Tuesday, September 20, 2011

You know where you can stick that malt, Sam Adams




Hey, hop heads... do you ever feel like you have to apologize for your single-minded devotion to the floral bud because you really have no interest in drinking anything other than IPAs and IIPAs? Do you harbor some doubts in the back of your mind that perhaps you are not a well-rounded beer drinker because you just can't get into nor do you really care about, say, stouts or saisons?

Well, fear not says none other than Pat McIlhenny, owner and brew master of world-famous Alpine Beer Company.

Here's Pat in an interview in the September print edition of the West Coaster:

Q (Victor Sjoberg): I think you make the best IPAs in the world. How do you feel about a statement like that?


Pat: That's quite an honor, but there's a lot of good IPA brewers around here... well, I would have to stick to the west coast, because the people that say beer needs to be balanced... they just drive me nuts. An IPA is not a balanced beer. It is not intended to be a balanced beer. If you've got a nice, malty backbone for an IPA, it's not an IPA in my opinion, it's something else.


Glorious. Simply glorious.


We know the beer community is supposed to be one big happy family but Pat definetely qualifies as someone who can lay down some implied smack on other regions of the country.

Front Range, Midwest... East Coast... what say ye?

11 comments:

WomanHonorThyself said...

aw all I can say is Cheers!!!

Foxfier said...

I think the notion that beer has to be balanced is silly-- but no sillier than those who think you HAVE to "taste the hops," or that anything other than barley is blasphemy.

I put them all in the same category as the head of Starbucks when he was going on about how any coffee that doesn't taste burnt has been made wrong.

Dean said...

Hi, Angel!


Foxie, I have said on many occasion, there is a fine line between (beer) geekery and snobbery.

"...coffee that doesn't taste burnt has been made wrong."

Could help explain why I and many other people can't stand Starbucks.

B-Daddy said...

Dean, OK, but how do you explain the exquisite balance of hops and malt in, drum roll please, Alpine Ale? One of the best beers, ale or otherwise that I have ever had?

With respect to coffee, I have been drinking German brands of late, and find them to be very smooth and indeed, sessionable.

Dean said...

Alpine Ale is technically a pale ale or XPA. It is difference with a distinction, particularly within the pantheon of Alpine's products.

And this will of course require some "research" as I don't necessarily recall the balance you speak of in my last Alpine Ale. Perhaps, I am mistaken. Leave nothing to chance and increase your sampling pool, right?

Don't you like it when you get actual responses to your beer-related blog post inquiries.

Anonymous said...

anyone ever try dogfish head 60 minute IPA? it's converting people to ipas here in the PA-MD-VA region.

Dean said...

We get Dogfish Head out here and it enjoys a good deal of popularity, though, personally speaking, I do not care for either the 60 or 90 Minute IPAs... it's that whole balance thing.

Maxed Out said...

Foxfire... out of curiosity, what is your favorite beer? And yes, I am absolutely trying to pick a fight here ;o)
Sincerely,
A card carrying beer snob

Foxfier said...

Maxed Out-
it's the one I don't have to buy!

Foxfier said...

I think it's great to know enough about beer to be able to talk intelligently about it, especially since if you can talk hops and grains and malt and such you can describe what you like.

Kind of like any other art-- painting, for example. You can say that you like highly saturated colors, house scenes, glowing use of light, and someone can go "oh, you'll like Kinkade."

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