they were saying, it really didn't fall in there, yeah.
SPEAKER_01All right, so back to our questions. All right, next one's another easy one. Perfect. I have no problem getting this one. Yep. Last time we talked about an IPA, India Pale, was created in England, England, yep, because for the transit to India, yes, not because it was started in India, correct? Yep. So then with that knowledge, there's my that's my hint. Okay, who was the first brewer and brewery to create IPAs and then what year? Starts with a one. Starts with a one. All right, I got it done.
SPEAKER_02So I gave you look at all the multiple hints I gave you now. So you want the name of the brewery, the name of the guy? Oh I get first and last name too. Oh geez, yeah, I'm not gonna get that. First IPA, because I'm not even sure who in England still makes an IPA. Let's geez, who I don't I don't I'll go with the year eight seventeen ninety-five.
SPEAKER_01All right, the London brewer George Hodgson of East London's Bow Brewery is credited with creating the first official IPA in 1793. Oh, I was close. That was a huge guess.
SPEAKER_02I've never heard of Mr. Hodge Hodgson's.
SPEAKER_01Is that a D isyl maybe or H-O-D-G-S L N.
SPEAKER_02Okay. Hodgson. Yeah, and bow brewing. Yeah, I've never heard of that. Yeah, I don't know if they're still around. Right. Interesting. Well, that's that's a cool bit of history, yeah, honestly. You know, to figure because I think a lot of people do think that IPAs were from India, right? You know, so again, what are we trying to do? We educate as well as entertain. There you go. And drink beer, of course. That's the worst part of the job. We're trying. We're trying, yeah.
Stone Delicious IPA And High IBU Myths
SPEAKER_02All right. Well, hey, we're up to beer number three, and this is by Stone Brewing, Stone out of Escondido, California. I've been there. That's by San Diego. Is it okay?
SPEAKER_01Nice. South Southern California.
SPEAKER_02This is their delicious IPA. That's the name. Delicious IPA. Just delicious, delicious. Yep. Okay. 7.7% ABV. We stepped it up. 75 IBUs. Oh, say it again. 75 IBUs.
SPEAKER_01Yo, this one now.
SPEAKER_02This one will probably be super smooth. You know.
SPEAKER_01Wow.
SPEAKER_02So let's let's see what they said. They said when creating an IPA deserving of the name Delicious, intense flavor was paramount. And that's just what this bright citrus forward standout brings to the table. Crafted to reduce gluten, the beer and its magnificent lemon candy-like flavor and hop spice can be enjoyed by nearly everyone. Nearly everyone. Didn't say by me, though, right? You're you might not be in the nearly category, is what you're thinking. We're gonna find out. So 75 IBUs. This is one of the higher. You know, we had that one a couple weeks ago that was 90. That was not an IPA, right? It was a barley wine. Well, this is gonna be interesting. You kind of I can smell the hop. Yeah, I don't know. But it's not I don't smell lemon. It's not like super strong uh aroma. The aroma is not very strong. It's probably one of those that is gonna trick you.
SPEAKER_01And then you're gonna take a big old swig and then you're gonna and what I've noticed too, I've tried to just test, you know, because you don't have the clear glasses time. Yeah, but the head seems all these first three have all been on the the head you pour stays with it.
SPEAKER_02It stays there, yeah. I've noticed that, especially on the last one. It was it really stayed in there.
SPEAKER_01So I don't know if that's a characteristic of IPAs or just these, but that's interesting.
SPEAKER_02For 75 IBUs, I'm not gonna lie, it it lingers a bit, but it's not as bad as I was expecting.
SPEAKER_01Correct. And I I don't get the maybe a little bit of a lemon drop. I mean, on the very, very end of the the finish.
SPEAKER_02But yeah, there's there's very slight, just a very a very faint hint of something there. It could be the lemon. I would think that again, calling attention to that, it would be more pronounced pronounced.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah. This is not very there's not a lot of flavor again.
SPEAKER_02So far, that's kind of been the theme.
SPEAKER_01So the theme so far. Even like there's not a lot of dryness.
SPEAKER_02I mean, there's a little bit, but but not I again, I was expecting that really be have a dryness to it. This is crazy.
SPEAKER_01I mean, it's it doesn't taste bad. I mean, for even for an IPA and for me that I don't like them. I mean, this is okay, it's not it's not like something I'm gonna go out for and try to search it out, but I mean, we've got it, I'm drinking it. It's I'm not not getting anything like overly bad about it.
