Slate: Against Hoppy Beer

Ah Portland, Produce Row 1985 -25 taps' the end of one journey and the start of another-thank you so much

 

I think there is a stigma against hop heads for no reason. People on here seem to think if you love hops you aren't open to or have had other styles. I'm a hop head and love pretty much every other style. But it's wrong that IPAs are mu favorite and I'm ruining craft beer for others? That's just stupid.

 

I quit reading Slate long ago.

 

as a former Miller Lite drinker, i hated hoppy beers. Now I cant live without them. That was my introduction to craft. This has lead to many dollars spent on beer just to try it. Now I love all IPA styles and stouts and even sours. The hops opened my eyes to beers that dont taste like the traditional beer. So I guess hoppy beers are a gateway drug. Ironic that they are related to cannabis.

I work with people who brew their own beer who are only trying to reproduce BMC and dont like crafts, so just because you brew, doesnt mean you like good beer

 

Long ago before craft beer was something widely recognized, brewers were adopting English and German beers as their models for breaking the US mold. This slowly dissolved over the tears, and while we could really stand for an influx of English session ales, it is the American palate which is driving the market.

Internet writers need to eat their own heads

 

"even in the beer capitol of the country Portland, Or."
maybe, maybe not.

 

Ohhh there is your problem then. "Enjoyable" is actually subjective.

I, for example, do NOT find most well made pilsners nearly as enjoyable as a good DIPA. That doesn't mean I only like DIPAs, or that I only drink the hoppiest beers available and shun the rest. But I know what tastes best to me and I don't concern myself with what others like best.... so why are you and the author of the silly article so worried? I for one have NEVER been to a brewery or bar that had only IPAs available. So drink the other stuff and let us drink what we like.

 

I agree with you, but India Pale Ales are definitely historically of British heritage. American versions and interpretations are wonderful, but all of those aromatics, pungency, and hop goodness have been around for a good while. Cheers.

 

Do I look worried? Did you read what I said earlier?

Does anybody on this site really read anything?

Actually a better question looking at the responses, it seems either half didn't even read this article, skimmed it, or missed what the author was saying entirely, other than an obnoxious attention grabbing headline.

Here's the cliff notes version, people are obsessed with hops [debateable], the "craft beer" (whatever that is) industry is catering to it, and many people are not into bitter excessive beers (assuming they can't handle a possibly hoppy bitter let alone an IPA). Why don't people talk more about yeast and malt then? Or cater to something else?

Did this just really go over everybody's head?

While the article is a little out of joint the point is clear. Whether you agree with it or not is your opinion, some parts of it make lot of sense, to me there is a problem of sorts that I agree with, how the writer comes to that conclusion is not necessarily what I think.

Judging by a lot of the immature responses it seems the so called youth who dominate this forum are probably a bigger problem about the "industry" than anything to do with what they might be drinking. I can tell you in the whisk(e)y and past wine forums I belonged to, it's a much older clientele and people are far more civil in their discussions even if they don't agree with each other. The same hype and excitement exists and there a lot of similarities, but things glare out here with some real stupid immaturity.

Completely missing the point of the article, getting all worked up, name calling, starting other stupid threads that Todd or some other mod has to come in and delete, not even bothering to have an intelligent debate, this is probably a bigger problem for the "industry" when some person comes in here wanting to know more about beer and then looks at all this idiotic behavior.

I can't tell you how many times in my life being on this site, observe this forum, or when I run into other beer fans at events/bars and mention BA I get a response that says,

"oh yeah that place, it's filled with dumb children who fight all the time".

That's probably a bigger issue for the "industry" than some writer (people who actually have a job that do this for a living that you don't) you disagree with.

Not all young people getting into beer, or on this site, are like this. Had many discussions and conversations with them and they're great, but it's the constant bad apples and loud minority who tend to spoil the bunch. It's also probably why I don't post often on this forum that often.

Take it easy folks, as they say...

It's just beer...

 

Oh, for the sake of fuck. A lot of people just like really hoppy beers. This is not Belgium, or England, or Germany; this is America. Fuck what other people think.

 

[looks up craft beer growth rates]
...yeah, they're definitely doing something wrong.

 

What a silly article. Is the writer really suggesting that the craft beer industry should intentionally tone down their recipes and neuter the flavor of their products just to please the masses? That sounds like something BMC would do.

On the plus side, the article does suggest a good name for a killer IIPA ... The Alienator!

 

I don't think you have to be 100% on board with the author's premise to have some appreciation for the overall point. Something tells me this is intentional hyperbole and not to be taken at face value. Obviously the craft beer industry is doing just fine and there is no shortage of folks who appreciate the focus on hop diversity and intensity.

However....there are times I'll read the description of a new brew or take my first sip of some IPA/DIPA I've never tried and all I can hear in my head is LMFAO & Lil' Jon screaming HOPS HOPS! HOPS HOPS HOPS HOPS HOPS! EVERYBODY! There are times that the whole obsession with hops and the gimmicky use seems to be a bit much. That being said, I won't complain because for my money, there is nothing quite like a well done DIPA.

 

Well, the fact is, the majority of beer drinkers don't even know the difference between an ale and a lager. To say that the hoppy rage is somehow going to effect the craft beer movement in a negative way is somewhat absurd because like I said, most people don't even know the difference between a IPA, Hefeweizen and an Sweet Stout to begin with.

Case in point... the other day I was chatting with one of my friends that drinks Bud Light, I was telling him about some of the beers I've recently tried and then out of the blue, for no reason, my friend says that he doesn't like malty beers... to me, that is almost like saying you don't like candy. I went on to explain the more sweeter malt forward beers like Imperial Stouts and Scottish Ales and he just kind of looks at me and says... ohh ok. LOL! In other words, he was totally oblivious to what I was talking about. However, he wants to tour a local craft brewery with me in the near future, that's when he will actually find out what sweet malts taste like. The bottom line is, he has no idea what a malt is, he just thinks it's "something" that is not appealing in a beer.

To a hophead, if someone says they don't like bitter hops, that's almost like saying you don't the taste of grapefruit, mango and oranges mixed together. I can understand when a person just does not like that real strong piney hops taste (this would include me) that you often get out of an IPA but there are not too many people that I know of that would not like the taste of the tropical fruits you get in a lot of DIPAs.

My take on it is this.... the only reason a person would right an article like this is because they haven't tried some REALLY great Double IPAs. So, to me, the biggest challenge for the future of craft beer is not the over-use of hops, it's the gigantic hurdle of informing people about beer. Because most beer drinkers are clueless when it comes to their favorite beverage, which is funny because people love beer but yet, they know almost nothing about it.

Lastly - the person that wrote this needs to understand that in the world of beer, America is slowly becoming the hops capital of the world. Look at this way, the Germans make lagers and hefeweizen, the Belgians make vinous/dark fruit Ales, the English make great porters and stouts... America is now known among craft drinkers for the hoppy beers we make. It's becoming "our" style "our" identity. Whether or not this is a good thing, is simply one's opinion. The people have spoken and this is what we like.

 

Sorry, have to correct one thing I said in my previous post. I spelled 'write' R I G H T.

 

I'd say a hop forward doppelbock, citrus hops

 

Maybe NOT.

Hipster bullshit.

 

Slate is what Slate does.

 

[looks up Anheuser-Busch In Bev's sales]
...growth rates and sales do not equal doing something right