What is journalism coming to?

"British IPAs are malty, bitter, and one-noted."

Wouldn't that be two noted?

Seriously, Bon Appétit should stick to food -- it's like this story was written as quick filler to jump on the IPA bandwagon.

 

If you want this article to be properly critiqued, @jesskidden is da man!!

Cheers!

 

When you get your beer information from an assistant production manager from Bon Appetit, you can expect this type of thing.

 

This was embarrassing.

English IPAs (not "British" at least in that I've ever heard it) are far from "one-note" and have a lot of yeast-driven flavor as well as hop-driven flavor.

Belgian IPAs don't taste English at all, generally.

New England IPAs "...tend to be fermented to have lower carbonation." Firstly, this sentence is poorly written and could be interpreted to have emphasis on "fermented," implying that other styles of IPA aren't fermented. It's obvious that it isn't what that means, but it's written ambiguously. Secondly, correct me if I am wrong, but most commercial breweries adjust the carb in different ways than via fermentation, no?

It implies (possibly in jest) that West Coast IPAs are called as such because of their citrus fruitiness (and I guess citrus is associated with the West Coast?).

Session IPAs don't necessarily have less body than normal IPAs (though often they do).

The amateurish tone of the article is actually what most rubs me the wrong way.

At least they included East Coast IPAs, which many don't really recognize these days, though I believe them to be a distinct style best represented by Dogfish Head 60 Minute.

 

Indeed. This is a bullshit filler article that was throw together quickly.

 

Meh, it’s directionally correct. Bon Appetit is hardly a bastion of journalism, but I think the article does accomplish its goal. It does a reasonably good job of explaining the variations of IPA, and beer geek terms, which can be bewildering and intimidating to the average beer drinker. We aren’t the target demographic...and there aren’t any malicious lies in the article, just a few slight inaccuracies or perpetuations of beer legend.

 

You know that's not a good thing, right?

 

Most online editions of magazines of any topic are filled with inacurate and ponderous statements.
I wouldn't go looking for good facts on Bon Appetit, either. On the same website they just called buccatini the best long pasta shape ever. True, it is under used and underappreciated. However, in the article they fail to mention Amatriciana which is the historic dish most tied to that shape. I don't think this is "fake news" or bad journalism, just bad writing. Perhaps they just know their audience.

 

A session ale in general historically was defined to be 4% ABV or below, and, originally, a session IPA was simply an IPA that met the definition of a session ale. I think that's all the author was trying to convey. Pretty quickly American breweries ratcheted up the ABV, as they tend to do.

I found the NEIPA description to be essentially accurate (remarkably low bitterness, fruity -- most here would say "juicy," the IPA for people who don't like IPAs), aside from some awkward summarizing.

 

There are worse sins in this world.

If that article gets a few people from the “dilly dilly” crowd to grab some Modern Times or Sierra Nevada next time they’re on the beer aisle, great.

Maybe they get hooked and eventually may end up on this site and @jesskidden can drop some knowledge bombs.

But you’ve gotta start somewhere.

 

There certainly are.

That said, this type of basic knowledge is readily available. No reason to propagate erroneous urban legends and things that are just flat out wrong, when all you need to do is the most basic research and fact-checking.

 

Before I get into critiquing the article (which I may or may not have fun with after work), I will say that technically anything in the past is history. So Session IPAs do have a historic trend of being low ABV, but not historic in the sense that George Washington was sipping on one on his estate.

Session IPAs don't have a long history, but they do have history to some degree.

 

Good thing he's not a writer, or something.

But yeah, I "translated" that's what he was trying to tell us, but not quite pulling it off. Funny how the dependent clause works.

 

So the 'plain old' IPA (aka American IPA) is now known as the East Coast IPA? Among all of the other inaccuracies, that's what I get out of this.

 

Food people should stick to food. Saw an Anthony Bourdain episode sometime in 2017 — he was in London eating out with a friend and made it a point to order a Guinness Stout and profess his love for ales. The dude orders a Guinness in the epicenter of cask ale for the planet. Total tool.