Have IPAs Become Commoditized?

Discussion in 'Beer Talk' started by HOP_KING, Jun 21, 2014.

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  1. Orca

    Orca Grand Pooh-Bah (4,441) Sep 18, 2010 Washington
    Pooh-Bah Society

    This thread is so 2002.
     
  2. miketd

    miketd Initiate (0) Mar 2, 2006 Ohio

    If ipas disappeared from the shelf, I would drink far less beer. Might even give it up
     
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  3. nicholasofcusa

    nicholasofcusa Initiate (0) Jan 14, 2006 Florida

    I wouldn't be too upset if all other beer styles just disappeared, leaving only IPAs. i went to 3 breweries and a beer bar on Saturday and 8 of the 9 beers I ordered were IPAs/DIPAs.
     
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  4. AlcahueteJ

    AlcahueteJ Grand Pooh-Bah (3,088) Dec 4, 2004 Massachusetts
    Pooh-Bah Society

    If the above happened I think I'd move to only drinking my own home brewed beer (I'm thinking about it anyways).

    And this is the problem I see with craft beer and its increasing popularity. The majority of those getting into it are into IPAs, and that's it. I like IPAs too, but there's so much more to beer. As @herrburgess often quotes, "Malt is the soul of beer." Hops are a fine compliment to some styles, but they're not the only ingredient in beer.
     
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  5. miketd

    miketd Initiate (0) Mar 2, 2006 Ohio

    I know you probably weren't directing this at me, but I have been drinking craft beer for over 20 years. IPA is what I happen to like the most, but do stray some.
     
  6. AlcahueteJ

    AlcahueteJ Grand Pooh-Bah (3,088) Dec 4, 2004 Massachusetts
    Pooh-Bah Society

    No, I wasn't. And I suppose I came off as condescending, everyone has style preferences. What did you drink 10 years ago? 15 years ago?
     
  7. miketd

    miketd Initiate (0) Mar 2, 2006 Ohio

    Actually when I first got into this stuff, I loved Porter and Edmund Fitzgerald was the go to.
     
  8. Avizacherman

    Avizacherman Initiate (140) Nov 29, 2013 New York

    I just started doing the beer buying for a major grocery store, and realized that maybe 25% of our stock is IPA. I do think the market is becoming saturated with IPAs but everyone that comes in seems to have their favorite. Honestly, you gotta do a lot to stand out to me, but some styles do a little more for me than others (I'm a big fan of black IPAs).
     
  9. basics

    basics Initiate (0) Oct 27, 2011 North Carolina

    I'm only 23 and got into crafts around 21 and my favorite style has been IPA from the beginning pretty much. Recently I've been seeking out a lot of malty beers (Dead Guy, Duck Rabbit Doppelbock, Celebrator) but I still come back to the very best IPAs and mostly DIPAS-- HT, Founders Harvest, Hopslam, Double Trouble, Ruinten, HDnR. I think there's just as many great stouts and whatnot but the amount of regular IPAs that are just as good is what makes the difference. For instance in most social situations I'd rather drink and Finest Kind than Founders Porter even though they're equally as good of beers IMO.
     
  10. BeerWizard

    BeerWizard Initiate (0) Dec 22, 2012 Colorado

    I've had many I and IIPA's and I definitely thought they were all kind of abrasive at first, but now have my fav's that I wouldn't trade for any other. There's a range in the style and I like the more intense ones that have a lot of hop and malt, and lean tropical as opposed to herbal.

    I think you keep trying IPA's is what I think.
     
  11. AlcahueteJ

    AlcahueteJ Grand Pooh-Bah (3,088) Dec 4, 2004 Massachusetts
    Pooh-Bah Society

    So you like hoppier beers then? Because the hoppier beers (like double IPAs) will have more malt by design and necessity.
     
