[Lazy Ant Brewing]

Went to a local pizza restaurant and microbrewery this week and ordered  a brown ale with a description that read 29 IBU and 5% ABV., but no description of the hop variety used.   When I tasted it I asked the server if he had brought me the dark IPA listed on the menu. No, it was the correct brew and he brought me a sample of the dark IPA to compare.  For me, virtually identical.  Oh yeah, we use cascade hops in almost all our beer except for the Oktoberfest he said.

 [/i]If I had wanted a dark IPA, I would have ordered one![/i] I like grapefruit  and have it often during the winter.  If there is any appreciable amount of cascade or some of the other citra type hops in a beer, that's all I can taste. It overpowers everything else; the grains and flavors associated with yeast.

Am I the only guy around with this situation?

Comments please!

[Steve Ruch]

Went to a local pizza restaurant and microbrewery this week and ordered  a brown ale with a description that read 29 IBU and 5% ABV., but no description of the hop variety used.   When I tasted it I asked the server if he had brought me the dark IPA listed on the menu. No, it was the correct brew and he brought me a sample of the dark IPA to compare.  For me, virtually identical.  Oh yeah, we use cascade hops in almost all our beer except for the Oktoberfest he said.

 [/i]If I had wanted a dark IPA, I would have ordered one![/i] I like grapefruit  and have it often during the winter.  If there is any appreciable amount of cascade or some of the other citra type hops in a beer, that's all I can taste. It overpowers everything else; the grains and flavors associated with yeast.

Am I the only guy around with this situation?

Comments please!

For a long time I avoided beers with cascade because every brewer seemed to vastly overdo it. Until a couple of years ago when I had one at the Vancouver Beerfest that was delicious. I queried the brewer to find out he used centennial and cascades. The big difference was that he brewed a balanced beer.
When done right cascades are great.

[HoosierBrew]

I guess it boils down to personal taste. Sounds like the brown ale was dry hopped (mine is too), but keep in mind that it's not all about the listed IBU number. It likely had 29 IBU but the dry hop character made it come across 'hoppier' than the number suggests. Also sounds like they're pretty limited on hop varieties if they use Cascade in everything but Ofest. Unfortunately, a lot of breweries are so hop focused that it's tough to get something that's not hoppy nowadays. I'm a hophead but I like variety.

[zwiller]

Unfortunately, a lot of breweries are so hop focused that it's tough to get something that's not hoppy nowadays.

THIS; Dry hopping a brown ale?!  BLASPHEMY!   

[HoosierBrew]

Unfortunately, a lot of breweries are so hop focused that it's tough to get something that's not hoppy nowadays.

THIS; Dry hopping a brown ale?!  BLASPHEMY!   

  I do a light dry hop on Tasty's Janet's Brown.  Good beer.

[denny]

Unfortunately, a lot of breweries are so hop focused that it's tough to get something that's not hoppy nowadays.

THIS; Dry hopping a brown ale?!  BLASPHEMY!   

For an Am. brown?  Pretty necessary IMO

[skyler]

One reason why I really enjoy American brown ale as a style is that it is so diverse. One reason I don't like submitting brown ales to competitions is that many judges don't like them hoppy and others believe anything with "American" needs bold citrusy hop character.

Hops are expensive. It always surprises me when a brewery's IPA is lacking in hop character, but they have a brown ale/porter/stout that is on the hoppy side. For my tastebuds, an IPA without sufficient hop aroma is an unpleasant beer, but I can certainly enjoy a malty brown ale with hops as a bittering agent only.