SPEAKER_02This is like one I would I would if I had a can of it, I would drink one right and then switch to something else because I think I would definitely get burned out on that, but it's not I was expecting it to be really harsh, to be honest with you. Yeah, you know, and it's it's it's fine, you know.
SPEAKER_01What's weird is you know, we have had some IPAs where it was just an IPA and it hadn't did not taste anything like these first three, right?
SPEAKER_02Nothing like them all at all. Are you sure? Are we sure they're IPA? It says on the cans they are, so that's kind of different.
SPEAKER_01I mean, I was kind of looking forward to the lemon part that they talked about. Yep, because I mean I don't know if we've had many IPAs that had that lemon characteristic, but yeah, not really, I don't think. But I'm not even tasting the lemon, it's definitely different.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I score wise. Again, when you when a company calls out a certain ingredient and you really can't pick it up, it's kind of like really right, you know. So I'm gonna go with 2.3 on this one, kind of because of that, right? You know, again, it's not bad. The the hot flavor, it's there, but it's not overpowering like I was expecting, right? But it's just okay, you know.
SPEAKER_01I'll give them a tenth of a point because it is 7.7% ABV, so it is a little bit higher. It's not you know your standard four or four point two ABV, right? But like you said, there's the flavor, even citrus parts. I mean, even if we don't get a lemon, I don't get much citrus. So I again I've I'm right in there with you. I was gonna say a 2.3 as well. Um it doesn't taste bad. I mean, for the non-IPA gate uh guy, it doesn't taste bad, it's just there's not there's not a whole lot, there's just not a lot there, yeah.
SPEAKER_02I agree with you, and stone, they've they're kind of known for their IPAs, right now. We and we have had other stone IPAs, and they've got some some pretty good ones, right? You know, so but this one we've never had this particular one before, and yeah, I I guess it's to me, it's not quite as good as some of their other ones.
SPEAKER_01Not to say that we knew this going in, but the song pontoon out on the boat. I mean, these are probably pond beer, you know, beers you drink on a pontoon because I mean there's not a lot of flavor you right, you're gonna be able to drive out somewhere and come back because you there's there's not much here.
SPEAKER_02That first one would be perfect, yeah.
SPEAKER_01You know, honestly, for that. So wow, all right. All right, so next easy question, number three. All
National IPA Day Trivia Break
SPEAKER_01right, when is national IPA day?
SPEAKER_02See, what's what really sucks is I I've seen it, and again, you see it go, oh hey, and then you don't think of the date. Yep, it's gotta be like in the spring or early summer. I will say you can either give me the date of this year's or when it is every year. Oh, they're it's different, right?
SPEAKER_01Because it's based on the day of the week.
SPEAKER_02Oh, well, so I could just give you the day. I got a one in seven shot, right? And the month. Oh, and which week of the month? Oh um, let's say it's on a Wednesday in like the third week in May.
SPEAKER_01So close, you were so close. It's the first Thursday in August. I was right there. You were right there, so I was right there. August 6th, 2026 is this year.
SPEAKER_02I would have thought they'd had it more in this the summer earlier. But right.
SPEAKER_01So this is like right at the end of summer. Yeah, kind of at the end of summer.
SPEAKER_02Huh. Interesting. So yeah, I was only How many months off? I see you're cringing already on the next one. Yeah. Just be it's all right, dude. You can
Dale’s Double IPA And Labeling Debate
SPEAKER_02do it. So this is again, this is from Oscar Blues, and this is Dale's double IPA. Double. Oh boy. Both Dales can take off. Yeah. This is nine percent. So we've stepped it up. We stepped her up again. Now, this is from Longmont, Colorado. Oscar Blues is.
SPEAKER_00Okay.
SPEAKER_02All right. So here's what they say. Aroma is pine, citrus, peach, and melon swirled together and continue into the first sip. Flavors of fruit and graham cracker are in each taste with medium-bodied sweetness and balancing bitterness.
SPEAKER_01Graham cracker? Yeah, I've never heard beer recently that they had graham, or it was fig.
SPEAKER_02Fig. Well, I say, but we've had typically when you hear graham cracker, it's more like a stout.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_02You know, like the s'mores stouts and things like that.
SPEAKER_01There's a lot of flavors you mentioned that are not usually associated with an IPA.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, that's exactly what I was thinking too, because it's like okay, peach, melon. Yeah, graham cracker is really like what? You know.
SPEAKER_01And isn't pine, isn't that gin?
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Yeah. Oh, this is really and also IPA is aroma again.
SPEAKER_01It's kind of yeah, and that the head on mine is stay staying right there. That that has been four for four. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02You know.
SPEAKER_01So I don't know if that's good or bad, but it's staying right there.
