- Courtesy: Tom Kramer
- Ambacht Ale’s Proudly Anti-IPA Coaster
A while back, I wrote about how there were some five-odd Oregon brewers—out of about 200 total—who have the cojones to NOT make an IPA.
I hedged my bets in that story, knowing there would be a few more brave souls to crawl out of the foxholes to shout it loud that they too do not brew the bitter IPAs. Most of them were pointed out on Twitter. And some people were wrong.
I was told that tiny Arch Rock Brewing Company in Gold Beach, which turned heads when it pulled down the award for the country’s No. 1 German-style unfiltered lager at the 2014 Great American Beer Fest, is an IPA-free zone. Not true, says brewer James Smith. “I did one because people were bugging me to do one for about eight months,” he says. He made Adipose IPA, after the fin cut off hatchery fish. “I probably won’t make one for a while, because they’re not my favorite style.”
More examples after the jump… but first… a legally binding poll!
Same goes for Portland’s Buckman Botanical Brewery, which has never made an IPA on its own, but has done collaboration IPAs during over its five years, a spokeswoman says.
But I did miss a couple. In particular, I overlooked Ambacht Brewing in Hillsboro, which has the somewhat erroneous slogan: “Oregon’s only brewery without an IPA!”
Ambacht, which sells at New Seasons Markets in Southeast and Southwest Portland, as well as at the Beaverton Farmers’ Market, does Belgian style brews, says co-owner Tom Kramer. He rejected the idea of brewing a Belgian-style IPA, calling them “nasty.” Most of his beers stay under 20 IBUs, Kramer says.
“I like some IPAs, and I appreciate them,” Kramer says. “But our other slogan is, the world doesn’t need another one.”
At Fire Cirkl in White City, which skirts the line between beer and wine, making a style of mead with malted grain and honey, Managing Member James Romano summed it up this way in an email: “I will never ever make an IPA. Never have. Amen.”
Cheers, dude.
“Cajones” are big boxes, the polar opposite of “Cojones”, which are big balls. However, as a non IPA beer drinking person, this makes me happy.
Sick of IPA’s. They are obvious and unsophisticated. IPA’s are the neon-painted monster trucks of beer.
IPA lovers win the poll! (Don’t be bitter.)
The only thing obvious about IPA’s is that someone is going to bitch about them anytime you mention beer.
I don’t have a problem with someone not liking IPA’s. I have gotten very, very tired of having to hear all the reasons someone doesn’t like IPA’s and why we’re all wrong for liking them anytime someone mentions beer.
I REGRET NOTHING!
Aestro: definitely don’t think you’re wrong for liking IPAs. I’m just happy to have variety since I don’t!
prettypenguin: thanks 🙂 Learning Japanese in school did me NO FAVORS.
Andrea – sorry, that was aimed at Blabby. I like profiles on non-IPAs. Even though I like many IPA’s, I like almost any style done well and appreciate places that provide good options.
Martin Cizmar sucks.
I don’t like hefeweizen, where are my excited blog posts about the non-hef breweries?
I don’t really care about IPAs. If you like them, cool. I enjoy them from time to time, too. But I feel like half of the beer options out there are IPAs. The other day I went to Fubonn and grabbed a bottle of ‘Taiwan Beer’. It was the anti-IPA, and I cherished every sip of it.
After a trip to England, I really appreciate English IPAs more, but sometimes NW IPAs get a little ridiculous in their “hops arm race”.
“We’ve got the hoppiest IPA in town, we’ve got more hops than a rabbit, you’re face will be peeled back by the awesome kick of our overload of Cascade hops…”