BlackStack Back In My Day West Coast IPA

 BlackStack Back In My Day West Coast IPA. An IPA to Complain About.

6.9% ABV. BlackStack Brewing, St. Paul, MN.

Clear, golden toned, slim white head.

In the nose: hoppy, citrusy, lemony. 

In the mouth: little hop bitterness, some hop flavors, some citrus. No engagement with the palate. None. Drab and dull. Does nothing in the style of a West Coast IPA. What is this vs. what it’s trying to be? Is it even trying? 

So, they brand a beer mocking people who wish there were West Coast IPAs like in the good ol’ days of 10 years ago, and they put out a piss-poor nothing IPA. Limp, lame, absolutely disappointing. 

I’m supposed to think of Dana Carrey’s Old Man or that perennial meme of Grandpa Simpson. But instead it’s a mockery, a weak nothingness, ...why even bother, if this is the best you can do? And I know it isn’t....I’m so tired of the smarm. Make a real WCIPA, stop fucking around.

When this one arrived, i wondered why it was “to complain about”. If you make a good IPA, I won’t complain. Now, I see how they’ve tricked me. Yes, I will complain about shitty, pointless, misinformed, maladjusted, drab and dull so-called IPAs.

I have a Steel Toe Size 7 in the fridge. Drinking that next to remind me that I am not wrong. 

Back in my day we didn't have all these fancy new versions of hops, like: Crosby Estate Comet, Michigan Grown Chinook or American Noble Cascade. Or Fancy Thiol Freeing Yeast made out of our favorite West Coast Strain. We had to walk 7 miles to school everyday. In the snow. With no shoes. Up hill. Both ways. Count your blessings Youngin'.