SPEAKER_02The head does not go away. I can well, on the first taste, I can safely say I don't taste graham cracker.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I there was some kind of melon-ish flavor-ish.
SPEAKER_02Melon, I don't know what that is. I do kind of, you know, you get kind of the piney flavor from the hop. Citrus. I think the citrus and the melon, because I'm not really calling out any kind of peach, really, but I you do get kind of that a melon type thing to it.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I can't distinctly tell you what type of melon it is.
SPEAKER_02No, no. And and again, like I said, graham cracker. I'm just not picking up graham cracker at all.
SPEAKER_01No. Good thing for me too. I'm not getting a lot of hop flavor or hop bitterness. It is on the more fruitier side. Yeah. Fruity-ish side, I guess. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02It's not like if you had like a hazy where it really is a or a juicy IP where it has more of that flavor, but it's it is present there.
SPEAKER_01Just to re-educate me again to double IP does not mean twice the hops. It's more the ABV. Correct. Okay. Correct. Yep. Because I mean, so it is nine percent. It's nine percent. So what when I say double, it's more of the yeah, so alcohol content. So it is that I mean, because I was a little afraid there too. Right, right. You know, yep. But I mean, so here's and I don't know if you're you're the marketing guy, you can correct me. So the outside of your can is very nondescript, and it just says double IPA. And for me, the non-IPA liker, I would rather want to know about your pine, citrus, peach, and melon flavors on the outside of your can to tell me about that rather than saying double IPA, right?
SPEAKER_02I say now on the back, there's a bunch of verbiage that I can't read from here.
SPEAKER_01It didn't say any of that on there. No, the only thing it says basically is people wanted more, so we were listening and we created this double IBA to double down on American hops and brew it to nine percent. Okay, so it still doesn't say anything about, and I think for me, as the somebody that does not seek out IPAs, yep. This to me is pretty important to know you're gonna that the flavors and aromas are gonna be pine, citrus, peach, and melon.
SPEAKER_02Oh, yeah, for sure.
SPEAKER_01That it's not gonna have that hop bitterness, hop dryness. So to me, it makes it you know a little bit more palatable to drink.
SPEAKER_02So so here's here's an interesting thing I got for you. Okay, so here's a little bit of information on double IPAs. All right, uh, double IPAs are the most bitter of any beer style. It's a big, big IPA, meaning more alcohol, more hops, more of everything. Okay, it's food they give food pairings, not okay, not for this one, but for a double IPA. Yep, blue cheese and carrot cake. Okay, aroma and flavor, typically grapefruit, pine, tropical, or dank, and then ingredients US or other New World hops, pale malts, and maybe restrained use of caramel malts. And then they use U.S. ale yeast in it. Yeah, none of that really applies to this one. And it has alcohol content high color, yellow to amber, bitterness high. Now, this one is not that high. No, it's you know what I mean? So so there's different variations, yeah, some sub sub well, and in just even yeah, like in double a double IPA, there's so wide of variations, just like anything, that you know, yeah, I'm sure there are some that we've had that are really high and really bitter.
SPEAKER_01This one's not like I mean, like now in between, where I had my last sip till now, there's a little bit of uh dryness, a little bit of a hoppy flavor, but it's still not it's not bad.
SPEAKER_02It's fairly mellow for what we were we've had before, right?
SPEAKER_01But I mean, does that does that make sense that I was trying to say about you know, on your marketing part? I mean, yeah, I understand I mean because you you know that's the hard part. Like this was in the build-your own six pack, and I only picked it up because it said IPA, so I was already committed to getting it, right? But if you're going to someplace where you can grab it, you know, reach in and grab something and drink it right there, you're like double IPA could be scary right up. But I mean, these flavors are good to know. I mean, yeah, to me, that would have been a reason why to to try it.
SPEAKER_02I agree with you. I because I think even for people that like regular IPAs, I think sometimes when they see double, it does scare some people off. Right. You know, the more adventurous drinker, I think they'd be like, Oh, yeah, we're let's try it, you know. And yeah, I I agree with you. I think that just putting that, we said that before about some other styles where if you put this word on there, it could chase people off. And it's like, why? You know, why would you do that? You know, put something else on there too. Right. You can still have it, but then say, you know, like you said, these flavors kind of thing.
