Is IPA still king?

I was never a fan of the style, preferring the maltier beers when I purchase and when I brew. Still, you can't throw a dead cat without hitting an IPA. Maybe the style is losing some of its popularity, but it's not dead yet.

 

You wouldn't care to name the brewery, would you? If it's a brewery that doesn't brew alot of IPAs then it's certainly forseeable that they would say that IPAs were out of fashion. When someone is expressing an opinion, the perspective of the person expressing the opinion is always useful.

Or perhaps the employee [presumably not a friend who works at a brewery] was having a bit of fun with you?

 

IPAs are about at the point where they're the standard beer for all of craft, and everything else will be deemed special.

The question will no longer be 'what is the most popular style?', it'll be 'what's the most popular besides IPAs?', with the 'besides IPAs' part of the question not actually said but is taken as being inherent to the question.

It's like 5-10 years ago when someone asked you what your favorite Sam Adams was. You knew they weren't asking for Boston Lager so you said another style. Same thing may be happening soon with all the IPAs in the craft world.

 

And the last time you walked out with only "one IPA and one something else" was...?

 

I'm still waiting for Anheuser-Busch to release an IPA, shit is going to be the tits!

 

It's a bit average IMO

http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/1549/3968/

 

Are you saying the Shock Top Wheat IPA wasn't a real IPA?

 

Was it a dirty hipster that made this claim? Sounds like something a dirty hipster would say. Or they would say "geuze is king".

 

Or was the janitor...

 

Keep in mind that one in particular is an English Style IPA, and also was brewed by G.I. before the acquisition.

 

Sorry it was a bad joke

 

I wouldn't say IPA's are going anywhere, most people in my group of (non-BA) friends almost exclusively drink them when choosing beer. Still waiting for Clamato barrel-aged Double Saison IPA though.

 

Damn. I wish I'd have thought of that one.

 

There is also Red Hook Longhammer IPA

 

Mitch Steele who is presently the head brewer of Stone Brewing once worked for Anheuser-Busch:

While he worked for AB he brewed an IPA which he details in his book IPA:

“In 2006 we finally developed and released a short-lived IPA from AB’s Merrimack brewery. It was called Demon’s Hopyard IPA… The test batch of this beer, for which the group of us developed the recipe, was amazing, and I couldn’t wait to brew the real batches and get them released. (The original recipe in in this book).

AB made a business decision to not market Demon’s Hopyard IPA but there is no doubt in my mind that AB could make a world class IPA if they ever decided to do so.

Cheers!

 

Does between 1 and 2% of the beer market justify the sobriquet of King?
Even in our minority enclave we will see other beers gaining in support and IPA making way for it.I'm getting to find IPAs a bit one dimensional , love them but I do lose interest after a pint or so.

 

2% of the beer market is IPAs, and Craft is only 15% of the beer market. That's a big chuck of the overall craft market then.

 

Yes

 

Let me rephrase that, Budweiser IPA*

 

I think one of their 'Project 12' beers, while a lager, is a 'Northcoast' beer with Northwest hops. Probably as close as you're gonna get.