Poll: WCIPA vs. NEIPA

As if we'd try to classify The Alchemist. But, yeah, insert name of world class NEIPA brewer (my sample size with Fidens is exactly zero). And honestly, I'd put Tree House waaaay above OH and Trillium. I generally steer clear of NEIPAs that aren't in the "world class" category-as in, if you or a few others on here recommended a NEIPA, I'd roll with that. With TH I know what I'm getting into and I'm rarely disappointed.

 

Like others have noted, I've made my choice and lived with it for some years now. I think the last time I consciously bought a neipa was when trillium showed up in town and I felt compelled to overpay for a single can because I'm a moron beer enthusiast.

It was fine. I'd probably have enjoyed a Pliny more.

It comes down to drinkability for me. Even the best neipas I've had would be hard for me to drink even 2 pints of in a sitting. A good West Coast IPA is dangerously refreshing by comparison.

 

I wager the numbers would be opposite.

 

WCIPA !!!

 

The decision would have been tougher, but after some confliction, the answer would still be West Coast.

 

I wager the explanation for both is that craft nerds, and especially us BAs, are nostalgic for the early craft days. Our votes, both in this poll and the container size poll, likely reflect a sense of what we miss or what we once had. If 12 oz. bottles of WCIPAs were all of a sudden everywhere we'd likely get BAs complaining about the "good ol days" of 16 oz four packs of hazies," ha.

 

I just posted the below in the Overrated Hazy IPA thread:

I enjoy a high quality Juicy/Hazy IPA from time to time but after drinking one I have zero desire to drink a second one, but that one beer was tasty.

When I drink a Fat Heads Head Hunter IPA after one beer I really desire to drink a second.

Cheers!

 

I think the main thing it says is that active BA forum users are not representative of any significant portion of the beer market.

A brewery that built it's business model around catering to us has better have a plan for widespread shipping options and/or plan to stay quite small.

I also think that in both these polls our collective expectations represent a lot about the niche stores we shop in. NEIPA and pint cans definitely seem dominant when I'm in a specialty beer store or even just a local grocery that has a very good beer selection. But 12 oz packages are undoubtedly the dominant package size overall and I'd be surprised if hazy ipas had actually overtaken clear ipas in total sales nationwide. Though the merging/hybridization of the styles might make that hard to determine.

 

NE IPAs, because a good sticky Black IPA will fulfill the need for a resinous, sticky, bitter IPA.

 

When I open my brewery that's my business plan. It will be nothing but 90s style caramel malt and cascade ipas and roggenbier. All served via side pull.

 

Sums it up for me!!!

 

Suicide.

I choose suicide.

 

Between those two I'll take West Coast. There's more overall variety to the flavor profile. Plus, quite frankly, people toss anything into that category that isn't hazy. As long as La Cumbre Elevated counts, give me that vs. pretty much anything.

 

Easy answer for me. Left coast all the way.

 

That is one of the few beers from 'away' that I'd love to see show up in my neck of the woods.

 

I love a good traditional American IPA as much as anybody, but the difference between a good one and an amazing one is just way more subtle than with hazy/NEIPA. Which on one hand means you're less likely to get a bad one, but the difference between a mediocre NEIPA and a great one is a much more noticable to me, and for that reason I feel like there's just more variety within the overall banner.

Especially if that gets you something like Cellarmaker, whose IPA seem mostly pretty much 100% opaque, but make a point of carrying over substantial bitterness from traditional American IPA that really makes it feel like a west coast/NEIPA hybrid. I mean not every single hazy IPA is super sweet like Fidens/Equilibrium, there's plenty of gradations within the substyle, and to me it's to more of a degree than in west coast IPA.

 

I live on the West Coast. I grew up drinking West Coast IPAs. The choice is clear and delicious!

 

I see what you did there....