SPEAKER_01Because they do have bird, it says nine percent on the front. Yeah, well, then just tell us a little bit more. I mean, right. I'll get off my my soap Oscar. There you go. I guess I'm just trying to help the Dales that are Oscars. Oscar blues, right? So, what are you thinking on a score? All right, so to make sure I'm you're doing it right, so it is since it's a double, it's nine percent ABZ. So that's positive right there. That's you know, we're we're getting into that realm where some of our barley stuff, right? Yeah, so so and it does not taste like high alcohol to me. I just wish I could have tasted maybe a little more of the citrus, the peach, or the melon. On the very first taste sip, I got a little bit of melon, but now since then I haven't hasn't came back, so it's it's not bad. Could I drink a whole can by myself? Maybe I I don't know. I don't know if I'd want to experiment that far. So I'm gonna say a 2.6. I still like the easy IPA first. This, but I think both of Dale's in this category are actually okay.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, so far I think they're both yeah, I'm gonna go a 2.5 okay on this. Again, I I I agree with everything you said. I did get a little bit of some kind of I had that little pine flavor, a little bit of melon. I really didn't get much peach, and I I couldn't tell you that there if if it didn't say in the write up that there was graham cracker, I never would have even considered that. But I do think of the four we've had so far, that one, and you're right, the two Dales are right now are kind of the the top so far, right? So we'll see if that holds or not. But for double IPA, it was was not bad.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I mean that's that's good. Yep, for me, for me, the non right, the non-IPA guy is happy to know that. All right, so are you ready for your next question? Yes, sir. So this is gonna really test you, I think. Oh man,
The IPA Glass And Drinking Cold
SPEAKER_01before we went on here, I was telling you I was doing some research and about the different subcategories of IPAs and this and that. Yep. So the same group of guys that came up and said there's only four categories of IPAs. Okay, they also have designed an IPA special drinking glass. What is the name of that glass and how how was it shaped?
SPEAKER_02I don't know the name. The only the name that I can think of right off the top of my head is a tulip glass. Oh, but I don't know if that's it or not. And I'll just say that. And if it's right, then I'll try and describe it.
SPEAKER_01All right, so it is such a nice name. I'm gonna have to spell it. Oh boy. So it's it is here's how it's spelled. Okay. S-P I G E L A U. Is that spy glue? Spy glee glee? Something like that. IPA glass is the new standard for sipping this beloved brew. The rippled pedestal base and round bowl showcase the varying aromatic profiles of this hop forward beer, persevering its frothy head and volatile components while maintaining a wide opening for the drinker to comfortably nose the beer. Interesting.
SPEAKER_02I did not you know what's crazy is for every beer style there's a different glass. I know, you know what I mean? And it's like, wow.
SPEAKER_01Well, as a marketing guy, you used to be like, oh, they're smart because then you can't just drink the same glass. For every beer, you could have a different glass, you're buying more things.
SPEAKER_02Oh, exactly.
SPEAKER_01And there's probably different merch to go with it too.
SPEAKER_02Oh, sure, sure. You know, and and I think we've talked about it before, but I had heard I was watching something, and they had I think it was like a this world-renowned bartender kind of guy, and he said the worst thing that ever happened to beer was the pint glass. Oh, because it is like it doesn't showcase anything, other than you can get a lot of beer, yeah, clear glass. Yeah, you know, so I think for like a lot of the craft beers, they have all these, you know, the snifter glass, which we've had several, you know, and with your higher ABV stuff and and all that. So I mean it's it's just kind of crazy how so an IPA has its own, you know, and all that.
SPEAKER_01And and I cannot, and again, the what's the uh word I would be looking for? Like these guys designed this glass and did this, but there's no governing body to say, yes, you are correct. This is the we're gonna like bow to you. This is you know, so they came up, you and I could come up with a glass and say this is the way to drink whatever, yeah.
SPEAKER_02Urban, yeah, bourbon barrel. You can't you can't have a rum barrel and a bourbon barrel in the same kind of glass, right? You know, so so I give you that question, not knowing who but that that's kind of interesting because you do think about it, and there are when you go to a brewery, they have different glasses for some of the stuff.
SPEAKER_00Now, I have not seen this particular the Spee spy yeah, I speed lew or something like that. Yeah, I haven't seen that one yet.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, so all right,
Fruit Force Changes Everything
SPEAKER_02all right. So what are we up to? We're up to beer number five, beer five, and this is another voodoo ranger from New Belgium, and this is their fruit force IPA. Now, before I get into anything else, this should better have some fruit flavor to it, you know. All right, well, so this one is nine and a half percent ABV. So does this mean it's a double? I don't know. Well, I if I it's kind of in there, I believe, because okay, so nine and a half percent 33 IBUs, and what their description says fruit force is an American-style hazy imperial IPA, which technically imperial and doubles are very similar, very similar, yeah. And it's with a fruit force twist. So I don't know forced what that means, but I'm expecting we should have some kind of a fruity whoa. I can smell fruit.
