Slate: Against Hoppy Beer

I kind of want to write a rebuttal: Writers, quit ruining beer for everyone else.

This piece strikes me as written by someone who has good points, but is ultimately writing just because they need to write. Sure, let's open up dialogues about yeast, grain, etc. Let's preach that not all craft beer is bitter. These are all fine and good, but the point is that we should be doing this in the first place - not because hops are ruining anything, but because we just talk about them a lot.

The author seems to be suggesting that hops are ruining craft beer as a whole because everything is now too hoppy for newcomers. I can't even think of where to begin with how wrong that statement is. There is absolutely no shortage of beers that don't have a hop bite. And a beer doesn't have to be some over-hopped bomb to have a little bitterness to it - and even a little bitterness can be enough to turn someone away if they're not used to it - that's just the nature of bitter tastes.

 

I went to Brixx Pizza the other day for lunch, the have 24 taps, and 5 of these were IPA's. The only BMC tap they had was Yuengling. The writer is missing the point with IPA's they are far more than just overly bitter brews and an easy way to cover up flaws. With so many hop strains, so many combos, a great IPA calls for a master blender to separate from the dull average. There is a lot of mediocrity in IPA's and the truly great ones IMO are works of art and fully a hard to pull off and maintain consistency as any other style.

 

One second the article seems to make sense and the next it lunges dumbly to odd points. It seems to me that the piece was just filling space. Hops are hot and brewers like playing with them.

 

As a hophead and an IPA junkie craft beers are made up of many styles and not one of us determines what the brewery makes. There are many to choose from so if you cant handle the bitterness as well as that hop bam in the back of your throat, stay away from them and enjoy the long list of others . I'm taking a guess but I think hoppy beers sell the most and they were the foundation for all the others. I'm gonna pop one everyday! Is that ok with everyone? Keep growing HOPS!

 

The writer is a moron and has no idea what he/she is talking bout. if beers overloaded with hops are a pointless gimmick, why do beers like "PTY", "Enjoy By" and "Hopslam" taste so damn good? Who throws extra hops in a beer because they think it may be infected? I think the writer is projecting their own personal preferences on the whole beer community. Let everyone drink what they want and we will all be better off.

 

Do you regret throwing those juniper twigs in the boil? Did you forget to sterilize a piece of equipment and are now fretting about bacteria? Quick! Hops to the rescue!

What a ridiculous statement. Apparently she's never brewed on any scale.

 

This is a Slate article, the entire purpose of a Slate article is to argue a point that goes counter to mainstream beliefs, so that their readers can feel better, smarter and more informed than people who don't read Slate. Sometimes that leads to really interesting articles, other times it just ends up kind of ridiculous like this one.

 

The obsession that people have with hops on BA is ridiculous to the point of absurdity sometimes. Hops for young people though are a very obvious flavor and aroma, and it seems they want to be sledgehammered by them.

That being said, there's more to beer than just hops, and a whole world of styles to explore than just Heady Topper, or whatever #1 rated website beer of the week it may ever be. Article is totally on point, although I wouldn't say hoppy beer is awful.

 

Brewers are making plenty of other styles besides IPA's. Though I'd like to see more of some styles in the U.S. like some more Doppelbocks

 

If by "ruining craft beer" you mean "propelling craft beer".

 

This article just makes me say, meh. She should have done some more homework and fact checking and it would have made the article a little more interesting.
I love me some hoppy beers too, but it's not the only style I enjoy; great craft brewers are also making tasty porters/stouts, pilsners, barleywines, old ales, witbiers, etc. So to just say that the craft beer industry is all about hopped-out beers and that they need to change is just silly.

 

Once again, just another opinion from someone who doesn't understand what opinions are like.
[Hint #1: a body part]
[Hint #2: what you use on your teeth in the a.m.]

 

So, you have to be young to enjoy hops? Damn, I've been deluding myself for all these years.

 

Opinions are like beer? No wonder I've got so many.

 

Opinions are like kidneys and toothbrushes? No wonder I never understood anyone else's...I don't even understand what opinions are

 

No, most people who haven't drunk much find hops an obvious flavor among other things when they start getting into beer particularly, older people can dig them too, but people get overly obsessed with them and gravitate to chasing and obsessing over IPAs compared to a plethora of other styles that are just as enjoyable on this board. It's also why most people gravitate to extreme sour, and large barrel aged beers as well. There's a whole nother world out there, and the reality is in the entire plethora of beer drinkers out there... most people don't really like bitter beers, so having a fraction of the 5% going out there and dictate that IPAs are the be all and end all to the best beer is going to turn a lot of people off even trying anything other than a "bmc" product.

That's what the article is saying, which is right on point. Go ahead drink your hop blast I will too nobody is stopping you, but don't get your panties in a bunch when you find out someone isn't going to be into all these great things hoppy beers make (cause they can't handle a bitter session beer), and you wont be getting any converts anytime soon.

Here's a good example of what I am talking about skip to the 21:18 mark where I ask Jeff the brewmaster at DC Brau about why people go so crazy about hoppy beers.



Probably I would say if I were to paraphrase, that when people first start drinking (which is usually young people) beer, this is what people gravitate to.

 

I know what you mean, but hop obsessiveness is hardly mainstream in the beer world. I believe crazy hopheads like lots of us are really just a subset of the greater drinking public. The entire point of the article is really pretty stupid. I mean, no one is making anyone drink anything. Actually, quite a few very good hoppy beers sit on shelves and and go all malty.

 

When did Yuengling get bought by InBev or MillerCoors?

 

I completely disagree, some of the worst IPA's I've had were badly done and overly dry hopped brews. They were a sledge hammer and they sucked. But HT is far from a Sledgehammer, Abrasive is highly hopped and is so completely different than HT in style and I suppose in the hops that are used are completely different. You use centennial and you get delicate IPA's that are more tangerine, oranges, like Centennial, Two Hearted, Racer 5, Jai Alai are all fairly tame and delicate IPA's.

LOL, ya know what I mean.