Finding My Favorite IPA

 This post is many years in the making. At some several years ago, I discovered craft beer, which changed my viewpoint on beer. I had always been a light beer drinker, specifically Miller Lite. I rarely deviated from Miller Lite, and when I did, I often didn't like what I found. With the craft beer explosion that happened in the 2010s, it became much easier to experience different beer types. Previously you would have to commit to a 6-pack at the least, and alternate beer types were not as readily available at restaurants like they are today. Additionally, since a lot of these breweries are working on a smaller scale compared to larger breweries, it gives them a chance to experiment more. A co-worker and I received a craft beer brewery tour as a gift from work one year, and that is when I really began to enjoy and appreciate the craft beers and types other than light beer. On that trip, the breweries only had their own beers, so there was no choice to drink anything other than light beer. 

Of all the new beer types I had been exposed to, the IPA was my favorite. It became a goal of mine to try as many IPAs as I could. I wanted to discover which one I liked the best. For a period of time, when I would go to a liquor store I would purposely buy one I had not tried before. I would do the same thing at restaurants, picking a new one in an effort to find my favorite. Along the way I came across the Untapped app, which allows you to rank beers and document which ones you've tried as well as when and where. It got to a point where it became difficult to remember which ones I had tried, so the app is very useful for documentation purposes. I still use it today.

New beers are always coming to the market, so I would never say that I've tried them all. However, after a couple of years of searching, it got to a point where I had tried most of the IPAs that are readily available in the stores and local restaurants. After all the searching, I have landed on a go-to IPA. There are some IPAs that I like more than others, and several that I like a lot. However, the one that I consistently buy is Bell's Two Hearted. Despite the ugly packaging, it has a flavor that I like a lot, and is readily available in stores and restaurants.

One of the interesting aspects of the craft beer boom is the regional nature of the beers. While I am not nearly as adventurous at the store as I once was, I really enjoy trying new beers when I travel. Of course I document these in my Untapped app so that I don't forget them, and it adds an extra layer of excitement to eating out while on the road. One of the other interesting aspects of the craft beer boom is learning about different beer styles, and stats like ABV and IBU. This will always be a moving target, but for me Bell's Two Hearted IPA reigns as my favorite IPA.