Fruited IPA situation...

I enjoy most beers that have real fruit added and not some fruit extract or artificial fruit-like concoction. I'd rather the fruit not overpower the beer as I'm fine with the fruit flavors coming from hops. A good balance is always appreciated. I find Tangerine Enjoy By pretty balanced with a complementary tangerine note to the original beer. I didn't find it overpowering in any way. Grapefruit Sculpin is alright. I recently had the Trillium/Other Half collab IPA with peaches mango and apricot added to fermentation, and I probably prefer their regular IPA/DIPAs but it was still good, kind of tangy from the fruit though. As long as it is natural and whole and not like an artificial syrup or chemical I'm probably ok with fruit added in any beer. (when I say whole I don't necessarily mean the whole entire fruit, just something real that is grown from the earth, zest is fine too)

 

Can you state which breweries use liquid smoke in their beers? I want to know so that I can avoid those, as liquid smoke is vile.

 

Not a fan of the fruit IPA craze. Stone Tangerine Enjoy By is the best I've tried, mainly because, IMO, the aroma captured the essence of standing in the middle of a citrus orchard and the flavor was not muddled from the addition of fruit. Grapefruit Sculpin is practically a Radler, but it's tasty. Still, I can't wait to see this fad die out.

 

I'll take fruited sours all day long, but keep your fruit out of my hops!

 

The addition of fruit (in whatever form) into an IPA reminds me of nitro in Guinness.

It appears many of the larger breweries are adding fruit to make their IPAs "fruitier" so to speak, and mimic the natural fruit flavors that come out of the popular "New England-style" IPAs. These fruit-added IPAs likely have a longer shelf life (time effects those fruitier New England IPAs), so they're not only side-stepping the process, but they're also artificially extended the shelf life (to a point).

Where the nitro in Guinness was initially created to mimic a cask-like mouthfeel, without delivering the beer via cask (someone correct me if I'm wrong here). And obviously, cask has a short shelf life as well (shorter than any IPA).

 

Couple of different thoughts here. My best friend's wife works for an artificial flavoring company. They have been getting more and more requests from breweries on coming in to sample different flavors. So I think you will start seeing more and more artificially flavored fruit beers as well as chocolate, mocha, etc.

The other thing I think is funny, I was at a motorcycle race this past weekend. We camp inside of the track so we bring our beer, a mix of craft and some BL, America, Yeungling for hydration . We were near the Craft Beer Tent (which is new this year) and were approached by two women in their late 30s who said, "Where'd you get the Bud Light? This Grapefruit beer SUCKS". Just thought it was funny. If we weren't low on beers I would have traded them!

 

No real opinion except can we not make the term "Fruited IPA" a thing?

I can just stomach "Fruited Sour". Just.

But Fruited IPA is sort of like Garnished Burger avec Fromage

 

Love Ballast Point but didn't really pick up too much grapefruit in their GF Sculpin...actually liked NB Citradelic a little better.
And then there was terrrrrrible Apple beer in in the last SN Beercamp.....

 

Along these lines has anyone (that doesn't particularly care for fruit-IPAs) tried ballast point pineapple sculpin? I had grapefruit which was okay but I am scared to try the others.

 

I only had some samples last month of some different BP fruit beers, and I thought the Pineapple Sculpin, and others I tried (mango, watermelon) tasted like candy syrup. I thought the Grapefruit tasted pretty natural, almost like the grapefruit flavor came from the hops alone. The brewer rep told me they used grapefruit zest in that one. He didn't mention what type of concoction were in the others, but I told him it tasted like jolly rancher candied syrup. Not that horrible, but fruit? I'm not sure... He said it was good for getting new people into craft beer. Maybe...

 

Has anybody had the new beer from Dogfish Head: Flesh & Blood IPA?

If so, whatcha think?

Cheers!

 

Sounds like the slippery slope is getting slicker.

 

So yes, I want it to taste like beer, not fruit. You can buy mine, no problem.

 

I discussed this topic in another thread and here were my thoughts:

https://www.beeradvocate.com/commun...ssion-fruit-pinner.427794/page-2#post-4891086

I have to admit that I am kind of digging the fruit IPA trend, as I enjoy IPAs but can tire of them quickly due to the flavor profile...most are kind of "one note" to me and the bitterness can wear my palate out quickly. Some of my favorite non-fruit IPAs taste like there is some sort of fruit buried in them (e.g. DFH 60 Minute, Cigar City Jai Alai...) and with a series like SA Rebel, the Grapefruit one ended up being my favorite with the ones I have tried thus far and while not a huge fan of Scuplin (it just doesn't live up to the hype and cost for me), I would probably say the same there too. I think the fruit can add another layer of complexity and can mellow things out quite a bit (but to some points, I could see how this may be a marketing tool to get IPAs to the masses). Point being, I will try pretty much any fruit IPA that comes my way and I am finding that in general I do end up liking them.

As for Pinner oddly enough I haven't tried the regular one yet so maybe I will do a side by side sometime.

 

I am really looking forward to trying this and it's going to be year round.

 

I cannot stand it. I understand many people clearly enjoy it and absolutely no judgement if you do. But my personal opinion is that adding actual fruit, fruit puree, or artificial fruit flavor ruins a hoppy beer. Note that I do not feel this way towards fruit in all other styles. But I avoid fruited hoppy beers.

 

Freedom of 78'

IPA with Pink Guava

Amazing beer, but I think it is MI only.

 

OK first truth you have to acknowledge is that IPA no longer designates a "Style" It is simply a flavor descriptor that means "Hoppy" And even that gets muddled by new strains of hops and yeast usage along with filtering or the absence of to create the vastly different "IPAs" that are not fruited. If you look at all of the fruited beers as just being fruited and ignore the flavor descriptor you are left with a pretty good defined "style" beer with fruit in it. Fruited ale and Fruited lager. It's that simple

 

My preference is away from most IPAs where fruit is added but admit to having enjoyed some--most seem very "artificial" to me.

Let the magic come from the brewer and the hops/malt/yeast/aging and not additives. Slippery slope toward the so called "malternatives."

Similar for bourbon. No cinnamon or honey, please.

 

Not to be a dick, but fruited IPAs need to stop. They're a fucking blasphemy against the beer gods. Find a good, balanced beer or go drink a damn lemonade. Oh well. So much for not being a dick.