I’m sitting here drinking a bottle of Blind Pig, only the second I’ve ever had, and I’m asking myself, “Self, where the heck is the bitterness”? It comes across like a big APA. Good hop flavor, fair aroma, and zero bitterness. Lately it seems I’ve been running into IPAs that have little to no bitterness. Maybe my taster is off, but it seems to me that an IPA should be easily distinguished from an APA by its bitterness, not to mention increased gravity. Give me SNCA or SSOS anyday.
;D. Hi Jim.
I guess I know what you mean. I think this is due, on my end, to my palate changing.
Seriously, I have not really enjoyed the Celebration very much this year; it just seems bland. :o
Pretty sure I have just been maxing out my bitterness tastebuds on some homebrewed IBU excess
or all the rank commercial hopped out selections these days.
BTW, I love the third person when one is drinking. 8)
edit: as a side note here, I am drinking an Oskar Blues G’Night right now out of a can and just had a most excellent hop burp.
Cheers.
Don’t waste your time with a blind pig, go get a Pliny. ;D
maybe you should drink some non-hoppy beers for a few weeks and let your taste buds recover 
I think this brings up a great point. If you’re drinking Pliney’s or Ruinations all the time, youre not going to taste a lesser hopped beer. I think Blind Pig is an excellent beer but not in comparison to some of the big Hop Bombs that are out there. I like to have an evening of porters, ambers or stouts every so often to keep my palate in check.
Incidentally, I just had a pint of Blind Pig in San Diego last week and it was great! Not the hoppiest beer in the world but definitely came across as an IPA.
I agree on the recalibration. One of my favorite beers on tap is Speakeasy Prohibition Ale. Not long ago, squiring people around San Francisco, I had a glass of SN Harvest Ale (yummy…), followed by the Prohibition, and was dismayed at how “my” beer tasted. It was like licking Saran Wrap.
Blind Pig is definitely not the hoppiest beer in the world, but it is terrific on its own terms. It’s restrained enough on the hoppiness that I’d have it with oysters if stout weren’t available. Love me some Pliny, but Blind Pig is a great beer in its own space.
I go to the RR pub in SR at least once a week. Pig is my go-to session beer. It is not the most bitter beer out there, but it is THE most balanced IPA that I have ever had. Maybe it was a poorly handled bottle? Go to the pub and get it on tap. It is a close to heaven that I will ever be…
A good AIPA, in my book, should have an assertive, lingering bitterness, usually in the finish. SNCA provides this, as do some other commercial AIPAs. Balance is important, but not at the expense of bitterness. Blind Pig fails on this account because it has no bitterness to speak of, no more than many APAs out there.
From the BJCP style guidelines for American IPA:
“Medium-high to very high hop bitterness, although the malt backbone will support the strong hop character and provide the best balance.”
Sometimes I like a Bitter IPA but I appreciate the hop Flavor balanced with the malt more now. I haven’t tried Blind Pig yet but Hop Slam is a big beer loaded with hop flavor and I wouldn’t miss it for the world now. IPA is about abv and hops just balance the fact that they are higher abv. Bitterness has nothing to do with it IMO, I’ve had APA’s that were Very Bitter but still within range of and APA according to abv.
Jmo…
You made a funny! 
Blind Pig is on tap at Toronado in SF as well, but you can also buy it several places 'round town. I agree on the bottle-handling issue. I once accidentally bought a bottle of Pliny that was almost a year old, and it was sorely faded. After that, I always check (and have found the occasional elderly Pliny).
elderly Pliny —> sorely faded.
Nice work.