Does anyone feel like stepping back from IPAs sometimes?

I agree that things have gone to extremes. I mean, Utopias is basically liquor and is 200+ dollars a bottle. I do enjoy some high abv beers, though stouts are the majority of them lately. My love for high abv imperial ipas has waned after the curiousity wore off. They're just too boozy and don't refresh me the way I feel IPAs should. I've been more excited about porters and sub 7% ipas lately.

I'm hoping the glut of high priced, high abv beers will start to become too much for others too. Maybe then variety will again flourish. Until then we'll have to hunt for porters, browns and reds...

 

There are too many interesting beers out there to get locked into one style.

 

IPAs seem to be some kind of right of passage for microbrewers, they are so common it's like a cliche. Years ago when micro was new I found them refreshingly unique and the ABV certainly didn't hurt the experience. Now I avoid them - just burned out. I seek balance and unique flavor. Not impressed anymore by extreme hops. Let's move on please.

 

I've been off the IPA train for years now...I would say at least the last 6-8 years...and I get to PO'ed when going to the beer store, as that is mostly what they carry. It is easy to over hop a beer, but the real masters find that right balance.

 

I'm a beer reviewer up in Canada, and about 80% of beers that are sent to me are IPA's, with the frequent ones lately being EIPA. It's been interesting to see the continued evolution of the style over the last 10-12 years. What we called an EIPA just 6-7 years ago was something completely different. Having said that, my palate gets absolutely destroyed when that's all I have to drink. Obviously starting with the less abrasive styles and building up to the hop bombs is preferred, but brewers are all starting to push the same thing at the same time, chasing the craze by season.

When I'm not tasting, it's funny, I've lately become completely happy with a basic blonde ale, it turns off my mind AND my palate. But then I order a meal and I realize, sh%t, I think I need an IPA to pair with this...

 

I've been feeling the same way for about a year now. As much as I love IPAs, I feel like they are overwhelming the market and causing me to ignore other styles. I've been deliberately trying to gravitate away from them. I've been getting into more sour styles like goses, Berliner Weiss beers, krieks, etc. I think I will make these styles my go to beers for the summer with the occasional IPA thrown in for good measure. In fact, I suspect that we will see a similar trend take place with sours that we did with IPAs, if it's not already here.

 

I am drinking more IPA's than ever before. It's not that I do not still appreciate the lager because that is my preference. BUT lately I think the hazy IPA has brought the IPA to the pint can and to the local store like never before. My favorite sub style is the DIPA and I have noticed breweries like victory and others trying to display different varieties of hops and much lower abv's in their IPAs. I appreciate that! In fact I think I will have a new regional IPA for new beer sunday!

 

I’m in the same phase (what goes around comes around anew). Basically what happened to me was I realized I had packed on the pounds without changing my chewable diet in any way. So I began researching calorie intake on some of the IPAs I was drinking. Come to find out, each glass is about 320 calories...or about 50 calories more than a package of Twix P-Butter candy bars.

So now my focus is on dropping the lbs. and picking a palatable light brew, like Corona Premier, at around 90 calories.

 

It's funny to hear so many people say that all IPAs taste the same when the whole NEIPA craze seems deliberately oriented towards changing that. The obsession with bitterness/IBUs and the "machismo" preference for abrasive hopping rates was sorta turned on its head with NEIPAs... although even larger amounts of hops are being used, "softness" is prized over bitterness or bite and a fuller palate of flavors is opened up.

Even the best modern brewers are still learning how to coax certain flavors (ie: berry, white wine, herbal notes, etc) out of new hop varieties from Australia, South Africa, etc. and West Coast / American hops like Cascade, Centennial, etc are falling out of favor. What I see is beer becoming more like wine - people are learning more about the nuances of certain hops or yeasts and finding a variety of different expressions are possible with even minor adjustments to those variables. Now that IPAs aren't all tongue-scrapingly bitter like they used to be, it seems like people are more willing to wade into this territory and I think that's a beautiful thing.

