Let's talk about hops/American IPA

Yeah- that one doesn't look like I will be able to get it regularly , but I would honestly be happy if I could just get fresh Union Jack on the regular.

 

Yup- and there's no rule saying that both worlds can't co-habitate. They do in my fridge all the time .

 

Never had a Union Jack, every trip back home to Pa they're 8 months old.

 

I almost had it written off myself due to the older samples I had gotten, until I had it really fresh on draught one day. That was a real eye-opener. Here's hoping it comes your way soon...and don't pass it up when it does.

 

I honestly think we'll see the trend swing back towards something like pilsners. There's a few problems with the IPA, and while it's a popular style, I believe these issues will become more glaring as it's popularity grows.

1) ABV. The most popular IPAs/double IPAs are at ABV's that simply don't lend themselves to volume drinking. This is why session IPAs were born. But these are not nearly as highly rated as their regular strength versions. Now, brewer's are becoming more skillful at brewing more flavorful lower ABV IPAs, but they're still not the same. If brewer's figure this out, this could potentially nullify most of my post. However, even if they do, I feel even the "juice bombs" can become a bit much in high volume. I like orange juice, but I don't want six glasses of it.

2) We're still a country (and the majority of the world too) that loves lighter pale lagers. Granted these are adjunct lagers, I think a style such as the pilsner could become king in the craft world. The public wants something simpler, at a lower ABV, that you can drink multiple of in a session. US brewer's are gaining skill, and as they do, more of them are brewing world class pilsners. The IPA is the gateway drug to better beer, but I feel it will lead many newcomers to pilsners as they become more flavorful.

3) Freshness. Many of the most popular IPAs are delicate, and need to be consumed extremely fresh. Distribution of some of these "juice bombs" is very difficult. Trying to have these routinely packed, distributed, and consumed in six weeks or less is a tall task. In the long run, I believe these beers will be viewed as "treats" rather than something you'll be able to buy a case of routinely. Not to mention the difficulty of trying to consume a case of 16 oz. cans of an 8% double IPA in under a month or two.

I could definitely be very wrong, and the trend that I am wrong.

But in 2016, the three largest craft breweries best selling beers are Yuengling Lager, Boston Lager, and Sierra Nevada Pale Ale. And the best selling beer in the US is still Bud Light. The IPA is still growing in sales/popularity, but I personally feel it will hit a brick wall sooner rather than later.

 

I love some IPAs, but if the full spectrum of beer was nothing but IPAs, I probably wouldn't love beer.

 

Ask any small local craft brewer these days about sourcing Citra or Jade hops! You cant get them right now! If you can source them, the cost is prohibitive to making beer with it.

 

I like where we are at right now,brew the beer , experiment, put it on the shelves , and let us go to the stores and breweries and bars, taste , and buy what we like!, not the old"you can have any color you want as long as it's black!"mentality .pineapple, grapefruit, guava habanero whatever, bring it on for the sampling.i like, I buy.cheers!

 

Hops have to pass many agronomic tests to come to market. The hop grower has to have a profitable product, that the Brewers want to buy.

Brewers are after unique flavors, that drives the hop breeding going on. Look to see hops with a Neo-Mexicanus lineage coming in the future, as those have new flavors.

As to some hops being hard to get, it is a business. It takes time and money to propagate the acres. The proprietary high priced hops have made some growers profitable compared to the feast famine cycle they had before. No hops, no beer.

Those NZ and AU hops that have great aroma and flavor, there are <1000 acres in each country. We all hope they plant more.

 

I doubt it. At the very least not to the point where something else becomes America's favorite [craft] style. IPAs are going to become to America what Czech Pilsners are to the Czech Republic.

 

Addicted.

What else is there to say?

Every cocktail I make as a bartender is going to have either complimentary or contrasting flavors. The IPA & DIPA have such a distinct contrast that it speaks volumes.

Unfiltered, turbid and full of new world hops (NE style not West Coast).

Where are we going? No idea, but if i were to start drinking straight dry vermouth I wouldn't blame the french I would blame Stone.

 

I wish I could like this twice.

 

When can we rename them? IPA is a stupid name.

Can we call them American Hoppy Ales, please? Anything else!