SPEAKER_01Do you without even getting it up to my face? I can wow, I can smell something. Oh, geez, yeah.
SPEAKER_02I mean, can you smell the roll? That's like, wow, that is that's almost like fruit cocktail or fruit fruit punch, like from here without even and out my hand.
SPEAKER_01I'm out like a couple of yeah, you're having these, yeah.
SPEAKER_02Well, take a whiff out of that glass. That is like a lot of fruity type flavor or aroma.
SPEAKER_01That's a good, I mean, because again, you almost want to know a little bit more of what's in it. Fruit force, okay. Well, what what I can't tell.
SPEAKER_02I don't know what fruit for, but when you said fruit punch, it is definitely like a fruit punch type of smell.
SPEAKER_01I wish we kind of had smell of vision for it to be able to smell, but we're smelling because I mean it actually smells good. This one probably one of the best aromas, I think, that we've had.
SPEAKER_02This has potential. Yes, we haven't tasted it yet. This has potential just on the aroma. This is just the aroma is very, very good on far the most aroma we've had so far.
SPEAKER_01I mean, and even outside of IPAs, the aroma is really, really good. All right, here we go. Oh, wow.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, that's got that's got some fruit in it. That is, I mean, smells like fruit punch. It doesn't really taste like fruit punch, but it tastes fruity.
SPEAKER_01For me, the non-IPA guy, it does not taste like an IPA. I mean, if if I if you had this in a blind taste test, I would not guess this was a IPA. Yeah, I I could not, and again, the head is staying solid.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, it's not going away.
SPEAKER_01I give all of these credit so far, they've all the the the head stays on there, and I don't know if we've had a class like that where the it's the head has stayed with the beer the whole time. It's yeah, you know, it's it's not helping with the flavor or the aroma or anything, but it's just something unique because when you look at this, you know it's a beer. You know, a lot of other times when the head goes away, you're like, is that a mixed drink or is that a cocktail?
SPEAKER_02Or what is yeah, no, the head actually does help with the aroma. Yep, but this is like a lot of aroma, and there's a lot of lot of flavors, and I don't get any kind of hot, you know, bitterness or bite to it at all.
SPEAKER_01I mean, there's I think there's a slight hoppiness, a little little dryness, but nothing that would lead you to believe that this is an IPA, right? Yep. I mean, there's no way that wow, this is that's wild. And again, 9.5. This could get you messed up. I could drink a couple cans of this, and again, we only knew about the Imperial, you know, hazy Imperial IPA from the write-up. It doesn't say it on the can. Yeah, so you could reach in and grab, oh, this is fruit. Oh all of a sudden now you drink it a 9.5.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, that's that's what I said. This could mess you up, right?
SPEAKER_01It I mean, it's tastes good. I mean, I'm definitely for a non-IPA guy, very satisfied.
SPEAKER_02This is my first. No, I'm I'm first on this one. All right, I like this. I nine and a half percent does not taste like high ABV. You know, I don't get hardly any hop, a lot of fruit, aroma-wise, taste-wise. I'm gonna go with 3.0. Wow, honestly, that's that's I like this solid, and like I said, I do think that this one could, you know, what you had just said, it could mess you up if you had a six-pack of it not knowing it was nine and a half percent, drink a couple, two, three of them, and you're gonna be like, another thing.
SPEAKER_01100% agree. And again, here's the the challenge for me and me only. I don't like IPAs, I don't hate IPAs, but my scores have always tended to be much lower, and for whatever reason, and I and I don't know, you know, I wish I had a Rolodex for a memory or a CPU where I could like go back, but it appeared, you know, to me, just thinking out loud that when we started doing this three, four ish years ago, this is our fourth season. Yeah, the IPAs seem to be in that dovetail of just hop, hop, hot. Now it seems like they're branching out into more fruitiness. And this is probably one of the best examples of a fruited IPA that I can remember. I don't know, I could be wrong.
SPEAKER_02I mean, no, I agree with you. I do. This is this is good, and you are right, it's almost like they're they're trying to make them more drinkable, you know, to more people. Yes, you know, and and I'm I'm all for it. I I do like regular IPAs too, but this I I don't mind this path they're going down.
