IPA craze: When will it be over?!

Chris (@zid) the details you requested are provided in the link above.

Cheers!

 

At my house...Never.

 

OOOhhh. Thanks for that! I really hope this sees good distribution.
@patto1ro

 

It will end for me the day I take my last breath.

 

Er, that's not as well.

 

When they pull it from my cold dead hands.

 

When people stop trading really. good beers for Tired Hands cans each week. That is when I know it's over.

 

See you in a few years...looking forward to doing it again.

 

Didn't even look at your screenname before posting, just thought it was a really big coincidence. Now I feel stupid!

 

Be careful what you wish for. Innovation and the desire to try new things is what made the robust craft beer sector possible. The day there are no new crazes to speak of is when stagnation, shrinking market share, and desperately cheap gimmicks take over.

 

Was that said with a straight face? Trendiness, gimmicks, copycatting and an increasingly narrow field of vision is the State of the Craft Nation as we stand today. I'd prefer a greater signal-to-noise ratio, myself; get rid of the fomo and crazes, and that becomes a possibility.

 

To that list I would add the endless need to constantly produce something "new" (not that your list excludes this). Tying this into the thread, IPAs are far from immune to this.

"We're out of our Galaxy IPA... that was last week's IPA... besides, didn't you have that one already... this week's is Motueka IPA... get it while you can... the brewer really nailed this week's IPA." (speaking of signal-to-noise and the "fear of missing out")

While I understand @HeislerGold 's point, the gains of creating new things aren't maximized if the only place they take you is the creation of another new temporary thing, and so on and so on. I'm glad Sierra Nevada Pale Ale was born in different times. If that beer was made today, it would probably be a new beer in a Sierra Nevada fall pack for one year and then disappear. Since I'm probably being too cynical, I'll just say, "Viva la flagship."

 

Yes- that definitely ties in with my point. When there's a 'craze' going on, the customers aren't exactly being discerning; and the fundamentals (in recipe formulation, quality control, ingredient selection, etc) don't really matter. Make the right 'kind' of beer and it'll sell out regardless. That's hardly fertile ground for lasting innovation.

 

Michael, in your opinion is “lasting innovation” a requirement? If so, do you think that the majority of BAs would agree with you here?

Cheers!

 

A lasting requirement for what? Frivolous fun- of course not. New standard flavor profiles and methods- sure. I'm not looking at things in a binary way, though, just pointing out that when 'fashion' is involved then priorities tend to be out of whack.

IOW- there can be plenty of 'innovation', along with fun and seriousness and all points in between, at a much higher level when the fundamentals are important and rewarded. When 'what's new and hot?' trumps that, well, that's the road we're on now. Enjoy your infected, oxidized butter bombs!

Then again, this all has played out before...it's just a shame to see history repeating.

ETA: going back to @HeislerGold 's post- I don't believe that irrational exuberence is necessary to a strong and innovative market.

 

Much of the innovation and hard work should be credited to the hop breeders that develope the next big thing. The Brewers have an easier job using that new hop.

 

Here's a thought. Just as a trend and a craze are not mutually exclusive things and both can be happening at the same time, so too the difference between creating a useful innovation and producing a gimmick or a novelty for the sake of novelty is often not visible until afterwards.

Chance the Gardener (AKA Peter Sellers): "As long as the roots are not severed, all is well. And all will be well in the garden."

 

I think we are at "peak" IPA now with the surge in gimmicks like session and fruit flavored IPAs. Where can it go from there? Stout IPA?

I also think the trend of certain boutique breweries (looking at you Other Half/Grimm, etc.) constantly making derivatives of similar beer and driving beer hoarders/line aficionados into a frenzy, just to create hype doesn't improve the craft beer world.

 

Bunny Wailer said something very similar : I wonder, who was listening to who ?

 

doesn't storm king already cover this! haha