Tropical IPAs=Malternative?

While flavored beers don't undergo the flavor & color stripping/filtering typical of the malternative process, legally they're all Type 906 - " Malt Beverage Specialities* " according to the TTB.

* Defined as:

 

I don't think the legal classification the government uses for tax/trade purposes is the benchmark we as brewers/consumers would want to use to differentiate beverage styles and categories. Even the still-flawed BJCP style guidelines are a better tool than the TTB. The TTB's need for and method of classification is oftentimes at odds with the definition needs of the consumer. Especially in this case.

 

Is that why Sweet Baby Jesus is a malt beverage according to the label, and not a beer?
I think in the common useage of "malternative", it is supposed to be a malt-based alternative to beer. Not a beer, which is beer.

 

More likely you have presented your non craft drinker friend a beer, and said something like, "try this, you can really taste the mango/orange/grapefruit.

And then your friend agreed.

But I'd like to see you do it cold with no leading them on. Hand a person who has never had a an IPA like Julius a beer and ask them what they taste with no input from you.

The answer will likely be, "bitterness."

The other one I've heard people say more than once is, "soap."

 

Legally, in the US, "Beer" is a "malt beverage":

"Malternative" is an industry term for Flavored Malt Beverages. According to the Feds:

 

no? i prefer IPAs and pale ales where the hoppiness flavor is tropical rather than piney or resiny... doesnt at all mean that I only want to taste mangos and pineapples when i drink a beer, but it does mean that if my hop flavor profile is going to come with an additional note or after taste, i would prefer it to be in the fruity/tropical direction rather than the pine needle/resin direction.

but dont get me wrong, I still love IPAs that are piney as all hell, just would grab a tropical one over a piney one almost every time if I had the choice.

 

So I guess I was kind of right. Sweet Baby Jesus would be a "Malt Beverage Specialty" but would not be a "Malternative" Flavored Malt Beverage, since it doesn't go through the filtering/stripping process. And to me that makes it pretty clear as to what is a beer and what is a malternative.

To zoom in on this particular area.

 

I don't like many IPAs with fruit juice added but I could drink ALOT of Pipeworks Sure Bet which immediately came to mind when I read the original post. I do love tropical Pales/IPAs done with just hops and all IPA profiles for that matter, but when done right the ones with fruit juice/puree can be delicious.

 

I've done it with Heady Topper and nobody said bitterness, or soap. It's not a bitter beer. Budweiser is more bitter.

 

Being in constant search of tropical fruity IPAs, I have asked myself this question. However, I am certain the answer is no. The tropical fruit flavors I enjoy in an IPA are derived solely from the hops, and that to me is amazing because I love how much variety in aroma and flavor we are increasingly able to extract from these new hop varieties. I don't like them just because they taste like juice, I like them because I think it is awesome that hops CAN taste like juice. I still like my IPAs dry, resinous, and bitter, qualities that malternatives do not have. If I wanted to drink tropical fruit juice on its own, I would just buy orange or mango or pineapple juice from the store, or drink radlers and shandies, but that's not the case. I even prefer IPAs without fruit adjuncts because even though I do like Grapefruit Sculpin and would like to try some others like ApriHop or Tree Shaker, I prefer even my tropical fruity IPAs to use the four basic ingredients of beer.
I also feel it's worth reiterating that every beer and everything else we taste will merit comparisons to other things. That's how the human sense of taste works, and that's why we have beer reviews, tastings, etc.

So to answer your question, OP, no, IPAs with notes of tropical fruits are NOT malternatives.

 

I understand the point OP is getting at but I'm not sure why tropical IPAs are any more or less of an offender than numerous other beer styles. Some of my favorite stouts could reasonably be considered dessert milkshakes and part of why I like fruity berlinner weisses is that they taste like kombucha. And while I don't care much for the style myself, I'd be surprised to see "horse blanket" show up on Family Feud as an answer to the question "what does beer taste like" either.

That's why being a beer nerd is more fun (to me) than being a wine nerd. In addition to there being thousands of subtle variations on a theme to explore there are also dozens of completely different themes.

 

In my opinion, a lot of with new age IPAs contain:

Low carbonation.

Excessive yeast / residual sugar.

These factors make the beers less 'beer-y' as has been mentioned.

 

Tropical tasting IPA's have rekindled my interest in IPA's; didn't buy any for awhile and took a chance on Stone Thunderstruck and was floored. Way better then the cascade-heavy IPA's, IMO.

 

I've always been more of a Malt Maniac and my love for hops is a fairly recent thing when you look over the years of my craft beer drinking, so the tropical/less bitter IPAs are right up my alley. I still enjoy an abrasive pine bomb from time to time but I'd rather have a fruitier, more balanced version if I am making a choice...they don't burn my pallet out as quickly. I'm sure this trend will continue because it's easier to convert people over to IPAs with these vs. the pine bombs, generally speaking.

 

A well done fresh IPA is a treat whether it's a fruit bomb or a pine forest. Well done is well done, and I like both.

 

I think a lot of people actually want chocolate milk when they order a stout.

 

I've been saying this for years! The way I always describe it is that I don't want to confuse my beer for something I might have picked up at Jamba Juice (if I had ever been to a Jamba Juice, that is). For me, it's a combination of flavor profile (typically tropical fruit bombs, though floral or other profiles are possible) AND sweetness. Give me a dry IPA with little sweetness but tons of tropical fruit, and I'm totally happy.

 

I don't care who gets mad

Grapefruit Sculpin did not taste like beer to me. There was so much grapefruit that it stuck with me hours later.

Id rather have just a normal ipa.

It didn't taste bad, but its not for me. Regardless of the base style i don't enjoy fruit in beers. Theres only been a select few.

Tropical notes from hops i like. But juice or fruit added is a no but it wont stop me from trying it once.

 

You could say the same thing about a lambic. It's still beer regardless of your vague definition of what makes a beer "beer."

 

I think you were missing the point of the OP.

He wasn't trying ot say that they are literally malternatives, but that they demonstrative some of the same flavors that beer drinkers deride the malternatives for having.