IPA Obsessions

Personally I think that drinking any one style of beer year round is not fulfilling. Just like pairing beers with different foods, I use the weather and changing seasons to determine what type of beer I'm drinking... (and I'm 55)

 

I think you hit the nail on the head with this one and coincidentally is an irritant of mine sometimes, that in the 90's we drank mediocre imports because it's all we had. Total BS. Well said - often the mediocre stuff we were drinking was the American brewpubs. I truly miss various aspects of the 90's, especially the top imports like Ayinger, Weihenstephaner, Fuller's and other Belgian, English, and German beers. Those were and are great beers, and it's sad that they seem less common on beer bar tap lists than years prior.

Related to the OP, if you came from this sort of tasting background, you're going to approach the newly invented styles much differently than someone who tried them in their first few rounds of tasting craft beer.

 

I love all beer styles and venture through all of them frequently, but Pale Ales, IPAs and DIPAs I seem to consume more of than others because of availability, price and new ones popping up all the time to sample.

 

To be fair, I will add that the quality of the local beer was regional. Whenever I was in the PNW I had stellar beer seemingly in every micro and brewpub I went into, for example.

 

Like anything in life..taste is subjective..i love IPA's..but also love impys,barleywines,quads,scotch ales,strong ales,dubbels,porters,etc...similar to enjoying different types of cuisine..always good to have options.

 

I always love your posts, ever since that time you lit me up for talking smack on Ohio and PA breweries (Fat Heads excluded from any smack talking ofc). I agree with your post whole heartedly.

I enjoy many styles, but AIPA is certainly top 3. I would say AIPAs and some of the "lighter" Belgians like Seef or Duvel amounts to probably 80% of the beer I consume on a regular basis. Its all about what people like, and their different tastes. I tend to reserve IIPAs, a big RIS or barleywine for special occasions.

 

I agree with @yemenmocha in that most responses will ignore the issue of how the scene might have changed over the years. It's really easy to be dismissive and say "people like IPAs because they taste good," or "because we like them." @puboflyons came in and posted that he agreed that it was a matter of personal preference... which it is... but that ignores the question of why it's a personal preference. If you look at things on a larger scale, there are reasons for common personal preferences.

@TongoRad posted this in another thread recently:

I'm going out on a limb here, but I wonder if a conversation about open fermentation would sound the same in a homebrew club today. Would it focus more (or exclusively) on the spontaneous fermentation of lambic or wild ale? Would a conversation today about brewing pale ales focus more on hops than anything else? I don't know, but things change.

Today, half of the top ten (in the top 250 list) are IPAs. This wasn't always the case.

Brewers are making lots of IPAs because drinkers want them, and drinkers are buying more IPAs because brewers are making more of them. Arguing just one of these points is a chicken and egg scenario. Clearly, things are snowballing. IPAs are still the only style I've seen people order at a U.S. bar by simply requesting a specific style w/o mention of a brewery, "Give me an IPA."

 

I'm also a man pretty much of your time and I can only explain it as a form of addiction. Highly hopped IPAs are so initially tasty and easy to appreciate that newbies just can't get by them. And I don't blame them. A more seasoned palate which remembers those desperate desert days of the 80s are more likely to resist and appreciate more complex and 'unusual' styles.

 

i try to keep a little of each style in the fridge - ales, pilseners, german, stouts, solid lagers etc etc, and that includes IPA or DIPA which for me they are for when I want to "just have a beer".

 

I don't disagree with anything there. I might humbly add that when we talk about drinkers wanting them, it isn't some static set of drinkers. The veteran drinkers like the OP and similar are more and more the minority these days as countless numbers of new, and especially young drinkers take to craft beer drinking. Dollars are dollars, regardless of who is spending them, and yes brewers respond to demand.

I think that helps explain why the OP feels some bewilderment over being into micros since the 1980's, developed his palate and history of drinking over that long period, yet doesn't enjoy the same beers as a 21 yr old who loves tropical fruity hop-flavored IPAs right from the start. When you fill in more of the picture in this way, I think some of the puzzlement goes away.

 

European beers are some of the best IMO, nothing "meh" about Fuller's, Traquair, Dupont, Chimey, Rochefort, Weihenstephaner, Ayinger, etc etc.

