Are Bittering Hops Over?

I agree and remembered when folks commented how HT would EVER be replaced at number 1. On the other hand, the sweetness of these beers and often very low to no bitterness appeals to such a wider group of people who were not beer drinkers at all. It is unique that it has such an appeal from avid folks on here to the most novice of drinkers--I think they well keep traction for some time.

Out of need for feeling special, the super geeks will have to find another niche.

 

Agree x100.

I just looked on the shelf in the grocery store a couple of days ago just to see what they had and was amazed at just how much variety is there. CRAZY. I think the educated consumer may have to look/work harder to find fresh versions of those other styles because they just don't move like they used to.

Hard for me to beat a Captain Jack pils locally from OMB.

 

Bittering hops will be "over" when beer is over.

Regarding the NEIPA, personally, I believe the low/no bitterness angle to be a partial work of fiction and a definite exaggeration. I have my own theory on it, but it might be a load of garbage. There are definitely beers that exhibit this, but I suspect that they represent another wave... as if customers who were primarily IPA drinkers exaggerated the lack of bitterness in certain beers, and brewers then took that point of differentiation and ran with it after the fact. Just a half-baked theory.

What I'm seeing, are brewers pumping out their takes on a NEIPA, and these beers exhibit a wide range of characteristics. Could be more herbal than tropical, could be bitter or sweet, could be a little hazy or seriously muddy, could be full and smooth or have a body like any other beer. I suspect some brewers are doing this by design (they are making the beer they want to make), and others are simply stumbling through. At the same time, I bet some brewers are going to forums, making a checklist of everything that "should" be there, and then exaggerating these characteristics as much as they can. This could be seen as an evolution that refines defining characteristics, or even as an unintended parody depending on your perspective.

I feel like people forget that American IPAs were described as "tropical" and "citrusy" before the letters NEIPA were put together. If a particular "NEIPA" feels more sweet than bitter, then the interplay of these flavors will create a very different impression... and I've experienced this occasionally, but as far as I'm concerned, Tree House, Trillium, and The Alchemist (since people often throw that brewer into the mix too) make some bitter beers.

 

Over, no. But I think there will be more breweries using extracts for bittering. I believe Treehouse does this. I’m not a brewer, but I can imagine that hop extracts may allow for greater batch to batch precision/consistency than storing large amounts of CTZ.

 

Many already do.

 

I've never had an orange juice bomb, I don't think I'd like it. Most of the beers I really like are DIPAs that feature more malt and are moderately bitter to begin with, and I'm having trouble imagining a super low bitter Dipa. Sounds like there's two or three driving forces in the IPA, one is hazy and cloudy of which I've had a slew, the bitterness varies from moderate to stunningly bitter. WC IPAs were all framiliar with are nicely bitter and balanced, and the Juice Bombs which I take has very little perceived bitterness. I still like Beers like Heady Topper which IMO is about as perfect a beer as I've seen, sure there's others that are just about as good if not a little different, but I wouldn't complain if I had an unending supply. But as mentioned the pendulum swings back and forth what's old is new what's new is old.

 

No they aren't over. You need a balanced beer that isn't totally sweet. These neipa are still bittered just later in the process but that is literally one style. So many styles still being made have only a bittering addition and i still look for beers that are juicy but balanced with a nice bitterness afterward.

 

The other side to the low bitter juice bomb is the stunningly bitter bomb of an IPA. I find these extremely unpleasant and tough to drink. Most Session IPAs I've tried fit here, I think they're generally terrible, if bitter is the goal it's no real trick. Some of the hazy turbit beers I've had are close here as well, I've had a few Tired Hands beers that were super bitter and would easily fatigue the palate. But most of the beers from Trillium, Veil, most of the Vt beers, beers from 3 Magnets in Tacoma Wa are really terrifically balanced beers. Lots of Midwest IPAs that are terriffic as well, quite a few from Ohio that are easily world class and are a pleasure to drink.

 

Half baked or not it completely squares with my own experience. When I first tasted Heady Topper I was amazed at how fruity and yes, non-bitter it was. Then i tasted Second Fiddle and thought that was even more fruity and even less bitter. Then I had Julius and etc. etc.