SPEAKER_01And I don't know. I mean, I did not talk to New Belgium, but I mean, maybe they you know heard some of our our not, I wouldn't say complaints, but you know, challenges or if you want to like not get out to the masses, but if you want to appeal to more people, you're gonna have to take some of that hoppiness away. You can still call it IPA, but I mean this is I'm right in there with you. My score is gonna be a 3.02. I mean, I I'm just like totally taken away by the aroma. I mean, because when I first topped that can, the aroma just came out. Yeah, because I looked at you when I was reading the the description, and you're like, you know, I'm like, either it's good or it's bad. I don't know, you know. So I mean, so so to me, kudos for them for I would I can't say listening to the market, but maybe moving to the way the market is looking towards. Because I mean, granted, there's probably the old diehards that want to have this bitter, hoppy, dry flavor in their mouth. But I think by and large, a lot more people are looking for something that's not that extreme, a little more fruity.
SPEAKER_02I I could be wrong. I think you're right. You know, I I do think that there's definitely been a shift in the IPA market, and and like you said, I these companies still do make kind of your traditional IPAs for those guys that, like you said, that are really more into that hop bitterness and and all that. But like I said, this thing is this is good.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I'm I'm pleasantly surprised. Yes, I agree. Let's hope the last one is in the same. Yes, we're hoping. Um, and we we set these up without knowing. I don't we haven't had this. We just went based again off of ABV.
SPEAKER_02Yep.
SPEAKER_01So so our last question, this is super easy.
SPEAKER_02One two parter. Two you get one of two answers. First word sounds like so oh, two answers possible. Okay.
SPEAKER_01When IPAs were first created, were they designed to be drank warm or cold?
SPEAKER_0250-50 shot. I'm gonna I'm gonna say warm because it's going to India.
SPEAKER_01Traditional English IPAs were meant to be drunk as cold as possible. Dang it, it was more refreshing that way. I was saying the same thing too, because I'm like, in 170, did they have yeah, how did they cool it?
SPEAKER_02They didn't have refrigerators, so right, so they must put ice or something. It makes total sense, though, because India is hot from what everything I've ever heard. So it makes sense.
SPEAKER_01Right, so you probably didn't want to drink hot water in a hot air, right? So I didn't know that. So I was like, oh, that was interesting. I'm like, because like you just mentioned it at the beginning of our podcast, too, where these all taste good because they're cold.
SPEAKER_02Yes. I was just gonna say that to this day you're supposed to drink them cold, right?
SPEAKER_01So you actually had the right answer to begin with, yeah.
SPEAKER_02And then I second guessed myself because they shipped it on a ship and it was gonna be hot. Yes, so you know, so you were right to begin with, yeah. So all
Tropical IPA Wins And Final Rankings
SPEAKER_02right. So our last beer. We are on our last beer, and this is another voodoo ranger from New Belgium. Okay, this is their tropical IPA, all right, and this is another nine and a half percent and 33 IBUs. So we've had several high higher ABVs, higher ABV IP uh IPAs. This one, okay. Are you ready? Uh-oh. The uh description is explosive tropical flavors at a full throttle 9.5% ABV.
SPEAKER_01Wow, so explosive tropical flavors that always sends me into a little bit of a hesitation when you say explosive because you're not saying diarrhea, right? Correct. No, okay.
SPEAKER_02Take away for this one. I get tropical aroma.
SPEAKER_01I mean, that's almost like a mango or uh it's not as pronounced as the fruit punch, right? But there is aroma definitely a kind of a fruity aroma. I don't know if you notice that, but the fruit force and the tropical both have the same ABV and same IBU. That's good. That's pretty good.
unknownWow.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I'm like, dang. I wish I could tell the listeners. So this has a citrus flavor. I don't know.
SPEAKER_02I still think it's like a mango or a it's almost got like a little bit of sweetness, yeah.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, there's a sweetness to it, and many, I mean, not all, uh I would have to say probably few IPAs have a sweetness.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01It's always on the other, it's always a bitterness, not a sweetness.
SPEAKER_02And I'll tell you what, and these last two, I would buy a sixer of these. And the head, yeah, it's it's right there, it's still there.
SPEAKER_01And just for the listeners too, when I went to get this build your own six pack, I only found three of this series.
SPEAKER_02Okay.
SPEAKER_01I I think it's I think it's a series, yeah, but I think when I was doing the research, there is a fourth one.
SPEAKER_02Oh, there's a fourth one.
SPEAKER_01Okay, so I did not find that one. So I don't know.
SPEAKER_02Did it say what it was? Do you remember?
SPEAKER_01I do not remember, but it had something to do with fruit.
SPEAKER_02Okay. Interesting.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. And for me now, like again, I don't taste hops, I don't taste bitterness. Again, this I get more of a sweetness. I think this might even be better than the fruit. I was just gonna say that. I mean, so Bruder Ranger, I mean, they're they're branching out.
