Southern Tier IPA

[Belgian]

6-pack from SL Market LCBO. Very smooth drinking IPA with good herbal hops aroma and flavor. Not overly astringent or bitter, and not heavily malty. Just nicely balanced.

Your thoughts?

[Bobsy]

Not had any of the LCBO stuff yet, as I still have a couple bottles from a private order in the fridge. Here's what I had to say about it:

Pours an orange amber with a bubbly white head, that settles down to a fine film and laces fairly well. Fresh citrus aroma, backed by sweet malts and pine needles. The taste has caramel malts upfront, followed by grapefruit and floral notes, before tailing off into a slightly bitter finish. Maltier than I would expect for an IPA, but its done very well and doesn't detract from overall quality. Mouthfeel is medium-light, and well balanced with moderate carbonation. High drinkability...pass me another.

[lagerale]

Found six at St.Clair and Keele. I thought the ST IPA was very good - a must buy for any BT'r, regardless of "price fluxuations". I'd prefer a little more malt backbone as it had a pretty upfront bitter taste to me - but then again I don't want every IPA to taste the same! I can't wait to compare it to the DFH60.

[Illuminatus]

Found six at St.Clair and Keele. I thought the ST IPA was very good - a must buy for any BT'r, regardless of "price fluxuations". I'd prefer a little more malt backbone as it had a pretty upfront bitter taste to me - but then again I don't want every IPA to taste the same! I can't wait to compare it to the DFH60.

I also found it could have benefited from a bit more malt. As it is, though, it's pretty good.

[robinvboyer]

It's about bloody time we get a hoppy beer in Ontario. Yes it's not the best IPA out there, but the 60 minute is on it's way! How amazing is this? FOr all us hopheads.......just wild that we can now get awesome supper hoppy IPA's in Ontario! No longer do we have to trade with people from the US, or go buy beer south of the border! AWESOME!

[Torontoblue]

I'd prefer a little more malt backbone as it had a pretty upfront bitter taste to me

But isn't an IPA all about the hops, and therefore bitterness and not maltiness, as first brewed many many years ago? Why drink IPA's if you don't like a bitter upfront taste? Stick with Pale Ale's which aren't quite as hoppy.

[SteelbackGuy]

It's a great daily drinking IPA, and it is about time the gestapo at the LCBO got their act together and actually listened for up once, to the consumers in this province.

Now, let us see if they can keep their act together.............

[Bytowner]

I'd prefer a little more malt backbone as it had a pretty upfront bitter taste to me

But isn't an IPA all about the hops, and therefore bitterness and not maltiness, as first brewed many many years ago? Why drink IPA's if you don't like a bitter upfront taste? Stick with Pale Ale's which aren't quite as hoppy.

There's no reason why an IPA can't be well balanced. It is beer after all and malt IS the backbone of beer. You're right to say if you don't like a little more hops, stick with the pale ales, but wrong to say that IPAs are not about maltiness. Why should you need to sacrifice excellent malt for hops?

[Torontoblue]

I'd prefer a little more malt backbone as it had a pretty upfront bitter taste to me

But isn't an IPA all about the hops, and therefore bitterness and not maltiness, as first brewed many many years ago? Why drink IPA's if you don't like a bitter upfront taste? Stick with Pale Ale's which aren't quite as hoppy.

but wrong to say that IPAs are not about maltiness. Why should you need to sacrifice excellent malt for hops?

You aren't sacrificing malt for hops in an IPA as IPA's are not about the malt, IPA's are about the bitterness from the hops, therefore hops should be, and are the dominant flavour and aroma in an IPA.

Again, if you want more of a malty backbone, stick with Pale Ale's or even awful "IPA's" from the UK like Greene King IPA or Charles Well's IPA.

I seriously don't know of one person that drinks an IPA for the malt.

[lagerale]

I don't know of any one that drinks an IPA purely for the malt either, but I am one that like an agressively hopped IPA with those piney resiney taste, but with some sweet fruity (apricot) tones as well. That to me is the kind of "balance" I like and the DFH60M has that (to me at least).

