IPA craze: When will it be over?!

I thought the IPA craze was over a few years ago.

 

When craft beer stops being a craze.

 

Don't know where you live in NC, but there are plenty of non-IPA, low hopped styles being brewed & served there. Just for starters, only one out of five year-round beers by Big Boss is an IPA and only 2 out of six of their seasonals. Only two of fourteen styles brewed by Lonerider appear to be IPAs ( a few aren't designated by style.) Out of Natty Green's tap & bottled lineup I only counted 4 out of 18 styles that were either IPA or DIPA.

That's just three breweries out of the 119 listed on this site for NC, with more opening this year, so I'm guessing you have a lot of options.

 

I didn't say from foreign countries. I said offerings from those styles. And I'm not complaining, I've accepted the fact the IPA is a dominant style in the US, as are hop-forward beers. But when people such as yourself make these sweeping generalized statements that there's this long list of beers available in multiple styles that don't showcase hops, well, I think your're wrong. This nonsense comes from those that adore IPAs, not from your German lager fans.

Yeah? Name three that routinely have British cask on all the time. If you want sessionable British cask, your best bet is NERAX. There's some here and there, but don't tell me I can stroll around the corner and find Timothy Landlord on cask at any bar like I can a world class IPA.

I agree, there's a lot of great beer in the US. The US excels in brewing IPAs first and foremost, and I think they're delicious. I don't believe each country needs to brew every style at a world class level. That being said, don't tell me the US has an abundance Belgian, British, and German styles that can rival those from their respective countries. Just because the styles themselves are on the shelves, doesn't mean they're world class.

 

Interesting, and you're in California too.

 

JUST GETTING STARTED. I don't believe in my time, at least for another 15-20 years. 4 out of the top 10 beers on this site, are IPA's 5 including a Pale ale that is often considered an IPA by many. Look how long a budweiser was the staple of so called "craft beer". IPA's are pretty much what Lager have been for the past 100 years. I have fallen in love with some other styles of beers, however IPA's will always be my first love in craft beer.

 

Not to dismiss the issue on the table, but this is very much a first world problem. Nothing wrong with that, but I can't stop thinking "what a bunch of spoiled brats we sound like"....

We may not get the freshest stock from the import market, but product that needs to travel will inevitably suffer. There are plenty of BA top 250 beers I can't get in Texas. Bummer. We brew enough good beer here to keep me satisfied. I'm beginning to think that we're lucky we're not Wine Advocates. Any beer style can be pretty well replicated in a garage, anywhere in the world, which is probably part of the success of this wonderful renaissance. (I think that term was appropriately used, so I'm repeating it.) The craft beer industry is still growing. IPAs and their popularity play an undeniable part in that growth.

Throughout booze history, people drank such unpalatable crap (almost all of it wine, for a very long time), for a number of different reasons, not least of which being that, when mixed with water, it made water safer to drink. Many people still just drink whatever is available to catch a buzz while they're socializing...because it's more about the socializing. Some of us want the freshest beer from a country overseas...fine. It just might take traveling there to get it as fresh as you want it.

After reading through these posts a couple times, I get the feeling that this conversation originated so that our original poster could eat popcorn all curled up in a blanket of smugness in front of his computer on a Thursday night. Bravo. If you wanted to get IPA enthusiasts all riled up, you have obviously succeeded. I'm still just excited about all the variety, even if it seems lopsided at present. Brewers in my part of the country brew IPAs, belgian-style ales, scotch ales, porters, stouts, lagers, pilsners, reds, strongs and so on. And some of them (shout out to 5 Stones from Cibilo, TX) make fantastic brews that only loosely conform to a specific category.

Just enjoy the damn beer.

 

To many people craft beer is hoppy beer. They know IPA's and that's what they think craft beer is so that's what they want to drink so that they are drinking 'craft beer'. Brewers are just producing what's being demanded. It's not a craze. This recent love affair with Sours is a craze and one that I wish would go away. The interesting, or cool, thing about the craft beer culture is that everyone has different tastes. And there are many styles of good beer being brewed to satisfy everyone. Not everyone cares for overly bitter IPA's. That's fine. Some love them. Not everyone cares for Belgian styles. Others worship them.

 

"Lager Beer" (overwhelmingly of the "American Adjunct" style) in the US for the past century has accounted for 80-95% or more of the domestic beer market.

Most industry sources put "IPA", the largest beer style market segment (though the more generic "seasonal" still outsells it), at about 20% of all "craft" beer sales. Since craft is a bit less than 8% of the US market (Brewers Association stat), that makes IPA's about 1.5% of all beer sold in the US.

Still a ways to go to match "Lager's" dominating market share percentages, even within the still tiny "Craft beer" segment.

When was that?

 

Just a crazy suggestion that we let that phrase rest. Everything on this site, and the vast majority of the interwebs thingies are "first world problems."

 

I'm telling you that any style you're looking for is more available now in more variety than at any other point in history in this country. There are 8 bars in the Boston area that serve cask beer every day. I said several. Eight seems like several to me. That's a lot different than saying every bar has it???? http://www.nerax.org/home/cask-in-boston.html. I have no idea how good any of them are because I haven't tried any and I haven't been to england so I would have nothing to compare them to.

If IPAs stopped being brewed tomorrow belgium would still make better belgian style beers than in the US. BTW there is a trappist brewery in MA that although new, many consider to be world class. I've seen their brew at a gas station. Same is true for German styles. They have been doing what they do for a very long time. Of course they do it better. At least you can find something besides becks.

NTM that there is a ton of really unique and amazing stuff going on that has nothing to do with IPAs. A new BA whale seems to hit every week

 

Wow...this thread has gotten a little heated and off topic...

to the OP @slym I will say in my experience in my store I have seen a slow barely noticeable progression in the evolution of my hardcore craft customer's palate...we are getting more requests for craft lagers, porters, Belgian styles, etc than we have in the past few years...I am also seeing customers new to the craft beer world express interest in well crafted beers other than IPA... IPA's won't go away (for lots of reasons) but I expect to see their dominance slip a little over the next few years as the hardcore craft folks evolve, new craft beer drinkers enter the market, and brewers look for unique styles to set themselves apart

 

Small potatoes.

 

They're bringing Tumbler back and releasing an Oktoberfest this year

 

I agree at least in spirit with the OP. I love IPAs too but have drunk a lot of them and grown tired of the hop nightmares. As for the quote, here's a scenario that describes the problem I have personally:
Random corner store has maybe 20 "good" beers. Easily 8 will be IPAs. I've gone back to pilsner style brews for now and you sort of have to look around a bunch of IPAs to find the other stuiff you may be looking for.
So they're bit overrepresented in my opinion, though they're obviously selling like hopcakes and what's good for beer in general is good for me!.

 

The op is probably out of popcorn

 

I'm just wondering when the Grodziskie craze is going to end. It's just about all I see on the shelves these days.

 

I never thought I'd be buying American-made gose at my corner bottle shop. But there are 3 within walking distance the furthest is 7 blocks) of my house where I can do just that, right now.

Ditto Berliner Weiss, except I could probably find 10-15 of these...

yeah there's a lot of IPA out there (side note--if it was so easy to make, wouldn't Redhook Longhammer taste like Lagunitas Sucks?) but as jeff falcone says, things have never been better.

 

I tried Longhammer 2 weeks ago because it was the only IPA at the bar I was at. It's not bad.