It's of course important to mix it up with a wider variety of styles and I do so often, I would honestly drink Suarez pilsner every day if I could find their cans more often. I still think the popularity of American IPA is super encouraging tho and love how it's constantly evolving... there aren't many true "American" beer styles and it's honestly great that they're as easy to find here as lagers are in essentially the rest of the globe. And let's be honest, there is a HUGE variation in what is labeled "IPA" in the States, even with 6 or so on a taplist there is a very wide variety of flavors on display and very little consistency in the ingredients being used.

 

The exact opposite for me I want to only embrace IPAs. I have spent so much money and time chasing limited releases of sours and stouts that I never enjoy as much as a tasty IPA that I want to just drink IPAs going forward. I know what I like and I love the IPA!

 

I was fearful that this was where “sour” beers were heading. Another arms race to see who could make the most sour beer when very few could even come close to making a beer in the same league as Rodenbach Grand Cru as far as quality.

I am glad people are at least not rejecting the style. Rodenbach GC has been one of my top 3 favorite beers since I first had a bottle in 1997. I had a very hard time convincing friends if it’s greatness until recently.

I also like that Pilsners are coming back. I brewed for John Harvard’s in the late ‘90s and back then it was kind of known that you judged a brewers skill by the lightest beers they made. Overhopped absurdly high gravity IPA is the easiest way to mask sloppy skills and dirty equipment

 

I guess that's true in a certain sense, but I find that after about a half pint even the hoppiest beers show their true selves.

And I'll join you on that Rodenbach love!

 

Very well stated.

 

I agree with you, I would have no problem either if someone's choice was mass produced pilsner or lager, or even mass produced IPAs for that matter. It's all personal choice.

The styles I prefer drinking 9 times out of 10 over IPAs would be Belgian made or Belgian influenced beers such as Dubbels, Tripels, Dark Ales, Gueuzes, Strong Golden Ales, Saisons etc. I also prefer most Stouts, Goses, Berlinerweiss, and yes, even a well made Pils or Lager over most IPAs.

Cheers! - John

 

... seeing that Bitburger picture just made my day :-) That was my mom's go to beer. Thanks for the accidental encouragement!

 

I've also grown tired of ultra hoppy IPA's and still kind of into the hazy craze. Lately I had a nice ESB and really enjoyed it.
I don't like a lot of the beers I used to love, such as Racer 5 or even Pliny. Used to think that the beers changed but now realized it's me. Or is it?

 

What is the point of every hole in the wall brewery making an IPA with more and more hops? A nice balanced IPA is fine. What annoys me is when a taproom has 99% IPAs to choose from. Recently my wife and I found a nice English pub here in New York State. It was great to have a couple of ESBs to choose.

I do like most types of beer. Brown, stout, porter, ESB, and IPA. Sometimes my mood just wants something uncomplicated. An average American adjunct lager fits the bill nicely. After a long night at work, nothing is better. On this score, sometimes grandpa’s beer, something like Schaefer, or Schlitz are real good. Even local beer like Genny are fine. Often they have some character, like lots of hops (Schlitz), or a malty taste (Genny). They are often now contract brewed, for the few loyal customers. This was often not because of inferiority, but marketing $$$ vs. AB’s millions.

Point is, I’m not a beer snob. Just like wine, beer must be paired to the meal, or situation. This is why I laugh at the endless new IPA varieties. Have these breweries ever heard of market differentiation?

 

"Lots of hops" ---- in Schlitz? Even in their heyday when in some years they were the #1 brewer in the US, their advertising stresses how little ("just a kiss") hop flavor and bitterness their beer had.

 

The OP presents what I find to be an incredibly odd problem. I don't know that I've ever ordered the beer that I wanted, enjoyed it, but then felt bad that it wasn't a different beer or kind of beer or whatever.

Order and drink what you enjoy. If that is exclusively IPAs...why is that a problem?

 

Every time I go into the store to buy craft beer, most of the selections is some version of a Pale Ale. It has been said many times in this forum that there is just too many IPAs. There is like another 70 styles of beers and few do you see in a store to buy. Thank goodness for homebrewing. I like an IPA when I crave one but it is only one or two times a week. I prefer a good German Style or Belgian style beer.