Are New England IPAs overrated?

I have no problem with the idea that there are biases. Notice, also, that I didn't say there would/could be no such effects. Rather my intent was to point out that attributing it all to such factors ignores some other very real effects that can/may be at play as well.

BTW: Just as an FYI, "confirmation bias" refers to seeking out or listening to only evidence that supports one's existing ideas and beliefs while ignoring information/evidence contrary to those ideas, etc.. The effects of cost/effort justification, etc. can still be a biasing effect, just not confirmation bias.

This link has some fairly credible information about confirmation bias:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confirmation_bias

 

I've not had a TRUE NE IPA yet, but I've had some IPA from Burial that are of that style. And I loved them. More so than West Coast IPA to be honest. I liked the tropical notes, the lack of bitterness usually associated with a lot of IPA and the incredible smoothness of them.

 

No. Dem NE beerz taste gerd!

 

Im just gonna throw this out there but IBU≠Bitterness≠hoppyness.

Now don't get me wrong American IPAs are wonderful ( east, west, NE and SD) and each has something to bring to the table.
Like with all beers some brewers do a good job duplicating a subset of this style and some are just poorly made.
Also no where in the rule book says you need to enjoy beer in every style and subset of the style. Drink what you enjoy.

 

Right, but there's also the group of people who would contribute less than stellar reviews except that they aren't bothering with acquiring the beer in the first place. That also seems to be a general trend when it comes to all of the hard to get stuff, not just these.

 

It's funny how everything is relative. Someone who doesn't ordinarily drink sweet beers might find certain beers overly sweet. Ditto for bitter beers, and so on. It's crazy how a NE IPA can make an IPA drinker claim that a West Coast IPA is "astringent, heavy, and syrupy." I'm not saying you're wrong because I know it's all relative but I still struggle to see those words as really applicable... but I'm not in your shoes and your perspective is your own.

 

Pretty much agree with everything here, especially the costs associated with some of these beers. Stopped in at Trillium for the first time after taking the kiddo to the NE Aquarium last month. I was so excited to finally try their beer that I didn't even take the costs into consideration. Only in retrospect did I feel let down b/c while tasty, the quality did not match the cost. Feel very lucky that I can get 4 packs of great local DIPAs in the $12-14 range.

 

To me there's no doubt that there's skewing of the ratings due to many reasons. The question is by how much? You can ask the same about BCBS, are ratings skewed because it comes out once per year, can be hard to get and some might consider expensive? What about Pliny or Heady?

If I buy an expensive limited release beer I do find it hard to honestly rate it but its usually more of rating it maybe a quarter point in difference. There's also the excitement of getting a beer that you've been wanting to try and the excitement of going through effort to obtain it. So the reality of the situation is that eventually that bias should even out as the beer is drank by more and more people. Trillium really isn't that hard to get anymore and Tree House will be much easier to obtain once their new brewery is up and running. So bottom line in my opinion time will tell whether these beers stand up to these high ratings in another year or so.

 

Hah! Well, thankfully the prescription is always the same in cases of perspective induced queasiness : take it with a big grain of salt.

 

Yup, bias is a powerful thing.

I attended a presentation on "Blind Tasting" given by Sean Coughlan at the 2016 NHC (Homebrew Con). At the beginning of the presentation they poured some 'red' wine for sampling. I smelled the sample and took a little sip and I remarked to my wife: this doesn't taste like any red wine I have ever had before. I honestly thought that maybe it wasn't a 'real' red wine. After everybody had their samples Sean asked a series of questions to the audience on what type of wine it was. He asked how many thought it was a Pinot Noir and a bunch of people raised their hands. He repeated this with a number of other red wine varieties. I did not raise my hand once since as I reported this wine did not taste like any type of red wine I had before. After asking about a few different red wine varieties Sean announced that the wine was a Pinot Grigio (a white wine) with red food coloring. He did not fool me but most of the folks in attendance were fooled.

Cheers!

 

I have been drinking IPAs for over 30 years. My tastes have changed. During the huge rush to increase IBUs in the decade or so before we saw beers like Heady Topper and others, I started to lose my taste for IPAs. They had become so over the top bitter and astringent that I couldn't drink them anymore. It was as if the focus wasn't on flavor but in maximizing bitterness.

Then these "NE Style" IPAs started showing up. Not only did they have more hop flavor and aroma than the existing IPAs on the market, but less bitterness. I appreciated the lighter body to those beers as well. To me, it was a miracle. The best of both worlds. I'm not saying they are all made in NE, they aren't. And I don't dislike all other IPAs, there are several I find to be balanced enough that I enjoy them quite a bit. Firestone Walker, if I can find it fresh, makes IPAs I usually enjoy. I like Jai Alai a lot but only ever had it on a cruise. Two Hearted? It's ok.

For me, it's simple. I live in Massachusetts. Trillium is 20 minutes away. I can get Treehouse. I have a house in Vermont, and can get Folely Brothers, Heady, SiP stuff and other beers that I enjoy without much difficulty. I don't trade them or sell them. I do share with local friends. Hype doesn't factor into it except making it more difficult to get the beers I like best.

 

While I too keep trying to point this out, I think we are fighting a losing battle.

 

So is there a better term for that bias? Expectation bias?

 

Drive an hour each way and wait in line, Hmmm. I'm usually doing other things on a Saturday. I go to the store and buy beer, works for me, YRMV. So many good options these days, no line waiting required.

 

This is spot on. I actually find NE IPAs to be heavy and syrupy.

 

The NE style is common in New England??

 

Thanks for your response. I've had different beers that people put in the NE category. I still would never describe something like Sculpin or Racer 5 as "astringent, heavy, and syrupy"... but I would call them bitter. Maybe I'd change my mind if I drank nothing but NE for five years and then grabbed a Sculpin. Cheers.

 

But there is a relationship with the hops/ibu/bitterness. IBU ratings on a can? More ibu's= more bitterness, yes? And some hops are aroma, flavoring and taste. Obviously dependent on the brew and malt bill as well. I'm a bitter guy, the new style double IPA with no bitterness? Seems like jumbo shrimp or such.

 

I think he was pointing out that higher IBU may not mean higher perceived bitterness. I like Imperial Stouts that may have 90 IBU but are not perceived as bitter due to the malt. And yes, that hop flavor and aroma can be totally unrelated to the IBUs.

I agree that something called an "IPA" should be on the bitter side of the scale, and labeling these beers as IPAs kind of dilutes that style definition. But that's just arguing that "NE IPAs" should have a different style name, not that they might not taste "good" or "bad".

 

Well, while it's pretty well established that there are a variety of biases there's a bit of a problem with naming conventions and not 100% agreement as to how many there are and what to call them.

Some might argue that the effect of interest fits under Post-purchase rationalization (I paid a lot so it must be good). But probably a good umbrella term with a much longer history of supporting research would be Cognitive Dissonance.

http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Cognitive_dissonance

Among the best sources on cognitive biases, even if not universally agreed with, would be the work of Daniel Kahneman.

https://www.amazon.com/Thinking-Fas...=1-1&keywords=kahneman+thinking+fast+and+slow

This book tells many people more than they want to know about biases but it actually can be an interesting read.