How does a DIPA get wild popularity?

Don't enjoy 90 Minute IPA? I'm a big fan of it as well.

 

It has to be "totes" awesome.

 

See, you get it. We should go into business together and capitalize on this QUICK!

 

Way too malty for my liking. Although when I had it fresh at the brewery it was okay.

 

The use of the vile Ringwood ale yeast doesn't help either.....

 

C'mon, don't hold back. Tell us how you really feel!!

Cheers!

 

It's no accident. I think you and I may actually agree. There are now tons of DIPAs in 16 oz cans where once there was more or less just Heady Topper. So, yes, absolutely the breweries are trying to mimic that and grab that attention. Long Trail has one, Night Shift has them, everybody is on the 16 oz can thing. It's good, I like the format. But many of those 16 oz cans fail to garner the same level of acclaim that Heady, SOS etc. have. Hell, Long Trail sure tried with Space Juice. So the can alone isn't enough to garner hype. The beer has to be worthy of the hype. That's not to say that the beers aren't good...many of them are good.

 

Have you not noticed the NE bias???
It's a lot like SEC football- are they really that good or was there a considerable bias based on the location/region of the voters?

I think smart beer drinkers, much like informed college football fans, know that the bias is real.

 

Go it -- there does seem to be lots of excitement right now around the NE Brewers and their continually morphing IPAs/DIPAs - I'm sure some of the popularity is driven by homerism. The TH syndicate is particularly vocal and protective of their binky -- I like their brews and have waited in the lines but agree their ratings seem a bit inflated in general. Have you tried any NE DIPAs you thought were specifically overrated?

 

because it is easy to taste it.

 

The only ones of these I've tried are from BBB. While I thought their beers were great, I couldn't help but long for one of these: http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/267/35626/ -- arguably the best IPA in America, but most would disagree because you don't have to wait in line for 3 hours to get it

 

The hype train has 3 cars in this order of importance.

1) It tastes pretty good or better - duh!
2) It tastes slightly unique in some manner, not easy to replicate - usually due to exclusive hop contracts and brewing methods, eventually you are only as good as your creativity and your ingredients
3) It has regional exclusivity - supply limit

All of these things drive up people's ratings too. If a beer feels special, many will rate it that way, it's hard to avoid since there's an emotional attachment. Some live up to it, some don't.

 

I would add:

4) You must wait hours in line to purchase the beer at the brewery

Cheers!

 

Haha totally!

I've had a good amount of hyped beers, and although I certainly enjoy most of them I can find beers that are just as good, or better, for a lot less hassle. The next Pliny is a beer that's out there, possibly being brewed right near your home or sitting in your local bottle shop. Plus with so many new breweries, I think the hype train will lessen eventually.

 

a score on BA of 97 or up will do it.

 

Amen to that!!

I had that same thought over a year ago but I have not seen that happen (yet). It seems to me that the contemporary craft beer scene has a lot of 'madness' involved with it. Based upon the number of posts and passion associated with those posts the New England style IPA (or Northeast Pale Ale if you prefer) is a 'style' of beer that has more than its fair share of 'madness' associated with it. Maybe the craft beer scene will settle down someday but I am loath to predict when that "someday" will occur.

Cheers!

 

But that is sort of a ‘chicken or egg’ thing, right?

Did the beer achieve a 97 simply because of the quality of the beer or did the ‘buzz’ associated with a given beer ‘inspire’ people to rate the beer so high?

Cheers!

 

People have, and will continue, to downplay the power of the mind. Hype is incredibly effective, and peoples' perceptions are quite easily altered by these outside influences. If I go into drinking a IIPA thinking it's going to be amazing, it's far more likely to be that way. Now, this is important to note: The beer MUST be of quality. It's not as though hype will take a shit beer and make it great. But an outstanding IIPA with a ton of hype? Can go from that and turn it into the greatest beer of all time. So I'd say most of these hyped beers are very likely great beers, but it is quite likely that they are not as good as implied considering the outside factors at work.

Additionally, once someone holds a belief strongly, it's nearly impossible to change their mind. Some of these people will even deny objective fact. For example, I have a friend who will not drink beer out of cans because of the metallic taste they impart on the beer. This is objectively false, as a can does not impart those flavors into a beer. But does that matter? No. They believe it so strongly that it alters their perception completely. The power of the mind is important, and some of these people would be shocked in a blind tasting.

 

And that is indeed the objective way to evaluate a beer.

Cheers!

 

I agree with @JackHorzempa that the hype train or craft beer 'madness' will continue for some time. New brewers, new beers, and the power of social media, including sites like this, show no signs of slowing down. You only have to look at the wine world for an example of where the beer world could easily be going, if it's not there already. The more freshness-sensitive nature of beer does make it a little different from wine, but still the concepts of hype, availability, biases, and tastes still apply.

However, this too is true...

As more beers are available to us there will be great beers that for whatever reason miss the 'hype train,' but are still there for us to discover them, assuming we can shut out the distracting 'madness' coming from elsewhere.