WEST COAST IPAs ARE DEAD

I'm still weirded out on what people even consider a west coast IPA. At least I know what I'm getting when people use the term "Italian" pilsner. Well, at least outside Italy. Either way, these days "West Coast IPA" = just a mishmash of different hoppy beers that are mostly bright.

 

Any IPA that isn't Hazy is considered West Coast style now. Doesn't make a ton of sense to me because almost all the Vermont breweries that were in the game before the Haze Craze were brewing clear, bitter, intense IPAs. There's probably people who put Heady Topper in the West Coast IPA category

 

I've actually encountered that. In some of the CO beer Facebook groups I've seen people post all sorts of zany things whenever we get a Heady Topper drop.

 

Yeah I got what you were saying and I disagree with it.

West Coast brewers have always been quick to incorporate new hops and their various flavors into their clear and bitter ipas.

 

I'm just gonna leave this here:

 

Gotcha, makes sense.

In my experience, beers labeled "west coast" that include newer hops with fruity but not citrusy flavors typically are either not clear, not bitter, or not either. Grab any of the half dozen "west coast" style options in the local craft section at my usual shop and I think you'll agree. Hence my statement that the style doesn't usually include those hops or flavors. When they're present, usually the beer is not to style for other reasons, at least here in New England.

 

Leave it here so we can all be sad that this isn't available anymore?

Personally I preferred the 6-pack format which offered the best price to quality ratio by far of any WCIPA (or beer for that matter) consistently available at my local grocery store. Truly wish Lagunitas would bring this one back (and Sucks, and about 5 others, though they probably wouldn't be the same)...

 

Yeah, I was a little confused by that post too, unless it was implying that Hop Stoopid was a WCIPA that is now dead. But others have survived and continue to be made.

I remember this beer pretty well (testing my memory, I guessed it was about 8% and nailed it) and checking my review, I used words like “resinous,” “piney,” and “sticky”—I didn’t use “dank” but probably could have. I may never understand why breweries discontinue beers that are widely appreciated. No idea if Hop Stoopid failed to sell well, but all I recall is that a lot of people seemed to like it and it was always in stock.

 

I think it's just a regional thing. From what I see and hear on this forum it seems like the East Coast, and maybe northeast in particular, have a hard time with the true wc ipa style. Especially if they're not emulating the stuff from 20 years ago.

Out here there's a ton of bitter ipas that incorporate the full range of modern hop flavors without becoming sweet or heavy (although there are certainly those sweet and heavy ipas too). There are plenty of options that stick to the more classic c hop profile and, especially up in Oregon it seems, there are even still a fair number that pair that bracing, piney bitterness with a bit of a heavier malt back bone. But the california style wc ipa has long been very pale and light malt body with super full hop flavor that gets the bitterness and the fruitier flavors all blended together.

 

To be able to Slam This fucker like a 12oz SNPA again..... ahh

it's still available on tap in Petaluma if anyone wants to take me on a date.........

 

I agree it’s probably regional just because of things posted on here (usually from somewhere like MA or PA) that I can’t personally relate to in my beer experience. But I still am left wondering why these regional trends persist. We have nationwide beer competitions and festivals. People travel to other places and taste beer there. Some larger names have opened satellite breweries and taprooms in other regions. And we have existing and past examples of these styles. It seems like plenty of dynamics are in play for greater homogeneity, at least in terms of everyone being on the same page on what a given style “should” be, and yet the opposite seems to be happening. Interesting phenomenon, curious what’s at the root of it.

 

I have some in my fridge now. Still good stuff.

 

It has been a loooong time since the vast majority of the time they are old on my local beer retailers shelves. But yesterday while grocery shopping at my local Wegmans supermarket I saw Union Jack that was canned in 3/28/24, a month old!!

That six-pack was promptly placed in the cart. I felt like I won the lottery!!

Cheers!

 

Hooray for you and your tastebuds Jack

 

Thanks for the info. I wish our brewers were more like your brewers!

 

Like @Orca said, I don't really get why they aren't. Or at least some more of them aren't. It's not like the beers made out here are a closely guarded secret. But I've met folks out here who claim that our brewers can't make good neipa and so they spend extra to get those from breweries out your way so who knows.

 

Swami's fresh at TJs 6 X 16oz for $14 says 'hi'.

 

Denver has plenty of great west coast style beers. Maybe that's why californians keep moving here...