SPEAKER_02I mean, so I'm I'm gonna have to look for these, like in a six-pack or something, because this is good.
SPEAKER_01The uh the other brew masters, if they're out there listening or want to listen to us, I mean, this for the non-IPA guy really is tasty. I wish there was a way that they could actually advertise a little more to let people know the flavor comes through more than an IPA does. Oh, yeah. I mean, if I blindfolded you or covered these up and take give them to you to taste, could you tell me that they're an IPA?
SPEAKER_02Nope, not at all. Not the glass two, no way. Never would even guess it. I would think it was some sort of fruited, you know, lager or ale or whatever, you know, where it's it's not well IPA is an ale, but you know what I'm saying? Not I would never guess that it was an IPA. Yeah, I mean, I wouldn't, I would never guess it was nine and a half percent.
SPEAKER_01Drew them both. I mean, it almost I can't say speechless because we're on a broadcast, right? Because if dead air doesn't help the broadcast, no, exactly. So, but just very difficult to come up with adjust because again, the head is still staying there. I wish I could give more adjectives because I don't, you know, I'm what I'm afraid to say is that I'm actually liking some of these IPAs.
SPEAKER_02I know, I know that that's you've come so far in four short years, right?
SPEAKER_01But I mean that's what I'm seeing too, like how the brewers have kind of shifted into this. I mean, if all of them are shifted to this, these last two are they're they're crazy.
SPEAKER_02I mean, honestly, that's it's unbelievable how they're still IPAs, but they're they don't taste like IPAs, and it's nothing remotely close. No, and keep it up, keep it up. I mean, that's amazing.
SPEAKER_01And when you know, the first when we talked that other the lightning IPA and Delicious, yep, that really didn't have a flavor. These last two loads and loads of flavor. Citrus is coming through and fruit punch. I mean, we're getting a very good flavor, very much so.
SPEAKER_02So, what uh what are you thinking on a score for this one?
SPEAKER_01Well, I'm gonna have to tip my cards and say this is for me the best one so far today. So I'm gonna have to say it's three point one. I don't have a bitterness. I don't have a dryness. Start to finish. There's got a good flavor. My only downside is I I it says explosive tropical flavor. I can't tell the listener what that is. I I it tastes good. I don't know what it is to tell. Sure.
SPEAKER_02Yep.
SPEAKER_01It's it's got good flavor. It's, I mean, very unique, but not bad. I mean, it's there's nothing bad about the flavor start to finish. I wish we had a couple more cans. Yeah. Exactly. I wish I could do more. You need to go back right now.
SPEAKER_02No, there I agree. I'm gonna do the exact same score. I was gonna say I do like this one, just a tick above the the last one that had kind of that fruit punch uh flavor. This one, like I said, I do think I get a little bit of like maybe a mango-y kind of hint or some kind of fruit like that.
SPEAKER_00Yep.
SPEAKER_02And I'm impressed. Like I said, if listeners out there, if you can find the voodoo range, and I don't know if it comes in, you know, if there's a series of four, if they have it in like a 12-pack where you get three of each, I don't know.
SPEAKER_01But if you can I did look, I didn't see that as okay.
SPEAKER_02Our place where you were at yeah, or if you can find it in a six-pack or whatever, definitely check out the fruit force and the tropical IPA from from Voodoo Ranger, those are both extremely good. And yeah, 3.1. I again the only downfall is after a couple of them, it could mess you up because they're nine and a half percent and they drink real easy. So, but yeah, I'm I'm impressed. Really good. So, yeah, I guess kind of you know, our our kind of our wrap-up. Well, the two voodoo rangers, honestly, Jim. Sure, honestly, the the voodoo rangers and the two Dales, and they for different reasons, I would say, you know, the the Dale or the the Dales are more kind of a a little bit closer to more of a traditional IPA, but very smooth. And that double IPA was extremely smooth for a double. So if you're looking for more of like a your traditional flavors, I'd go with either of those. If you're looking for something that's kind of out of left field, let's say, not quite so much of a hot flavor, but more of like the the fruitiness, and that by all means, definitely go for the last two voodoo rangers. And that, yeah, you know, the lightning, it was okay, but these two were head and shoulders above. And yeah, I again I would I would say either of those, you know, any of those four were were good, but the two voodoo rangers were really kind of stood out for me. And yeah, I'd recommend those to to anybody. Just remember it's nine and a half percent. So drink carefully.
