Enough with the hops already!

Hmm...I think the person who started this thread is onto something. I don't mind hops...after all I love beer. BUT... I think there are many brewers who have lost a balance at the expense of more heavily hopped beer. After all, the hops was added for flavor and preservation, it wasn't meant to be the sole source of flavor. New Belgium seems to be guilty of this from time to time. I like to think Belgium style "big beers" are so popular because of there balance of flavors without the heavy bitterness that might come from being overly hopped.

 

No ... I think all of this anti-IPA / anti-hop talk is way over the top. To be blunt, get over it. There will always be hoppy beers and it has peaked in some aspects as many brewers are branching out a bit more. Sours are hot, the second coming of barrel aging is upon us. Things are great, friggin relax and drink a beer.

Still waiting for boxer-briefs that are made out of hops.

Cheers!!

 

Or a trendy new way to kiln grain?

 

I think the hop fade is fading a bit and I won't be too upset when the scales become just a little more balanced. Hops have their place and the hop heads will keep that section of the business alive I am sure however, I can get a little burned out on seeing IPA this, IPA that everywhere or trying a beer that shouldn't be an IPA but it sure tastes a lot like one.

 

This is definitely right in my area. Half the drinkers are all about barrel aged.

 

I have a big bowl of fresh hops and milk first thing every morning. I have no idea what you are talking about.

 

I have the same feeling about sours, so I just don't seek them out.

There is plenty of beer to choose from.

By the way, really good DIPAs are more than just hops. My favorite is DFH 90, which is extremely well balanced.

 

never enough hops, like you never have enough garlic or never have enough green chilies, you just can't overdo the hops. I would like to see some more hoppy lagers though.

 

It still astounds me that are people on this site who are under the mistaken impression that hops = bitter. This is the golden era of late kettle additions and hop strains that actually taste good. I couldn't possible care less about old-school IPAs, but the new school hop strains are endlessly fascinating.

 

I'm drinking a Pliny right now and I say nay, good sir; if used correctly, hops have plenty of depth and interesting flavors to add to beer. But you're right that they aren't the best thing about beer and there are tons of subpar ipas out there.just drink Double Jack :-)

 

This could only be an issue if it affected the production of other good beer in different styles. It doesn't.

In fact, the emerging trend seems to be revisiting old styles that have been dormant for a while. Take Off Color, for instance. I think we'll see much more of this soon.

 

One could argue that some lesser-selling style beers have been discontinued by brewers with capacity issues, due in part to the increasing sales of their more hop-oriented styles. Sierra Nevada, for one example, has dropped its ESB, Brown Ale, (English style) IPA and Glissade in recent years, and appears that Tumbler is also on the "to be discontinued" list.

 

Well, Tumbler did sit around for quite a while (at least around here) and I'm sure SN got some blowback from the distributors on that one. It seems that they did try to change things up a bit with their seasonals, but I'd say that says more about the state of the craft beer market than the quality of their beers- so yeah, people still want hoppy beers, at least in the volume that SN puts out. On the smaller scale is where I think we are seeing some interesting things happening these days.

 

You don't see hop heads complaining that people like malty or yeasty beers. Drink what you want and consider for a minute that the people who drink hoppy beers may actually appreciate what they have to offer, and aren't in it for some "trendy" reason.

 

I don't always drink IPAs, but It's nice to know the hoppy stuff is there when you want it.

 

I wouldn't say there's an overwhelming amount of anti-hop talk on the forums. Quite the contrary, I would bet ~25% of the threads on the main forum are related to IPAs or hop forward beers on any given day. And these threads are positive towards hoppy beers, not negative.

To Herrburrgess's point though, I feel as if half the draft lists and shelf space at the liquor store are dominated by IPAs. I love IPAs, but I would gladly trade 10% of that space for something else. I don't want hops to go away, I simply want a little less, that's all.

And I get whining and complaining sucks, so the response, "To be blunt, get over it" is certainly warranted. But the forums are for discussions, and personally I find "enough with the hops already" more interesting than another "What are your top 5 IPAs" thread.

You love hoppy beers, and I know you'd love underwear made out of them. But you and Todd both enjoy lagers too, and have posted about wanting more of them. Would you not trade a few of those mediocre IPAs for some world class lagers?

 

I'm with the OP, styles that aren't meant to be hoppy are getting assaulted with hops (stouts, amber ales, belgian ales, etc).

*Mike Ditka Voice*

STOP IT!

 

I agree that it may affect specific breweries, but my point is that overall it isn't having an affect. Sure, you may not find an ESB from Sierra Nevada, but there are plenty of breweries that steer away from hoppy styles and give us alternatives (The Bruery, Perennial, etc.) And really, this is how I prefer it: the breweries that do certain things well should stick with it, as opposed to muddying up their profile with a bunch of different styles they may not be good at. There are enough new breweries popping up that different ones can stick to a theme.

Sorry for getting a bit off topic, but the overall idea stands: there are breweries out there that don't make hops a focus and this will continue to be true.

 

I understand this concept, however, the point I get from this discussion is that a lot of the time it's hard to find those beers because 85% of the shelf space or tap's are taken by IPAs, DIPAs, etc., and for myself, a drinker who doesn't enjoy overly hopped beers, it gets very frustrating.

Just my 2 cents.

 

Yeah, hops have been used for centuries, that's enough. lets go back to gruit