Enough with the hops already!

I think they are trying to hide something with all them hops

 

No. Not anyone.

 

Too bad

 

Whatever

 

A matter of opinion I guess, as they seem to fly off the shelves around here in Indiana every time a new one is released. Stone's Enjoy By is the latest example! Breweries are savvy to trends like all other businesses.

 

I'm assuming the guys that are more experienced than me have just passed over this thread, however, first let's start with the fact that "Imperial" means a higher ABV rather than a higher IBU, hence your imperial Russian stout versus a regular stout, or an imperial IPA versus a regular IPA. A "standard" American iPA could be "blasted" with hops, with the example of Sculpin IPA. So increased hops DOES NOT mean imperial, to start...

Then we consider the "Belgians have jumped in" factor - if you're talking about "imperials" I'm assuming you mean like Sam Adams Imperial White? Or maybe Dragonmead Brewery Final Absolution? I dunno, Belgians' are great beers, and I plan myself to do a video in honor of them eventually...

Then finally, "is anyone coming up with new, flavorful yeast strains".

From the last sentence in this question you make it sound like we need to start from the beginning. I would say that yea, they are coming up with new strains, but at the same time if you haven't tried a beer make with WLP001 vs San Diego Super Yeast vs a Belgian strain or a lambic strain then you should compare the two first, and consider many other yeast strains before you worry about whether or not there are new ones coming out...

Honestly my best advice to this poster would be back up, wait a few years, and come back to craft beers and try a few more, if you like it then maybe it's something you can grow into. Otherwise, it seems like you're a little too early to get into all of this.

 

New from The Alchemist for 2014: Bretty Topper!

 

no one is forcing you to drink them

 

How so? I think the Belgians set the tone with their whole dubbel, tripel, quad thing. They seem to be the originators of "big beers" if you ask me.

 

Why spend your time complaining about what you don't like? It seems it would be a more productive use of time drinking what you do like. Who cares what they new "trendy" beer is, did they stop making your old favorite to produce this beer? There is plenty of beers out there that will not "blast you in the face" with hops.

 

Which yeast strains have you tried already? I have tried well over 2000 beers and I doubt I have tried more than 1/2 of what's out there. Here are just a few from one company.

http://www.wyeastlab.com/rw_styleguide.cfm

And there are quite a few other yeast farmers selling quite a few other yeasts.

Perhaps your question should be "which of the many yeast strains I haven't tried should I now try?"

Or perhaps you have tried them all. In that case I can give you the good news that due to yeast's nature different tasting yeasts create themselves constantly.

 

Can't speak for the OP -- and no, they didn't stop producing my standby beer when a new super hoppy beer came out -- but my standby, Spaten, did get pushed off the shelves of my local supermarket and bottleshop by yet another slew of "new," wholly mediocre hoppy beers.

 

Hops are what taste good.

 

If your bottle shop and supermarket stopped carrying Spaten beers (Spaten is a brewer not a specific beer) then it is because they were not selling. If people want to buy the new big hoppy beers then that's what stores will carry. it isn't a problem with the direction of the industry, it is the industry responding to demand.

 

seems to me that there're plenty for every palate right now, I have no trouble stocking a party for every taste, from long board to imperial ipa's and chocolate stouts. love the IPA's and love the variety even more, we're living during a renaissance of brewing and i plan on enjoying it!

 

If new hoppy beers bother you, I'd probably just avoid them. But if they persist in acosting you I'd consider a restraining order.

 

Don't you see you're your own worst enemy here? You hate the new 'trendy beers,' but continue to hunt down and buy the newest 'trendy beer'...thus feeding the machine of supply and demand? The store doesn't care that you liked it, they just see the sale and you just made it sell out faster.

Also, don't you have an idea of what you're buying BEFORE you buy it? Or are you just running out to get the latest 'trendy beer' because it is 'trendy?'

I for one love hops and kick to the face...so do me a favor and quit buying it if you don't like it.

 

Funny, because from my perspective hops haven't been front stage lately. All the rage has been barrel aged and soured or wild ales.

I like that at least the hop varieties are evolving. So much that we are now seeing an unwritten divide between old school IPAs and modern ones (Citra, Nelson Sauvin, Galaxy, Mosaic etc.)

If I really had a beer gripe, and sort of bouncing off Kzoobrew's comment, pumpkin beers are accounting for far too much shelf space and have seemingly stunted autumn creativity in the beer world.

Hops, bring em on....along with everything else (hot dogs haircuts and balloons)