Styles that are hit or miss for you.

Black IPA is mostly miss but the occassional hit is nice to find.

 

IPAs. I really love a well made IPA, and many of my favorite beers are IPAs, but it's also probably my most drainpoured style because a mediocre IPA is far less drinkable than a mediocre stout or the like.

 

Seriously? An easy style to finish even if it isn't just right.

 

Not to me. If it's overly bitter or sweet, bland, and/or faded, it's not particularly drinkable. IPAs are a very finicky style, depending on so many variables (e.g. types of and how much hops used, when they were added in the brewing process, freshness of hops, how good the hops are from that harvest, how the bottles/cans are stored, how fresh the beer is, etc.) that they are all over the place.

 

Bock beers tend to be inconsistent with me. Some are a nice treat of bready goodness, with some caramel backing and alcohol balance with the body that I love. Some are just big balls of malt that are very boozy and that coat my mouth and stay there no matter what I do, even leaving behind a big burnt flavor sometimes. When I love them I love them though, like Troegenator, or when they get Weizened up like Lagunitas does, but some just overwhelm my palate and get the drain treatment after just a few sips.

 

Seems you need to find the IPA's you enjoy, I have been an AG brewer for over 10 years so I easily know that aspect of it. I agree an overly sweet one is not what the style should be, but not necessarily a drain pour just change your mindset on the beer. As for hops used and how most are similar schedules and obviously if you don't like pungent hops or any other type hop it might not be the best. Age and storage are important as well, aged it should still be drinkable while overly hot storage can produce a drain pour. Freshness of hops is a factor, the brewing process wouldn';t matter what style if the brewer was bad, when hops are added be it FWH, kettle additions, dry or no chill shouldn't produce a drain pour.

 

Finding beers I enjoy is the entire purpose of trying new beers. The only way to find out if you enjoy a beer is to try it. We obviously have different definitions of what qualifies for a drainpour, but any beer I don't enjoy drinking (i.e. a beer that becomes a chore to drink) gets the drain. I'm fat enough as is without wasting calories on beer that isn't good.

 

Have you found that many you don't enjoy? An IPA can come across more like an APA at times if brewed/stored wrong or too dry like Hop Wallop but it needs to have a real problem before it is a drainpour.

 

Pretty much all styles but I make them waay more hits than misses because I've honed in on what makes them a miss or a hit. E.g. DIPAs I hate a huge malt backbone no matter how bitter it is. Sours I'm not a fan of a lot of oak taste. BA stouts, not a fan of smash your teeth in alcohol. Stouts, fan of chocolate/coffee, not a fan of big roasted malt flavors like IST.

 

A malty backbone is fine, a sweet one however is not. The difference is a fine but easily achieved line.

 

Hadn't thought about that but avoiding malty DIPAs has caused no misses for me. The last 2 I can think of were Maharaja and 90 minute which I drain poured both...knuckle sandwich I thought was really good even though its maltier than my favorites.

 

The saison/farmhouse ale style. Sometimes I dig the spice and funkiness of one saison, and other times I'm not a big fan of the way it's done in another version. It's a bit like playing russian roulette.

 

It is as simple as IPA's have no use for crystal malt either straight 2-row with a higher mash temp or use some munich to add maltiness. For dry go straight 2-row and mash low, there will be enough residual sugars in a typical IPA to hold up to the hops. Also learn different techniques of hop usage and what they add to the beer. Pitching correctly and fermentation control are also major factors in brewing. For most people here this is more info than needed as they won't know which brewery does what, but it can help understand what does what.

 

Dopplebocks

 

Maibocks / Hellesbocks...to the extent that I may love / hate the same beer

 

I think the styles that I'm very passionate about are the ones that are hit or miss for me, which seems to make sense.

Definitely DIPA's (and to a lesser extent standard IPA's) - I've had so freakin many over the past year that I think I know exactly what I want in the style, and when I don't get it, it really bums me out. Even more so since I really like to try new beers and it's starting to become more and more difficult for me to find new DIPA's to try. When I finally get my hands on a new one and it doesn't work it, man it sucks.


Also have to agree with DoubleJ on the saison/farmhouse style being like playing russian roulette. There's just so much variation within the style with respect to dryness/fruitiness/funkyness.


I also tend to be particular about Hefeweizens and Pilsens. Hefes really come down to the banana to clove ratio, and Pilsens are so delicate that if a certain note (such as grassy-ness) sticks out too much it really ruins it.

Most other styles I'm not knowledgeable enough or passionate enough about, and can usually drink most offerings within the style.

 

There’s a discussion in the Mountain forum about styles we don't like that made me think of this. For me, I find most Blonde Ales (the American kind) to be like bad/fast/cheap helles…but some I find to be pretty stellar. I think the key comes down to the malt profile and not trying to shoot for a malt/hop balance. Ska's True Blonde is an example of one I really love.
Another one would be the new trend of hoppy Belgian pales and IPAs. For that matter, almost anything ester heavy with a ton of hops. Most I can’t stand, but there are some that I can’t get enough of.

 

Barleywines. Love a few, dislike many.

 

This.