"Ale, Lager, or an IPA?"

I've never heard of this. Far more common to think of standard lagers as completely separate from all other beer styles. For obvious reasons.

 

Ale

 

IPA means hoppy. You can stick it on to the end of almost anything. It's no longer a style

 

Not everyone is a "beer advocate". Many don't understand the different styles of beer IMO.

Yea, I think so. Again, not everyone are beer weenies like us. All they ever see in the beer store when they walk in to grab a case of Coors light is this IPA or that IPA. Some probably have no idea what IPA stands for, or they had one at a party once, thought it was bitter as hell, and are now programed to ask "it's not an IPA" is it? That's good though, more for me.

 

I hear a lot of people say they like ales because they like amber ales or blonde ales, but don't like IPAs or stouts. Hear that a lot from people who don't know a lot about craft beer

 

Yea, that does seem surprising, considering he walked in with solid beer in his hand. A budding beer weenie perhaps!

 

If I go into a retailer or restaurant that's kinda trying to have some craft beers when I ask them what they have I usually get "domestics, dark beers, and IPAs". I think they're just so common anymore that many lay people just think of them as a category.

 

I don't bother even trying to correct people anymore. What is the point of it? Don't say that it is to"educate" them. You're only trying to make yourself feel smarter and in doing so making someone else feel dumb. Just move along...

 

Dark, light, or hoppy.

 

I think the majority of people don't know that beer is either ale or lager, or the general difference between the two. To be honest before I joined BA I didn't know that a RIS and IIPA are technically in the same family either.

 

I've heard this a few times. Usually the person will also ask about stouts as if they are not ales as well.

 

Hmmm, actually while I haven't encountered that particular question, at a general level I don't find your experience particularly surprising.

What's really odd is how common it has been for a number of Brewers and supposedly knowledgeable BAs to talk about "Black IPAs" when if they actually knew what IPA stands for they'd obviously know its pale and can't be black.

 

for everyone that thinks that most people know what an IPA is, and what it stands for you are way overestimating the general beer knowledge of the world.

As someone else already said, IPA means "hoppy" and to take it even farther than that, most people wouldn't understand hoppy. IPA means bitter. plain and simple.

 

It's in the name

Shows people don't realize it's an acronym. Never heard that distinction before.

 

The IPA phenom has taken on a life of its own. I work in a brew pub, and the majority of people who are just tagging along with a BA friend usually tell me they don't like craft beer because they don't like "those hoppy beers."

 

Just need 2, ale or lager.