SPEAKER_01Yes, I have to always preface by saying I'm not an IPA guy. You've definitely drank more IPAs of meat, and you've got much more palate experience tasting some of these. So my comments come from could I drink an IPA? Because I always some of these, I mean, I was not looking forward to this at all, not even not even slightly, and it surprised me in a good way. I mean, I was very pleasantly surprised. I mean, we didn't really have a bad IPA, no, in my opinion, for on this show. Yep. So there was a couple at the beginning that didn't have a lot of flavor, but they weren't still not bad. They didn't they weren't like dank, dry, bitter, they weren't they were not like that. So if you are an introductory craft beer drinker or like me who maybe don't doesn't like IPAs, I think you could try any one of these six and be and try it. Not saying that you're gonna go back and buy more, right? But at least you can say, hey, IPAs aren't that bad, and you could try it. But if you're you know in in the got the wheelhouse like Mike and you've tried some more of these, the voodoo ranger ones, the last two, whole man, you I think seek those out and try them because they are worth the the time and effort to try to find them because those are really good. I'm glad I was able to find. I mean, when I bought these, I I would had very low expectations for us to like any of these, right? But I think this was a very good, good category, and I'm glad we tried it. So, like my number one was the tropical force, the number two was the fruit force. Very that was eat the hands down the number, my number one and two. The other ones were okay, but it to me it was just those last two, right?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah, it's it's I'm just still kind of blown away by I mean, all of like you said, all of them anybody could try them if you're adventurous or if you've had IPAs, try them because there was not a real bad one, right? I mean, there's a couple of our scores were lower, but it was more because it really didn't have flavor. But boy, yeah, the those last two were just like wow, very unbelievable.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, really good. So good job, voodoo ranger. Because I know they're that that's one of their main they'd like to do, you know, just like the one down in Iowa, sudo sue. Topling live. I mean, that's right.
SPEAKER_02They're kind of known for their IPAs, and yeah.
SPEAKER_01So Voodoo Ranger, New Belgium, they know how to do their IPAs.
SPEAKER_02Yep, for sure. Awesome. Well, cool, dude. Thank you so much. For uh, Jim picked these up, by the way. So, you know, it was his mission to find some, and and we got them.
SPEAKER_01So with a blindfold and a blind squirrel flies a nut every once in a while.
SPEAKER_02I still am just wondering, like watching you go through the the build your own six pack and then going, oh, IPA.
SPEAKER_01IPA. Can I get a tongs? I don't want to touch it.
SPEAKER_02But it's like again, I I just remember back to the first episode that we ever did four with IPAs, it's gotta be at least three years ago, and your reaction now is totally different, but like you said before, the IPAs have evolved, yeah. Where but back then it was all about that hop piney grapefruit flavor, yeah, and now there's just all these other flavors, so and especially 9.5 percent. Yeah, this has got to be some of the higher ABVs for uh for IPAs that we've had, yeah.
SPEAKER_01No doubt.
SPEAKER_02That's always a good thing, yeah.
SPEAKER_01And then and they don't taste like it. No, exactly.
SPEAKER_02Cool, well, awesome, dude.
SPEAKER_01You did good on your question, so I gotta go. You know, I did okay, but I mean you almost hit that year.
SPEAKER_02I almost hit the year. That was totally crazy.
SPEAKER_01So you're getting better, yeah.
SPEAKER_02Or luckier. I must be I'm using my luck instead of winning the lottery. I'm getting close on years.
SPEAKER_01But it must be the beer tasting.
SPEAKER_02It could be, it's helping make my thinker makes my thinker think better. Yes, so cool. Well, awesome, Jim. Thank you for once again for getting these and and agreeing to do another IPA podcast. If they're all like this, I can do more. Exactly. Like I said, IPAs and sours are evolving, and and you're evolving. So it's it's hand in hand, dude. There you go. Awesome. Well, hey,
What To Buy And How To Reach Us
SPEAKER_02ladies and gentlemen, thank you for listening. And again, make sure if you see any of these out there, especially those last two voodoo rangers, if you can find those, give them a try. Yeah, because they are just unbelievable. You will not be disappointed. No, so awesome. Well, hey, thanks for listening. And like we always say, we hope your campfire is always warm. And your beers are always cold. See ya. See ya. Thank you for listening to the Northwoods Beer Guy Podcast. If you have a question, a comment, or a beer you'd like us to review, please feel free to send us a message at Northwoodsbeerguy at gmail.com. You can also find us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. If you're on Untapped, look up Northwoods Beer Guy and send a friend request. Until next week, I hope all your campfires are warm and all your beer is cold.
