IPA craze: When will it be over?!

Here, here! I look forward to the day we judge a new flagship brew based on its IBU score: International Banana Units.

 

I look forward to the day when there's no new craze .

 

Let it never end. The beauty of variety and the way agreeable tastes tickle the individual palate are incredible.

You brew beer and get your tastes (generally) from 3 1/2 ingredients to have one of them dominate isn't so crazy. My tastes In beer ebb with the season. I love a faceful of sweet hops in the summer. I have all winter to celebrate Stouts and Porters.

 

I think the "craze" you are referencing or hype for ipas is starting to die down, with the exception of rare, 1/2 time releases per year. I'll explain.
As breweries seek expansion (and most do), their volume will obviously go up, closing that gap between consumer demand vs brewery supply. Take trillium or alchemist for reference. Those two used to trade pretty high on BA and other forums. Now, I can post some stuff that is easy to get locally (maybe not shelf but not whale status) and get as much as I want. I think treehouse is one of the most sought after breweries in terms of hops...well they are about to build a new facility. Once that is complete, I think they will be in the same category as a trillium or alchemist. Once supply is equal to demand, I believe the craze or hype will die down. Look at the cycle release last week for their anniversary coffee stout release. They made so muh of each variant, people weren't waiting in lines with homeless people to buy extras. The relative ease of gettjng bottles made the "hype" die down on that beer.
There are beers now that I see in stores that I would have snagged up a year ago, or two years ago due to its novelty of being new in Florida. But now, I pass on those IPAs because of bottle codes or other reasons. I just feel we are almost at the IPA bubble (I see so many IPAs on a shelf that are old that i pass on due to being 3 months old), with the exception of some breweries who haven't expanded yet.

 

And then some difficult to obtain small brewery will replace them.....

 

You may be right but if I can have easy access to trillium, treehouse, other half, and civil society (in FLA), I could care less about what else is produced. It's similar to bcbs or KBS....there are lots of Ba stouts produced and new lens being released but those are the standard (pre 2015 bcbs), and I regularly pass on them bc I can get bcbs, KBS, or BA PT5 relatively easy.

In the past 3-4 years, Florida has had 15, maybe 20 new breweries come into distro, along with breweries such as funky Buddha, copper tail, cycle and angry chair start pumping out brews regularly. There are way more options for me to choose from, and many times, beers I used to buy sit there and expire (see ballast point or laminitis)....It's become a situation where my wallet has gotten louder when it comes to these releases. What I used to buy many times a case of, I now only buy 3-4 bottles. There will always be the new crowd who is in the honeymoon stage of buying and they will continue to buy max allotments but I just feel with each brewery competing for market share, they'll continue to bust out release after release...

 

Why would the IPA tree stop developing? You can clearly see the efforts of Brewers using fruits to add and separate. New hop varieties are being explored. I love a well crafted IPA and or Dipa, but unfortunately there's quite a few out there that aren't worth the time and money, a good many are old stock. So there's a lot out there, but very few worth buying.

 

IPAs have been popular for many years. It's not really a craze. I've seen this kind of thread a few times now and I'm not sure why people's jimmies get rustled so hard over IPAs when there are a ton of styles out there for everyone. Drink what you want.

 

What I think you may be overlooking is that the Treehouse/Trillium type IPAs have a very, very short shelf life--the concept well addressed in the recent threads and comments from folks like Sam Grossman. I think it will be unlikely that Florida and other far away places will be legitimate markets for these specific brewers but home grown brewers will fill this void. Places like Veil in Richmond, VA have done so and done it well.

Good for you that you can get BCBS/KBS easily but makes no difference (outside of bad batches) how old that stuff is.

 

I felt that way 45-50 years ago...nowadays, not so much.

 

IDK what everyone is talking about. Granted, I can easily say IPA's are still the highest selling style of craft beer today, but let me ask a question; what are you guys afraid of? Do I think IPA's are going to permanently take over the craft scene? No. That is not possible in my opinion. There's too many people out here with different tastes. If anyone is worried about IPA's becoming too focused on by breweries, I don't know where you guys live exactly, but at my store in Illinois, I can see that many many MANY breweries are focusing on all styles of beer. And I'm not just talking about Illinois breweries. Guys, it's ok. You have nothing to worry about. IPA's are not going to become the soul future of beer. Beer is bigger and better than that. And so are we.

 

IPA will always be around as it has been for a couple of centuries.
The beer it represents though will change,nobody brews a beer resembling the originals and IPA just became another name for bitter for 80 years.Future IPAs will be quite unlike those brewed today.But you will always be able to buy a beer labelled IPA.
Will the real IPA please stand up ?

 

What kind of IPAs were you drinking 50 years ago?

 

I'm thinking LuskusDelph's choice of avatar might offer a hint

 

I'm sorry if someone has already mentioned this on this thread, but there is always the chance that IPA will become synonymous with beer, just like lagers did in the 19th century. Or that almost no one will be brewing them 10 years from now. History is a big place. Who knows what's going to happen.

 

Bingo! Couldn't have said it better.

 

considering this thread is over two years old my answer is 'not anytime soon'

 

Now why can't I get a bunny with my beer? Dear breweries, if you want to make more money, provide cute animals with each six pack. (don't actually do this though...)

 

I wouldn't say it's a craze. A lot of people love IPA's including me. I don't really like Belgian ales though. Drink what you like.

 

I haven't really tested to see the shelf life of TH/Trillium beers. I was just referencing that as these initial true microbreweries expand with bigger facilities or extra facilities, it'll be easier for someone like me in Florida to get these via trade or mule. Heady used to trade for really high stuff due to the supply/demand discrepancy...i was referencing the BCBS/KBS because they have been around for a while and are still regarded as top notch beers, as long as the infection does not come in. I'll still choose those over newer BA stouts that come out and be happy because they are easier to get than the likes of a smaller brewery release BA stout. I guess my point is I personally don't care what the next hype trained 300 lb hopped beer is. If I can get regular access to the current NE ipas produced, i'll be happy.