Tropical IPAs=Malternative?

Muh real beer

 

I like tropical and malty or sometimes grapefruit and super dry. A little of this, a little of that. I don't know if I would buy a beer with juice added on a regular basis.

 

You mean a SIPA?


These things wax and wane. What is popular now will decrease in popularity, and something else will take its place. Who knows, maybe in 5-10 years or so, all people will desire Herbal-Forward Scotch Ales

 

The Boulevard/Cigar City was very "fruity" for an IPA. It was interesting, don't know if it would be a regular pick for me.

 

If you give a non craft drinker the most tropical tasting IPA, they will not agree that it tastes tropical.

They will likely say it just tastes bitter.

 

Whatever gets you through the night.

 

They aren't malternatives except in someways the flavor profile. Most are made purely with hops, barley, yeast and water.

I honestly don't understand the obsession with non-bitterness, I find a small bit refreshing and sometimes like even more than a bit on a hot day. It's beer, its often bitter. I enjoy the "new england style" IPAs, and I also love my West Coast IPAs. This is not a situation where you can only choose one.

 

The one's that are the most talk about are small-scale breweries that people wait in line for. But what business owner wouldn't want that problem? And the big ones are trying to emulate it. See above images posted of Sierra Nevada and Founders labels, Victory DirtWolf (replacing Hop Wallop) and the forthcoming Samuel Adams Rebel Raw.

 

I think it's great that there is so much variety within the style.

 

Right, ipas should taste like stewed onions and garlic.

 

Love juicy IPAs....the cloudier the better

 

I definitely like Tree House's Julius and Green wayyyyy more than I like mango juice. I wholehearted understand that people don't really like this unfiltered, tropical fruit flavor forward style of IPA, but I've found that it's an easier drink. I've also found that Julius is incredibly bitter when drank out of a can. Either way, I would take Julius and Green over other fruit juices, regardless of the lack of nutritional value.

 

And this shit puts Tropicana to shame. I'm completely addicted to the tropical /juicy/all hop aroma/flavor vs bitterness brews....

 

I disagree entirely. I have tried this, and most can pick up grapefruit or tangerine aromas and flavors. Also, the most "juicy" new IPAs are the least bitter IPAs I've tasted. Julius isn't very bitter at all. Grapefruit Sculpin is bitter on the finish, probably because grapefruits are quite bitter.

 

Calling a tropical IPA a malternative is ignorant of what the term "malternative" describes.

Mikes Hard Lemonade, Zima, and Smirnoff Ice are malternatives. Beer is not, by definition, a malternative. They are mutually exclusive.

 

I like the diversity. I enjoy all kinds of IPAs. I like aggressive, bitter, pine-tree licking IPAs like the old school stuff out of CA. I also like super juice, near bitter-free stuff like Julius and some of the stuff Omnipollo does like the smoothie IPA. I also like the hop-focused tropical 'bombs' like Double Citras and Double Galaxies (Hill Farmstead, Kern, Half Acre, etc etc). I also like more traditional balanced like Pliny, Dinner, etc. I like VT style that combine juice and moderate bitterness like Abner, Double Sunshine, Heady, Trillium, Dreadnaught. I also like super dank IPAs. I enjoy the Grapefruit IPAs, bot those that use grapefruit (Sculpin) and those that don't (Big A IPA).

I like variety.

 

Well said.

 

I definitely lean towards the tropical flavored IPAs but I also enjoy one's that are overly piney. If it tastes good, I will drink it. If that means fruit juice was added, so be it. On that note, I always liked IPAs with grapefruit notes but I am not a big fan of Grapefruit Sculpin.