Back to the basics - I bought a sixer of Sierra Nevada Pale Ale (not IPA, just Pale Ale) and I'm enjoying the heck out of it. Sierra Nevada and others just nailed that style and popularized it here in the U.S. in the 80's and it's still REAL good.

For an IPA, I've been enjoying the new Bass IPA - which I think is really a contract beer brewed by Anheuser-Busch (well, the Belgian outfit that bought 'em out, I guess). It's a good one, and it shows that the big boys can make good beer when they want to.

Griping about modern IPA's, back when I did so much homebrew competition judging, it was a DEFECT if you couldn't taste OAK in an IPA. It seems like that's kinda, sorta been forgot about - but I don't see that the characteristics of a style dating from 1820 or so should be changed.

I'll have to pick up a bottle of oak flavor extract at the local shop so I can put a couple of drops in each glass of IPA and taste it the way it really oughta be.