Iconic Craft Breweries Are Completely Surrendering to IPA Dominance

I fluctuate somewhere between camps 2 & 3, depending on mood.

 

Camp 3 most closely describes my feeling. But I do appreciate the evolution of IPAs over the years and the proliferation of hop varieties. To a certain extent I understand the excitement folks feel for IPAs.

Anyway, I find enough variety across styles I enjoy to keep me happy. We are still firmly in the Golden age of beer as far as I'm concerned.

 

I suppose I am category 4:

4. I enjoy drinking IPAs but after picking up a half-dozen IPA brands at my local beer retailer and seeing how old they are I just put them back down on the shelf (or floor) and leave without buying them.

While it has the appearance there are a lot of IPA choices to be purchased, if you desire to drink an IPA that is fresh (i.e., a vibrant hop aroma and flavor) then these are all too often false choices.

One example: I was a big fan of Sierra Nevada Dankful IPA when it was first released in my area (October 2020). From October – December 2020 I purchased at least 5 six-packs of Dankful IPA but from 2021 to today I have never seen a fresh six-pack of Dankful at my local beer retailers. A couple of months ago at my local Wegmans supermarket there were Dankful six-packs that were a year old. While it is possible I may someday see a fresh pack of Dankful IPA, the past 19 months would indicate otherwise.

Do we really need more and more IPA brands collecting dust at beer retailers?

Cheers!

 

Mostly #2 which is how I voted. I like IPAs, I just enjoy most other styles too, so it's frusterating to go to a restaurant or bar and half the taplist is IPAs.

And same thing going to the beer store- shelves are chock full of endless hazy IPA cans, but if I want something like a schwarzbier I have a hard time finding one.

 

I don't begrudge the IPA train other than at the cost of styles that I dig more. In the days of few IPAs, that's how I arrived with my username. Now it could be Lagerbill, Pilsnerbill, Kolschbill...

 

Love the IPAs and have my faves. But it’s become intimidating to have 50 breweries offering 3 tweaks on the style staring at me at my bottle shop.
The good thing is that there’s an upper crust (Equillibrium, Knee Deep, etc.) popping out great stuff.
Plus, we have a great local brewery (Palm City Brewing) here in SW FL that sells world class IPAs in crowlers fresh from the tit.
Imperial Stout has my heart, but good IPAs have my daily allowance.,

 

Despite the plethora of IPAs, it is easier today to get a good example of almost every style imaginable fresh and locally. I like IPAs a lot (all types), but I also like a lot of other styles more. I have no trouble easily finding these other styles at all.

 

I voted #3 because I have no concern about the abundance of IPAs in stores. I'll admit that I mostly buy IPAs (WC version) and mostly ones that I know and like and can get fresh, but as long as I can get fresh seasonals or other classic styles when I want those choices, I don't care what else is on the shelves.

 

I guess I don't worry about it, so I choose 3. I usually drink what I feel like. I will drink a pilsner or IPA more than anything. Last week in Austin I hit up some breweries and found that I drank way more lager than any other style, but then again it was 103 outside. Was at Lazarus and they have a nice sampler board, like 4 8 ounce pours for $19. All 4 that I got were lagers and were pretty damned good, then next brewery was Zilker where I got their light rice Lager banging in at 3.6 ABV. So weather usually dictates what I am drinking.

On another note I think Breweries are brewing what sells and then mixing in what they want. I think you will find that if a brewery can do a well representation of a style, then it will sell. If you are throwing a pilsner on the menu because you think it needs to be there and it isn't dialed in, then don't blame your customer if they don't buy it. Worse thing in the world is to roll into a brewery and get a shitty beer that had no thought put into it at all.

 

Really? Good, well-brewed German styles like Dunkel and Märzen that don't taste like Schwarzbier or Brown Ale?

If so, I guess I'm moving to Canada.

 

I can't subscribe to any of the titles. I don't like IPA becoming synonymous with "beer" here in the US, but I also enjoy a good one now and again.

Sierra Nevada may be becoming an IPA-only brewery, but they sure do the style well. Even Torpedo and Dankful stand apart... to my palate, anyway.

 

Definitely #3. As a retailer, I constantly have apologetic conversations with customers looking for other styles as my shelves are over loaded with IPAs of varying styles. My imports have taken a horrendous beating. As a drinker, I do enjoy an IPA at times, but more frequently prefer other styles. Guess I'm an old guy that likes good old "beer flavored beer" most of the time.

 

I voted for 3 because idc about what's in stores. There's multiple local breweries producing quality WC IPAs, and one that makes good enough haze for when I don't just order Burial or Other Half cans.

 

I’m a 3 I don’t buy a ton of ipa but sprinkle 1or 2 in. I’m lucky to have access to great lager brewers Notch, Jacks Abby, and Schilling so that dominates bulk of beer runs.

 

Well, I did say almost.

I’d agree that those are a couple that are hard to find good examples of. But, five years ago, I couldn’t find a credible dark Czech lager or a Dortmunder or a Grodziske locally. Now I can.

 

Thanks for the tread @Todd. I enjoy having more than one beer per sitting. At many breweries/taprooms it's difficult to do as most choices are ales over 7.5% ABV, are Imperial, 10% ABV Imp Stouts or are sour beers that are gut wrenching to me. Thank goodness for good ol' AALs. I do love ales and I agree that some brewers are kind of anemic (stylistically speaking) in their offerings. I suppose that a brewery must ride the tiger and balance passion and profit with the latter winning most of the time.

 

Was there a 'good' selection of German style beers available to you in the recent past but these beers are now displaced by hoppy beers (e.g., IPAs)?

Cheers!