Searching for the line between "hobby" and "obsession"

Sweet Child of Vine at Wise Acre

Recently I made a repeat visit to Wise Acre, a great new organic restaurant in my hood. Very good, flavorful food (skip the pumpkin custard… way too frozen, if that makes sense). Pretty decent small beer list, too. Both times there, I’ve had a Founder’s Red RyePA. Love that beer. The spiciness of the rye does some cool stuff in an IPA. Additionally, I decided to give Fulton’s Sweet Child of Vine another try. This beer has never quite hit me right, though upon hearing from another member of my homebrew club that he’d had good and bad Fulton pints, I decided to test my luck again.

I think I figured out what I don’t like about it: the hop profile leans too heavy toward flavor or aroma additions (and is probably a non-traditional IPA hop that doesn’t sit right) and doesn’t have enough bittering additions to back it all up. I THINK that’s it… Could be wrong, but there is just something that makes Sweet Child of Vine an unorthodox IPA, and not in a good way on my palate.

Anyone else who has tried this beer care to comment?

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