Is IPA still king?

I wonder if the dirty hipster would know that periods go inside the quotation marks?

 

An IPA was literally the first craft brew I tried almost 16 years ago. There were IPA's in the BA top 10 when I joined 10 years ago. A DIPA is the number 1 brew here at BA right now.

I would say they are not really even close to slowing down. Without beating a dead horse too hard, there have been some many cool tweeks to the style in my time. From English, to American, DIPAs, TIPAs, dry hopping, wet hopping, showcasing single hops, West coast vs. East Coast, Belgian, white, black. The list goes on and on...

 

I didn't realize this was a website dedicated to proper grammar since most sentences look like this. "I drank a BFBBD from SDLK and IMHO it was a DP". You're going to be a busy boy. Troll elsewhere please and thank you.

 

To be quite honest, I didn't like IPA's til I had Pliny the Elder. Strange, I know. But now I find that after I've tried the top dog, it's hard to beat. But I will say that IPA's are in their prime. Their everywhere, every microbrewery I've been to specializes in them. Being a porter and stout man myself, this troubles me. Ha!


IPA's will be top dog for awhile. But I pose this question....fruit beers, can they take them over? Seems like they are becoming more and more popular. Thoughts?

 

I feel like IPAs in general are the metaphorical flag ship for 'craft beer' in the eyes of the guy drinking a Coors Light that's as cold as the Rockies. 'Hops' or being 'hoppy' is such a buzzword for those who haven't the slightest clue about beer. The scene from the movie Super Bad comes to mind where Fogell comments about a beer having more 'hops' added to it to give the impression that he's a seasoned beer drinker (of legal age).

I do also notice that if a sports bar is going to offer one non-BMC beer (aside from the Sam Adams staple) it's typically an IPA. Admittedly, I transitioned to the world of craft beer on the backs of plenty of IPAs.

 

IPA is king amongst a loud minority. Let their be no doubt that I personally love many IPAs and always have some around, but the loud minority cannot claim that IPA is king of anything but "their" preference. I watch people buy beer, fruit beers, shocked head beers, semi-white ales, American lagers of every kind, beers with fish and tomatoes, more limey things, and great shaped cans and cans that speak to you when cold. This is the real BIG market and to pretend that we know better and they're wrong is to confuse what beer marketing really is. This place and our adoration of all things IPA- whether becoming passe or not- ignores that we are a subset of the greater beer buying public. I'm just pleased that there are enough brewers and consumers to keep this nice beer period that we are currently experiencing alive and growing. Cheers.

 

If it weren't for this site I wouldn't know what was popular and what's not. I drink what I like.

Pale ales have been my favorite for years. Had no idea the IPA was the top style until reading these forums. Not into sours or the bourbon barrel stuff, so I could care less where the trend goes.

 

I think a lot of it has to do with your palette maturing the more you drink craft beers. I use to drink bud light about a year ago and then got brought into the craft game heavy(700+ diff beers so far). I think like a lot of fellow Ba's who started drink IPAs mainly because of all the hype. But as you drink more and more IPAs you start to be able to point out the shitty malty old IPAs and the excellent hop bombs out there. The problem is IPAs imo need to be drank within the first month, maybe 2, and ideally under 2 weeks for the FULL experience. So unless you have access to a Brewery who actually does great IPAs, you need to be on the ball about fresh shipments to your local bottle shop. Once you start hoarding beer in your cellar, you realize you can't hold onto a ton of IPAs as they have to be drank quickly, and this tends to overload your palette I think and have you searching for other styles for a change of pace. I started off having 80% IPAs in my cellar, a year later I'm at 20%. While I still love my occasional dipa, I just love ageing too much, and I can't really do it with IPAs. Plus sours and stouts are the tits.

Wow I did not expect to write that much...tip it on back!! Just my 2¢

Cheers mates

 

No.

 

If you're going to criticize the entire American population under 30 that wears skinny jeans and is a "hipster" to you, do it better or it looks like they are smarter than you.

 

Ok Ok Drink a beer. Relax. Breath. That's what I'm going to do. I was making a joke senor.

 

That was, until Bud sired out of wedlock it's unHoly bastard Rosemary's Baby offspring of the Devil Himself, which they promptly christened "Budweiser Light".

 

Maybe I'm a crazy, but in the "beer geek" world, I feel like Berliner's and fruited Berliner's, along with Saisons/Farmhouse ales have been the big swing in terms of taste. Berliner's are getting extremely popular because it's not as crazy as a full blown spontaneously fermented or wild ale (sours), and such a good introduction to the world of sours. Plus, you throw a little fruit in them, and people go nuts. Saison's have made an amazing transformation in terms of uniqueness, from brew to brew, batch to batch. Some are huge brett bombs (or will be, in time), others feature some amazing late hop additions... some are slightly tart (intentionally), and bbl aging does some amazing things to this style.

I think that the evolution of craft beer is going to see even more brewers tackling styles like this, where flaws can't be covered by ABV or a dickton of hops... they require a bit more finesse, and the results are well worth it.

 

You're a good man. From one hophead to another...

 

I still find a good DIPA to the most complex of all beers...Hops up front varying in all sorts of flavors, followed by malty goodness, followed by (hopefully) a nice lingering drying bitterness, followed by another drink, followed by hops up front varying in.....well you get the idea

 

Does anyone remember this brew? I actually do, and it was pretty decent. It was a very good representation of the style during the time period that it was briefly released. Too bad nobody in NY wanted to put it on tap, because IPA's were nowhere near as popular as they are today back in 2006... seems crazy to say that, but it's incredible how different the market was back then, only 8 years ago. Check it out though... even the Bros. gave it a 94!!