GToCG 2016 IPA Category Analysis

Great Taste of Cottage Grove 2016 –             IPA Results

Gold Medal – Treehouse Alter Ego

Silver Medal – Tired Hands Alien Church

Bronze Medal – Heist CitraQuench’l

Other Participants: Trillium DDH Sleeper Street and Toppling Goliath Pompeii

Analysis

All hail Treehouse!  I honestly think this is their best beer and Alter Ego is absolutely phenomenal.  With the all the New England IPAs in this category, it was tough competition, but this beer masterfully balances all those huge flavors harnessing them into one amazing brew.  Second place went to Alien Church, which was slightly unremarkable, but very well balanced.  The two juice bombs came in third and fourth.  Heist placing slightly ahead of DDH Sleeper Street likely because Heist isn’t quite as over the top.  Pompeii wasn’t on the same field, they should head back to Double A ball.

My Ballot

1) Alter Ego 2) DDH Sleeper 3) CitraQuench’l 4) Alien Church 5) Pompeii

The Takeaway

I say it every single year, a well balance beer always performs the best in this type of setting.  First off, it is very tough to keep a beer that is bursting with flavors in check so it is quite the accomplishment.  But secondly, a well-balanced beer will play more favorable across a whole group.  The most well balanced beers came in first and second, only Alter Ego was playing teeter totter with 400lb sumo wrestlers.  The big juice bombs in CitraQuench’l and DDH Sleeper were either loved or hated.  Those two beers were both plagued with plenty of first place and plenty of last place votes.  And Pompeii, no comment.  Between this category and the Coffee Stouts, those were probably two of my favorite ever GToCG groupings.