Why do people like IPAs?

It is certainly an interesting question why such aggressively hopped beers have become so utterly dominant in the American craft beer landscape.

Sure, the influx of hazy/juicy versions have introduced more approachable flavors to the ipa genre. But before that explosion the more typical hop bitterness was becoming synonymous with craft beer and there was even the short lived "IBU wars" where breweries frantically pursued abrasive bitterness, to some acclaim.

 

Why does anybody like any beer? Why does anybody like anything? Everything sucks.

 

They think aggressively hopped = more extreme = better. Can't convince me otherwise.

 

If there weren't NA IPAs, there would be almost only NA lagers. Don't like the thought, even if lagers are good. You need to spice up your life at times.

 

I never read a lot of Charles Dickens - which novel does his character Pittery Hobsicles appear in?

 

Because they get me drunk while looking cool

 

For me Hops/flavor first - variety second - the style just has an absurd range of interpretation around my town (never thought I'd be able to say that), state, region, country, world -- and has for many years with the last 20 years of development being exponential. I know my Mona Lisa IPAs -- I compare every new interpretation to those beers - sometimes one comes along and bumps another one off the podium. It's a way of tracking time for those that are old enough to think about those things - which eventually becomes nostalgia ("delicate....but potent..." - Don Draper). There is another style that can check all those boxes for me.

 

Pittery hobsicles sounds like North York Sammy!

 

I have said this before, but I feel a substantial part of it that people seldom talk about has to do with the additional sedative effect that hops have. Whenever I take breaks from drinking, the only style I actively crave are IPAs. I think it's partly because of that extra "high" they seem to impart, though it is more subtle than, say, a cannabis high. Add to that the terpenes they both share and it starts becoming clearer why they've always been so popular if you take a step back and look at the big picture. I'll just come out and say it: if you're one of the 19% of adults in the US that used cannabis in the last year (meaning 2021 from the Pew Research Center) and you also drink beer, I'd say it's likely you enjoy heavily hopped beers also. So right there is enough of a leg up for the style.

Also, psychoactive effects aside, I feel like some of the IPA bashers lose sight of just how incredibly dynamic hop flavors can be. There really seems to be something for just about anyone if you search enough, especially with all the new variations coming about like Cold IPA. You could theoretically try 15 different types of heavily hopped beers one after the other and could all have significantly different flavor profiles.

I have always been a hophead (clearly, or else I wouldn't be writing this lol), but I love ALL hoppy beers. I love a clean, clear, bitter WCIPA, a murky NEIPA bursting with soft stone fruit flavors, a malty old school 90s era IPA, Double IPA, hoppy Barleywine, hoppy wheat, Belgian IPA, Session IPA, crispy IPLs and Cold IPAs, Black IPAs, hoppy Pale Ale, ...you get the idea. I love hops. And, if you don't, that's OK! But just remember that, if you like beer, you must like hops at least a tiny bit because you can't make it without them (unless it's a Gruit).

 

They're good.

 

perfect response

 

Do I really need to know why 2 out of every 3 beers I drink is some sort of IPA...

 

Because IPAs taste and smell wonderful, even at room temperature. Why do people like Bud? It smells and tastes awful above 10°C. IPAs cost way more to brew (not less), because the higher OG and hop bill.

 

Why is the sky blue?
Why is water wet?
Why did Judas rat to Romans
while Jesus slept?

 

I blame Jane Nickerson, New York Times food writer.

All these beer geeks grew up with grandpa reading her column to them.

 

Because if it was green we wouldn't know where to stop mowing.

(credit to Steve Martin from many years ago)

 

Thank you so much! Death with dignity! However, I should probably forgo the open casket.

 

Hahaha,i didnt think of that.