Given that HT is fairly bitter by any reasonable measure my initial reaction was likely due to the fact that my go-to IPA at that time was Modus Hoperandi which is extremely bitter and astringent (and awesome). If I went back to drinking that 5 days a week again I bet I'd get the fruit bomb, non-bitter reaction to HT all over again

 

Nobody ever went broke making sweet drinks for Americans. I prefer a nice bitter IPA the No bitterness NEIPAs I've had were all one and done for me

 

No. We'll get to a balance. It seems a fitting response to the bitterness wars of a few years ago to go the opposite direction, and discovering what other things can happen with hops, and the new hops with their juice like flavors being very applicable to those ends doesn't hurt matters either.

 

Kinda curious about the Orange Juice Bomb beers, how about a few examples?

 

Lots of predictions in this thread. My prediction is most of them will be proven wrong.

 

As the popularity of craft beer has increased, especially in previously underserved markets, the proportion of young and inexperienced consumers in the hobby has increased dramatically. Brewers are dumbing down their product to increase accessibility by leaving out bitterness (most notably in NEIPAs) and by adding in sweet, accessible flavorings in pastry stouts, fruited IPAs, fruited sours, etc. Consumers of these products get to experience the cachet of imbibing long-respected craft beer styles but without the challenging flavor components that generated that cachet and respect in the first place. The Top 250 and popular threads at this site indicate that the effort has been remarkably successful. Notice that more mature American craft beer markets have greeted these beers with much less enthusiasm than have the burgeoning markets.

 

While I think the point of your post has some merit, you're unfortunately implying that there's some sort of inherent value in drinking things that are challenging. And then when you wrap it up by saying:

... I gotta wonder why you're saying this. Massachusetts is more associated with this style than any other market and they'd qualify as a "mature craft market."

 

I had the most delicious stout today... it was called ‘narwhal’ and tasted like a stout. Quite the novelty these days, but I found it to be incredibly tasty even though it hadn’t sat in my fridge for several years.

 

Massachusetts is a mature craft market? A state that had maybe 30 breweries for its 6.5 million residents a decade ago? Because of what, Boston Beer Company and Harpoon? Many states that were otherwise craft beer deserts had an old stalwart or two. My state, Minnesota, had around 20 breweries for its 5.2 million residents at that time, including Schell's and Summit, and you better believe it's not a mature market. Until recently, Massachusetts didn't at all have a good reputation across the country as a craft beer-oriented state, in terms of either producers or consumers. It certainly wasn't considered in the league of California, Oregon, Washington, Colorado, Michigan, and Wisconsin. All of them a decade ago well exceeded Massachusetts in both total breweries and breweries per capita. Also, to my understanding, they had much more widespread consumer interest in craft beer to match.

 

Massachusetts isn't California, but it's not exactly Mississippi either. You can pick stats that support your theory and anyone can pick stats to argue the opposite.

- Headquarters to #2 and #18 of the top US "craft" brewers by volume... two brewers that have been around since the '80s.
- #12 on the list of top producing US states by "craft" volume.
- place of founding of BeerAdvocate
- home to the longest running US cask festival

If one was to categorize every state as being either a "burgeoning US craft market" or an established one, it's a stretch to put MA in the former group.

Regardless, I respect your opinion and I have little business making more of a case considering that I don't live there.

 

I’ve found that several of what many people consider the top NEIPA makers frequently make a small batch release of a west coast style IPA to mix it up a little with the numerous juice bomb IPAs they are generally more known for. My sampling’s generally prove they can do the more bitter IPA varieties quite tasty as well. However the rankings for the one off/more west coast style generally don’t pull as high a rating than the juicy bombs. I’d argue though that they are equal or better than many of the old school west coast IPAs that Ived enjoyed over the years so I think many of these top.NEIPA makers know what they are doing.

 

I lived in Boston from 1970 to 1995. Then I lived on the West Coast from 1995 to 2005 and the midwest from 2005 to 2010. I have lived back in Boston from that point forward.

You're right and he's wrong.