I dont understand: distaste for hops

Glad someone brought this up, @HuskyHawk, as I've been musing on it lately. Maybe it's from being out West, but my palate is conditioned to equate IPAs with some discernible level of bitterness. Some of these nouveau juice bomb IPAs are, therefore, actually a little hard for me to enjoy sometimes. I find myself asking, "Where's the bitterness?!" Perhaps this is too rough a correlation to draw, but it's actually unsurprising that, as super juicy/barely bitter IPAs have become the rage, the appreciation of pilsners has waned. The latter just has too much bitterness for all those delicate IPA drinkers

 

IPAs are not a craze or a fad- I am not sure why people keep calling it that. They are the biggest portion of craft beer brewed and consumed. They are not new. New Belgium, Odell, Sierra Nevada, Dogfish head, Bells, all of these places have been making IPAs for 20+ years now. Even 10 years ago IPAs were a dominant force in craft beer.

 

Same reason some people like Chocolate over Vanilla. Same reason people like coffee over tea. Everyone doesn't like the same things.

 

I was hoping lemon chiffon cruellers would supplant the hop dynasty...damn you Rogue for failing me...

 

My GAWD did I hate that whole "X-Treme" marketing period! Every time I read "Extreme!" on something, I had the urge to call the company just to say "F$@% you."

Back to point though, and specifically addressing anyone who isn't a huge hop fan, do you seek out older IPAs, or have you done this before? Is there possibly a niche class of beer drinkers that given the proper incentive (marked down >6 month beer) could acclimate to a malt bomb of an IPA?

 

I drink a lot of pale ales. And I stay away from IPAs that sound like they are hop bombs. I have found some barrel-aged IPAs to be really great as well (like Barrel Thief)

 

For what it's worth, I've tried that. And I have no idea how anyone could refer to even a 20 year old IPA as malty - my wall-of-perfume response still kicks in.

 

If the hops are done right, no amount is too much. If they are done poorly, no amount is too little. Too many brewers, trying to make hop bombs, end up with something harsh and bracing. Hops are not supposed to be harsh.

 

I love hops. I just think the problem for me is that we get bombarded with people online going 'this beer just isn't hoppy at all it's all malt!' and they're referring to something like 90 Minute.

It's like if there's a hint of a malt flavor that isn't cracker-like it's a malt bomb.

And this leads to an environment where any beer that has even a 75%/25% Hop/Malt flavor profile it gets labeled as a dud. There's more than one way to make an IPA people.

 

I wish I could like this 1000 times. Well said. I honestly lose interest quickly talking to beer fans who really only focus on IPA's. It becomes tiresome.

 

Reasons some people seem 'anti -hops' :
When you go in a bar and 75% of the beers on tap are highly hopped, 15% are BMC, non IPA drinkers can feel without options.
Or you go to rate a decent beer to find someone slamming it and then see that person only rates DIPAS and RIS above 3.5. Or the fact the beer world classifies hops as the bitter aromatic hops as 'hops' as if other beers don't have hops. I feel stupid asking if a beer is hoppy when I know all beers have hops just some use less aggressively bitter hops. I have no problem with hops I just don't like your hops.
I just want space to enjoy my non 'hopped' beers alongside the IPA fans.

 

No, we just drink other styles of beer.

 

You mean half this website's community?

 

You might be interested in knowing that there is sales growth for craft Pilsners:

“When a category is up 127 percent, you pay attention... According to IRI... the craft pilsner category has added more than 317,000 cases year-to-date (through Aug. 9). Only four other categories – IPA, Variety, Fruit/Veggie/Spiced beer and Pale Ale– have added more incremental volume in 2015.”

http://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/goose-island-debuts-new-four-star-pils.329472/

Cheers!

 

Didn't have a good time, wish I was there. The last few times I've been in craft beer bars there was a decided lack of IPAs and what they had weren't all that good.

 

Wow - didn't take long to disprove that hypotheses!

 

I had either a 90 minute or 120 minute IPA from Dogfish Head. I thought it was disgusting. Massive hops and massive malts, almost cloyingly sweet. I think the malts were overdone.

 

Not me, I could drink Hill Farmstead, Trillium, etc all day every day for the rest of my life. Breakfast, lunc,dinner, midnight drink when I get up to use the bathroom.... I'd shower in these hoppy beers if I could. Then again, I'd also do the same with good lambic (until, of course, my stomach eats itself!), etc. I love GOOD beer, regardless of the style. But hops are just mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. F*ck orange juice, I want hop juice with breakfast.

To me it's like saying "I'm getting bored of eating really good steak". Those words should never ever be uttered by a man.

I think it's a combination of many factors. Since there is so much good hoppy beer out there, sometimes we want a break for a couple days. I think that's a far cry from a 'fad' though. I occasionally back away from hops... only to come rushing back in a couple days. I think another factor are the snobs who dislike the attention hops get and think (demand!) that simple and nuanced styles should get more attention. I say "f*ck off and let me drink my hops. I have a bunch of German and Belgian beer in my fridge by the way, guy..."

 

I just dislike how the hop craze is causing brewers to bastardize styles that aren't meant to be hoppy