  12. FoamInnovation

    FoamInnovation Initiate (0) Nov 12, 2013 Washington

    IPAs are common enough now that they are like the lagers of the 80s. It takes a bit of effort to find the greatness out there. What did not exist in the 80s are sites like this one, where that work is done for you. The internet makes marketing an entirely different game now, where just running ads in the Super Bowl sued to do half the work for brewers.
    I am simplifying a relatively complex subject here, but you get my point. What is made now is endlessly debated in front of the eyes of the consumers, by those same consumers, with input from retailers like myself.
    The quality needs to be there for these discussions to benefit the brewer and do some of the work of marketing the item.
     
  13. DirtyPenny

    DirtyPenny Pundit (879) Jun 25, 2011 Massachusetts

    As a guy who really doesn't like hoppy beers I think the market has become over saturated and has been for a while. I can enjoy a hop bomb every once in a while, but I really have to be in the mood. Most of the time it just seems like it drowns out any other flavor.
     
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  14. Andrew041180

    Andrew041180 Initiate (0) Mar 15, 2013 Massachusetts

    I don't like to do this, but personally, I see where the OP is coming from. I'm relatively new to craft beer and a couple years ago it was all IPAs. Now, I'm actually experiencing something of a "reverse lupulin shift" or whatever the previous posters called it. I don't need more, fresher hops. I need some balance and less of a sensation that I'm drinking tropical fruit punch. I'm less excited by hoppy beers and more intrigued by the various other styles. While I disagree that the IPA market as a whole is a sea of sameness, I can see how an individual, such as myself or the OP, might begin to feel this way.

    And to counter the posters that I have seen recently who say that ALL breweries produce at least one IPA, I would present Allagash as one who doesn't. My only point here is that it is POSSIBLE (not easy, granted) to grow into a highly respected brewery without an American IPA.
     
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  15. StuartCarter

    StuartCarter Pundit (922) Apr 25, 2006 Alabama

    the proliferation of IPAs has me dismayed. People who claim to appreciate craft beer - the antithesis of bland, commoditised lager - have switched to more or less identical iterations of the same style. Non-IPAs have such a huge variety of aroma, flavour, mouthfeel, and so on, but you wouldn't know it from how people laud and idealise hop bombs.

    I know, IPA floats a lot of people's boats. But for goodness' sakes, drink something else as well!
     
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  16. FrancisT

    FrancisT Initiate (0) Apr 11, 2008 Vermont

    Well put, drink more styles!

    IPAs are a gateway drug...then you find sours and Lambics and never look back!
     
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  17. twizzard

    twizzard Pooh-Bah (2,080) May 11, 2013 New York
    Pooh-Bah Trader

    100% agree...I'm taking a few days/week off the IPA train to reset my palate. No sense in trying to enjoy world class beers when your taste buds are on life support.
     
  18. HOP_KING

    HOP_KING Initiate (0) Jan 30, 2013 Illinois

    Some wild opinions in my thread. I see many agree with me. I'm a craft beer vet and in the industry so already try may other styles. While I like IPAs and continue to enjoy them I do think they've become commoditized, hence the Thread.
     
  19. JackHorzempa

    JackHorzempa Grand Pooh-Bah (3,181) Dec 15, 2005 Pennsylvania
    Pooh-Bah Society

    I might be helpful to this thread’s discussion if you defined what “commoditized” means to you. Needless to say but lots of folks have been trying to interpret what you mean here and there are lots of variations on what is meant (or intended to be meant) by the term “commoditized”.

    Cheers!
     
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  20. beatenbyjacks

    beatenbyjacks Initiate (0) Apr 17, 2011 Colorado

    Ask what type of hops are in the beer and you can decide for yourself. Yes there are thousands of "IPAs" out there, but knowing what ingredients are in the beer make the difference for me. I am by no means a cicerone, but I know I cannot drink IPAs with certain Hop varieties and I stay away from those. From there I then compare the hoppy beers to each other. Very simplistic approach, but there are thousands or BA beers as well these days.
     
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