The ST IPA is a good IPA, and I found as it warmed slightly, that heavily bitter up front taste mellowed out. It's a solid beer, but more assertive with its bitterness - not a bad thing, just not as enjoyable for me.

[grub]

You aren't sacrificing malt for hops in an IPA as IPA's are not about the malt, IPA's are about the bitterness from the hops, therefore hops should be, and are the dominant flavour and aroma in an IPA.

by that logic i can hand you a glass of water that was used to boil a bunch of hops and you'd think it was a fine IPA.

you're also mixing two (three really) distinct and different things: bitterness and flavour/aroma. you can have a very bitter beer with very little hop flavour/aroma. similarly you can have a very lightly bittered beer that has tons of in-your-face hop flavour and aroma. all depends when the hops are added in the boil and how much.

a good ipa needs a balance between the bitterness, malt, and alcohol. you can have that with very little flavour or aroma - which is when i'd tend to call them a pale ale and not an ipa. kick up the flavour and aroma and you get into IPA land.

Again, if you want more of a malty backbone, stick with Pale Ale's or even awful "IPA's" from the UK like Greene King IPA or Charles Well's IPA.

I seriously don't know of one person that drinks an IPA for the malt.

you seem to think you can't have hops and malt at the same time, and that just isn't the case. i happen to think unearthly is an incredibly well balanced iipa with a great malty backbone, lots of alcohol, and tons of hops. nobody is going to say that isn't a hop forward and aggressive imperial ipa just because it happens to have enough malt to hold it all together.

[Belgian]

You aren't sacrificing malt for hops in an IPA as IPA's are not about the malt, IPA's are about the bitterness from the hops, therefore hops should be, and are the dominant flavour and aroma in an IPA.

Again, if you want more of a malty backbone, stick with Pale Ale's or even awful "IPA's" from the UK like Greene King IPA or Charles Well's IPA.

Way too categorical at least in my view. IBU's don't even define a beer so much as how it's made. I've had borderline-terrible US-made IPA's with way more hops than Sierra Nevada IPA, and yet SN tastes somehow more full of citrus/pine hop character, big and elegant in flavor without the clumsy grating bitterness. Skill of ingredient use seems to prevail over blunt-force hop additions, in a BIG way.

The IPA / Pale / ESB / Bitter 'identity' seems like a very fluid thing and two brewers or drinkers (also by tradition - look on WIKI) don't have to agree on one or another precise category, given they are in somewhat overlapping ballparks all belonging to the 'Bitter' category. Maturely respecting that may be better than shouting one's opinion over everyone else's (which as it turns out may be missing the point.)

Anyway back to tastings - Is this IPA malty enough, I personally find ST reasonably pale-malty just as it is so there you go! For me it's a great beer I can easily enjoy a few of. Very different from DFH 60 so these two USA micros will compliment each other. Greene King and Wells, not so much... there are better Brit IPA's like Deuschar's.

[Derek]

The perception of taste is really subjective.

Last spring I had a sinus cold & couldn't taste anything for 2 weeks. After that I had to e-train my tastebuds. Strangely, my own perception of flavours changed. For example, I use to think Centennial hops only tasted like nectarines... now they seem to be piney & grassy as well... a little more Warrior-like...

Anyway, last year I thought the ST IPA was really well-rounded (for the style):
http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/38 ... /?ba=Derek

[Belgian]

Yeah we could open a whole forum on taste subjectivity, for example how clear your sinuses are matters a lot, and most people are to some degree chronically dehydrated which means youre head and internal organs not as clear as they could be. (Can just drink water with lemon all day to fix that.)

As well I have found perfectly good beers taste 'bleh' when one is a bit over-saturated with other beverages or a certain amount or type of food. The nerve response shuts off a little.

I have for example never enjoyed a Hefeweizen after a sweet dessert - it is much crisper and defined beforehand or earlier in the day, and a big meal or sweet food just fatigues the palate for some beers. The Rogue DG I opened when tired last night was just too malty and yeasty for the state I was in, but the same beer will be great chilled on a hot afternoon working outside.

[robinvboyer]

Yay! another Bar Towel pissing contest!