EDIT: Some examples?

American IPA ----> American Hoppy Ale

American DIPA ----> American Double Hoppy Ale

West Coast IPA ----> West Coast Hoppy Ale

NE IPA ---> New England Hoppy Ale

White IPA ---> White Hoppy Ale (doesn't work as well IMHO)

 

With all due respect, I disagree with points 1 and 2. 3 is definately an issue though, since juice bombs most certainly would not be able to be exported.
But even as a German pils lover, I can't see them being as popular as IPAs. They are so much more about the subtleties, the nuances, and let's be honest about the public man. People in general like big, bad and in your face. Why else would generic, 1 size fits all dance songs be the ones that get all the radio buzz these days.
But as for the ABV argument, I would ask why do people drink wine then? Its even higher ABV.

And also as I've said I'm a massive pilsner fan, its probably my favorite style myself so I totally level with you, but for real if you ever have the chance try something coming out of TreeHouse or Trillium and notice the complexity of the beer. I mean I have given that beer to friends who are wine drinkers and they were blown away by it, loving it. So instead what I see is just a continuation of the current trend.

 

just picked up 21 day old Union Jack today and it's probably my favorite single IPA. such a fantastic look, aroma, and taste.

 

The US needs to get over the hop-centric/BA/BBA beer frenzy and go back to making good beer without having to nuke it to the extreme. Lagers and lighter ales are under represented here in the states because they rely on subtlety and nuance, but brewers don't make more of these styles because they keep trying to please the BIGGER IS BETTER crowd. The ass clowns in that crowd are fucking morons as far as I'm concerned.

 

i think California Common could/should become the new "it" style. it's still a lager yet can be hopped and is clearly different than an IPA. it's a damn good style. a random style that seems uncommon but the ones that i've had i have thoroughly enjoyed.

i feel like hoppy pils will keep being brewed.

for now, well hopped beers are popular. they will continue to be brewed until people decide to buy other styles more. until then, the hop phase is not over.

 

I think the majority of us are going to keep circle jerking IPAs for a long, long time, maybe forever. It is a shame that other styles are overlooked in the IPA craze, but the fact of the matter of is that IPAs are insanely delicious and that's why they've become so popular. It hasn't always been this way. IPAs earned their popularity. And I say "fact" because lupulin threshold shift is a real, objective thing. Whether its the late 90s onward bitter, piney West Coast style you crave, or the creamy, tropical New England style--or anything in between or similar--I don't think the popularity of IPAs are going away anytime soon, if ever. Especially since new hop varietals are become developed and discovered all the time, as well as new yeast strains being cultivated, and malt bills constantly reinvented.

Having said that, my prediction is that both Gose and pilsners will continue to become mainstream styles of craft beer in the near future.
The amount of ridiculously good pilsners being pumped out by a bunch of breweries is something remarkable in itself.

 

Why not call them IPAs?

 

I can see some overlapping flavors and terroir differences being more obvious in the coming years. A select few new hops appearing annually, but considering it takes roughly 10 years for a new Hop to enter the market we will have ample time to give the current arsenal.

I think the world already does love it they are just not aware of it themselves, sure its bracing at first but its like getting into a bath tub that is a little too hot, slow and steady until you accept it.

Too early to tell, it will take a generation or two of craft beer drinkers or HopHeads to break the chain of the Macro first craft later cycle.

American IPA is such an enormous beast that continues to evolve and change it seems every year a new wave crashes and it leaves others trying to play catch up with the hot new sub style.

Hops? No the amount of hops used? That might be something we see, a more restrained hopping of beers a shift back to balance, or a heavier use of hop extracts to achieve the same effects.

Beer contains hops, you cannot avoid it, its what gives the counter to the sweetness, resistance is futile.

That is dependent on where you are, west coast, east coast, PNW, Chico, NE, Midwest all seem to bring something to the table that is American IPA.

As far as im concerned id like to see a NE IPA but west coast hopped, late hopped with cascade, chinook, columbus, centennial for a grapefruity piney blast but turbid and soft.

It seems the west coast style IPA is the most prevalent up here big bold pine and pith, orange and grapefruit clean clear IPA.


Cheers.