 

OK, since I've piled on (twice) now about my first comment - let me specify - did I mention those beers, guys? Nope - and their distribution was not widespread. Glad you had access to them when you was youngin's. I did not. Moving on... good grief.

 

I hear ya Tongo. I can get a wide variety of styles where I shop, but I bet close to half the beers on the shelves are IPA's or DIPA's. But I get it, that's what sells, so that's what is going to dominate the shelves.

 

To me it's the local new, draught-only beers that seem to be IPA dominated. Thankfully I do have a local shop that tries to keep things varied on the shelves as well.

 

*$#(%*^@#* ABSOLULTELY ALL BARLEYWINES AND ABBEY ALES > ALL DIPAS, IPAS, SESSION IPAS, AND BLACK IPAS *#@$&%^@!*&@#*



I love me some barleywines and abbey ales, but that's an absurd way to look at it from any craft beer drinkers' perspective.. jeez. Just enjoy the beer you are drinking and don't make ridiculous generalizations about one particular style.

 

This site is very, very american and therefore does not represent the beer world. Of course, this site being very american, many will think it does...

 

Sometimes you really have to appreciate the skill it takes to stick a sad plant that just hangs there over the lip for what seems like an eternity over a super complicated switch stance flip trick. I like my beer to show the restraint of a brewer for that's where the real skill of a brewer lies.

 

I enjoy a good IPA from time to time, but as my palate has evolved I've truly come to appreciate malt and think it's the soul of beer. I think there's a lot more creativity and diversity in malt than there are in hops.

Just look at Rochefort 6, 8 and 10, beers that are ostensibly brewed with the exact same ingredients, just in different ways, you get a Dubbel, a Belgian Strong Dark Ale and a Quadrupel.

You could argue DFH does something similar with their 60, 90 and 120 minute IPAs, but at the end of the day they're all IPA. All fantastic, but I don't think there's as much diversity with IPA as there is with malt-forward beers. Not until you start adding adjuncts like grapefruit peel, lavender, grape must, etcetera do IPAs become more diverse. I will say the recent trend of IPL has been pretty fascinating and I'm really enjoying what I've tried.

I think if hop experimentation and cross breeding continue we will keep seeing more diverse and unique IPAs. In recent years I've found Azacca to be most interesting, but Equinox, Hopsteiner Lemondrop and Mandarina Bavaria (Easy Jack, anyone? ) have been popping up with increasing popularity.

Does anyone have an opinion about session IPA? I'm digging the upswing in trend. A rocky start when Daytime initially launched, but Easy Jack and Down to Earth are fantastic! If only it had the trend-following as hard root beer…

 

I grew up seeking bitter beer in the late 90s, ever since I tried my mom's IPA @ Sunday River Brewing in my tweener years. Growing up in Boston started me on Sam Adams products, branching out to Redhook offerings of ESB & Ballard Bitter (since the Portsmouth brewery was 45 minutes from Boston). By the time I left for FL I was poised to seek out national-level bitters from Stone (back when Ruination was still good), Dogfish Head, SN & even Avery (The Maharaja, & their stock IPA). I dabbled in hoppy Pilsners & yeast-y, syrup-y Belgians, but in doing so found caramel malts unappealing in my beer choices. I'd find an occasional dry porter or stout that suited my palate, but when Sam released that Deconstructed Latitude 48 12-pack, I was poised to investigate hop varieties much like wine varietals. Granted, Latitude 48 was a caramel bomb, but in having those single-hop offerings to pick up nuances in Nobles & Yakimas alike was the culmination of what I liked best in bitters.
Now residing in the PNW, I've finally found my dry & dank IPA, Wanderlust. I can't argue against the saturation of bitter beer in the craft marketplace, but I personally don't hesitate to try anything offered by my favorite IPA brewers. Shame on those who don't. Breakside certainly makes so many styles & they do them so very well I have nothing but love for those who buy that sampler & find the beer they crave the most. Even when I know I'm taking their one-off single-hop IPA or Wanderlust home in the growler, I still wanna try that spruce tip beer, bergamot ESB, rauchbier, Alt & framboise. Find what you like, but keep your eyes & palate open, indeed.

 

Ah, session IPAs...Lunch Break, Rainbows & Unicorns & Bone Light are great for my low tolerance & bitter receptors. I never imagined rice in my beer to be acceptable until Rainbows & Unicorns took the prize for my favorite session IPA.