It’s that time of year again. The day people look forward to all year, that makes grown men behave like kids and sees grown women having sleepless nights in anticipation. I speak, of course, about IPA Day! Last year I dedicated a whole week’s worth of blog posts to the celebration in honour of my favourite beer style, kicking off with a look at why beer geeks love IPAs and culminating in a musical review of my beloved Blockhouse.

This is my fourth IPA Day in South Africa and before I go on I must tip my hat to the country’s rapidly expanding beer scene. In 2011, Greg Casey of Banana Jam fame could barely scrape together half a dozen IPAs to fill a taster tray. This year, as I make the annual pilgrimage to the Jam for this sacred day, I can expect every single one of the 30 taps to be pouring IPAs. Not only that, upstairs, the SouthYeasters will be holding a people’s choice IPA competition so with a bit of luck there might be 50 to taste in the very same building. So this year, I’d like to pay homage with a poem, based on Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s romantic bit of 19th-century smoosh:

How do I love thee, IPA? Let me count the ways
I love thee in a bottle or in a glass
I love thy aroma of dank pine and grass
When you smell like lychee or of mango
Like Queen it makes me do the Fandango
When thy IBUs climb over 50
You make the world all warm and pretty
I love thee when I’m eating cheese
Gruyere and blue go down with ease
And although thy ABV is high
And next morning you make me want to cry
You’re the very best beer to drink with friends
And I’ll love you to the very end
All that remains for me to say
Is that to me you’re IP-Yay!

What would you like to say to your beloved IPA on this very special day?