IPA: Mainstay or Fad?

Later this evening I will be visiting a local beer bar which now has several Aslin beers on tap (Orange Starfish, Champion of the Sun, Astro Zombie, others). Is Aslin now in the 'export' business?

Cheers!

 

Wow, nice first post.

 

I'd say that pale ales will be around as long as people exist.

 

If you have to pick and choose, you have to go with Orange Starfish, damn tasty. Dunno what it up with the distro for them - honestly not sure if they have any taps in Richmond (cans aren't distro'd I don't think) but we do have Ocelot. Are you dining in PA or MD?

 

I will be going to Capone’s in Norristown, PA.

Below is the list of Aslin beers they have on tap:

“ASLIN ASTRO ZOMBIES IPA

ASLIN DOUBLE ORANGE STARFISH IPA

ASLIN CHAMPION OF THE SUN IPA

ASLIN MEXICAN HOT CHOCOLATE STOUT

ASLIN TACO CAT”

I have no idea if this is a ‘special’ one-time drop or whether Aslin is now regularly in the Philly area market.

Cheers!

P.S. I am mostly going because there is a Hill Farmstead beer also on tap. I am a BIG fan of Hill Farmstead.

 

Ummm... fads in the beer market tend to last longer than that. Ice Beer, Dry Beer, Bottled/Canned Real Draft (unpasteurized) Beer, Red Beer ... then there's No Carbohydrates, 1/3 Fewer Calories "Light" Beer that just doesn't seem to wanna die.

Ohh... some of these modern "push button" automated brewhouses could probably be programed to keep making them even after we're all gone...

 

jesskidden: Is there a link, or chart showing styles as a percentage of total sales over time? Above you note Pale Ale and IPA for 2010 and 2011.

 

That one's in the next Planet of the Apes installment!

 

Thanks. You're such a trove of information that I can't help but assume you always have access to basically everything at your fingertips

And to be clear, I wasn't lumping SNPA as an IPA, just saying it represented the hoppy end of the pale ale spectrum (as opposed to Dale's which its makers are on record saying is an IPA if I recall correctly). To my eye, the passing of the torch from Pale Ale to IPA dominance is a much less stark change if things like Dales and SNPA were what was 'propping up' the pale ale category, whereas it would count as a pretty major shift in consumer tastes if most pale ales were more along the lines of say, Smuttynose's Shoal's Pale Ale or Sam Adams Boston Ale.

 

I too love stouts . . . especially RISs. Dopplebocks too. However, I have to admit, IPAs are growing on me. I think IPAs are here for the long haul.

 

IPAs have been ‘round for a long time. Not a fad.

 

Dale's Pale Ale tastes like an IPA for my palate.

Cheers!

 

This post makes more sense than your original post. Maybe 'option' would have been a better word to use rather than 'fad'.

I'll guess that the IPA style seems to be crowding out the stouts and other styles, but I think these other styles will always exist. I don't see any other style becoming a fad/option that will ever overtake the various combined IPAs as a style. Sours may currently be a 'hot' option right now, but they won't overtake IPAs.

 

Fresh. Funny thing that’s its brewed in Asheville and I can find it fresher in PA. Has to be a shitty distributor, no other explanation.

 

But based upon a post I read earlier today you are able to get fresh Sierra Nevada beers so you got that going for you.

Cheers!

 

Fresh SN was never a problem before Asheville. But fresh OB is tough, Gordon’s is impossible, you can’t even find it in Asheville. Outside of the mixed pack you cant find it at all

 

Not sure I’d put the same stuff coming out of America in 2019 in the same category as 2017......but it’s all a variation on the same basic style - Pale malt, copious amounts of bitter and/or aromatic hops and ale yeast usually of English origins. Pick up Mitch Steele’s book if you haven’t read it — great read. It’s a tad out of date as the latest NEIPA stuff isn’t covered....but he does purvey the other 299 years of the style. Cheers

 

Yawn

 

Welcome to BA, where simply starting a thread is a surefire way to get told by the masses that you should have never started that thread and links to all of the previous similar threads you'll be told you should have read first before considering a new thread.

 

Having a hard time recalling at any point since I've been drinking good beer that the venerable IPA wasn't some where in the top of the pile for what to reach for, beer wise.