Is New England the new IPA?

Who knows, but I doubt it. It seems like things are moving to more styles not fewer. I would prefer fewer. For some reason people like to create more styles and try to define them to then nth degree so other people can argue why a certain beer is more style A than style B and vise versa.

 

You might as well ask the question, which is a more popular taste, bitter, or sweet? Always surprises me that folks who drink beers called Palate Wrecker (which I also love), or others that try to obliterate taste buds in over the top bitterness, are surprised that a more inclusive, much easier to enjoy for most people, style like NEIPA is so popular. These are the same people who are surprised that more people don't drink their coffee strong and black like they do, or surprised on the ski slopes that folks don't all ski double diamonds like they do..

 

FTFY. IPAs aren't new of course, but I don't buy that they've always been at the front.

 

I sure hope not, and I don't think so in the long term. NEIPAs are taking some market share from real IPAs at present, but, ultimately, they have very different functions among consumers, with NEIPAs being oriented very much toward newer, younger, and casual craft beer drinkers. New England is the new blonde ale.

 

" IPAs that look like a red/copper version of Budweiser are becoming fewer and far between, and in its place we are seeing the haze, low carbonation, and brilliant gold that has become a sign of a well crafted, fresh hop bomb. "

You could be more a little more transparent about your bias in your writing.

 

Old England is the real IPA.

If you are white, chances are, you've got a bit of "English" somewhere in your strain.

There was a time, when, the "Sun never sets on the British Empire", was true. They did not accomplish that by being nice.

So, "New" England IPA's that can't be bothered with filtration is actually the Old IPA.

Yes, I'm tired. Yes, I am not sober. Hope I helped.

 

And the answer is: No

NEIPA is a new style.

 

I think for right now you could say the NE IPA is "the new" hot IPA style that a lot of craft beer fans are seeking. I think after a little while of experimentation some brewers who don't produce it as well will show less emphasis on the style, and those who make it really well will keep it as part of their core or yearly beers. I certainly don't think all IPAs will be NE style, but the ones who do it well have no reason to stop, and I'm sure even the breweries that don't make the NE style IPA as well will still have a smoother less malty more fruity tasting less bitter option, even if it's not quite the juice bomb you might expect. I think the hazy juicy style of IPAs will stick, just like the west coast style IPA will, and others.

 

NEIPA's are IPA's. IPA's have been and continue to be most new craft beer drinkers stepping stones into the world of non-industrial beer. Stop pigeonholing styles and just drink what you like. When you start trying to add sub-genre's to everything you develop a practice in time wasting, invented competition, arguments and for a fad's sake. They will never be "the new IPA" because they already are IPA's. The rest is marketing.

As a side note, the original IPA's were unfiltered, heavily dry hopped and transported in oak barrels. If were going to use sub-genre's, technically NEIPA's are closer to the original IPA than modern ones are FWIW.

 

Obviously there’s been (and will continue to be) a developing chasm between the generalized “west coasters” and “NE stylers”.

I don’t think either one will ever become the benchmark at this point. Those two styles couldn’t be what they are without each other.

I do have high hopes that the styles can meet in the middle and become a good re-definition of the modern IPA.
1. Not looking like complete trub. But not being crystal clear.
2. Bitterness. Please. For f*cks sake.
3. More balanced aromatics, moving back to utilizing the likes of Chinook, Columbus, and possible old-world hops like EKG to balance out new-world smoothie flavors.

In a perfect world, I hope THAT would become the “new IPA”. Oh yeah, rye. Use more rye. Please.

 

It is just the hot thing right now. Something new will come along, and New England IPAs will become just another (popular) style.

When I starting following the site, Belgian abbey styles were the hotness along with Russian imperial stouts and doppelbocks. Then came the IBU wars. Then barrel-aging with all sorts of barrels along with adjunct stouts (but in a different way than the newest "pastry" stout movement). Then sour beers took off (lambic was always niche before). Then wild saisons. Then NE IPAs. Lagers are on the horizon now, and I would argue those appeal to an even wider audience than NE IPAs. (This timeline is neither perfectly accurate nor exhaustive, but I feel it illustrates my point).

Only time will tell, but no, NE IPAs will not make WC IPAs entirely obsolete, and no, they won't remain the dominant style forever.

 

Wasn't trying to help. So, success?

 

According to the IRI data, IPA didn't start outselling Pale Ale until around 2011. 2010 IRI had Pale Ale at ~14% of craft market and IPA at ~12%, by volume. In 2012, IRI had IPA's reaching #1, outselling the imprecise "Seasonal" style (IRI collects its data from bar code scans and some brewers use the same one for their different seasonal releases).

So, about 30 years after the beginnings of the US "craft era" in the 1970s, India Pale Ale became the largest selling style of "craft" beer.

 

Yes, NEIPA is the new IPA. Just like West Coast IPAs were the IPA not too long ago. It seems like almost every new IPA has a similar quality, if not all, to that of an NEIPA. Maybe it is just my area though.

 

I wouldn't say that NEIPAs are somehow the better approach for hoppy pale ales. To add complexity to @cavedave 's post, I also wouldn't say that a beer like Tree House Doppelganger is more approachable to more people than Harpoon IPA.

To your point, at this moment in time, it would actually feel odd if a hip brewer released a new and perfectly clear IPA to customers waiting in line at 9am on a Saturday (and it would be even odder if customer ratings for that beer were just as high as for the brewer's opaque beers)... but all of that is still the fringe compared to Goose Island IPA. The love for these particular opaque beers will certainly wear off over time. (Which isn't to suggest that these beers are going away anytime soon though.)

IPA focus in general is really at play here. If brewer's weren't so keen on naming everything an IPA, then perhaps there would have been a chance that these types of beer weren't named IPA at all. US craft brewers really missed their chance to add new vernacular to the game. If these beers were called something else, then brewers in other parts of the world would be brewing beers distinguished by a uniquely American name. So in regards to the "original" IPAs brought up by @DrunkMcGruff , US craft brewers missed the golden opportunity to fully deliver a beer type that wasn't connected to terms from elsewhere - something entirely their own. I say this, but the truth is that it never would have worked though... because if these weren't called IPAs they probably never would have taken off anyway.

 

While I agree that NEIPAs have differences from more traditional/familiar IPAs, we sure don't need any more styles, though I don't doubt NEIPA will be. We've got too damn many styles already if you look at the many criteria that differentiates them; color, region of origin, specific contents or lack thereof, flavor, alcohol content, classic vs traditional, haziness, etc.

There are so many criteria that a temporarily popular new beer sub-style like NEIPA comes out and folks are yammering to honor it with a new style. NEIPA is a variant of IPA. If NEIPA becomes a style, eventually we'll have Imperial NEIPA, Traditional NEIPA, Classic NEIPA, Imperial Traditional NEIPA, Imperial Classic NEIPA, etc.