What Beer "Style" Best Exemplifies the Ridiculousness of Having Styles?

I've been on a bit of a rampage lately with people telling me they're brewing Italian Style Pilsners (my answer to the question in the topic). I ask them what makes their pilsner an "Italian" style and I keep getting told that it's like a German Pils, but it's dry hopped. That ignores the fact that German brewers have dry hopped Pilsners for "at least" 115 years. Textbooks from Weihenstephan from the early 1900's describe the process of dry hopping. Some people say that German brewers couldn't dry hop because it was outlawed by the Reinheitsgebot (false and the beer purity law that actually ruled in Germany never outlawed dry hopping, it outlawed adding advanced hop products post boil and it was later clarified that dry hopping was legal because of some confusion) but they also ignore that brewers in Germany have been breaking the purity law ever since it was written.

To further the ridiculousness, there's basically two breweries in Italy that brew these dry hopped pilsners (using German malts and hops)... two examples of a beer "style" does not constitute a whole new style of beer.

So in your opinion, what "style" best displays the silliness of continually adding new styles of beer?

 

I kind of knew this would be one of the first examples. I slightly agree, but only because of the execution of session IPA's. I think the difference is in the balance. One of the first beers I ever brewed was back in 2009 and as a 19 year old homebrewer, I was referencing homebrewing forums and resources constantly. There was a chart that showed gravity units to bitterness units and where the balance between malty and hoppy existed. I was big into hop bursting (still am actually) since I love hop flavor and aroma, but I'm not a big fan of bitterness and I brewed a "session IPA" that was nothing but late hop additions and a big dry hop amount that would be typical of an IPA at the time. It was skewed heavily on that chart to "extreme hoppy" and was 4.5% ABV. I shared that beer with a few brewers and I actually landed a brewing gig because of that beer. I think most session IPA's today really are just dry pale ales, but I do think there's a small amount that exist as something that's different from a pale ale.

 

I think the distinctions have become less apparent between English styles and American styles recently. There was a time where everything for American styles was basically taking English styles and pushing the boundaries with higher ABV, more hops, dryer finish, etc. and brewers used American malts, hops, and yeast strains. Today, I'd be willing to bet that more American brewers use yeast strains that are considered English strains (Boddington's yeast being so frequently used in hazy IPA's for instance) than ever before and that these styles have been subject to globalization.

 

At least it was distinctive which is arguably the point of a style...? I used to brew one and I hated doing it. I just don't think it's a good style... The astringency of roasted malts with the bitterness of hops... Not my jam. I will say that I didn't dislike Wookie Jack, but that might be my least favorite Firestone Walker beer that I can recall.

 

Interesting example with Galaxy. As a brewer, that example shows exactly how consumers drive trends and also follow the lead of others. I think it has been 4 years since I've had a really good Galaxy beer. Growers for that hop tried to increase acreage without really increasing their ability to harvest the hop and as a result, the pick windows are far too big now. I think that's a problem for almost every hyped hop variety out of Australia and New Zealand. Today, all the Galaxy beers I try taste like they used a hop that was left too long on the vine and the sulphur compounds are through the roof. But people still drink Galaxy beers and think "tropical fruit." I think that's a great example of the power of suggestion.

As far as Sour IPA's, I haven't tried many of them... If someone creates a sour wort and they use hops in the boil, you have sour and bitter which just don't work well together in my opinion. I do love dry hopped kettle sours (actually have one fermenting right now) and my belief is that if you're using a fruity tasting hop, that you should try to match the acidity of the beer to the acidity of the fruit that the hop resembles. I'd never put lactose in that though