Styles that can *#@$ off!

This pretty much sums it up for me (tl;dr to the bold type) as a fan of the style. Call it whatever but keep on making 'em IMO.

"what to make of the beer connoisseur's head scratcher that is the black IPA? Well, for a start, the first mistake to make is assume that everything that dark is a porter. And yet, many brewers of black IPAs intentionally cram it with the dark, roasted malt which characterizes a stout. The difference is they also pile on the hops later on, which results in the more the familiar fruity and bitter taste of an IPA.

Modern craft brewing is all about innovation so it's no surprise to see brewers experiment with crossover styles, but where many seem to find this style tricky is naming it. You'll often see a black IPA referred to as a Cascadian Dark Ale as it follows a style that originated in the Cascadia region, which takes in parts of the north-west United States and part of Canada.

Blindfold, by Sierra Nevada, is a good example of a Cascadian Dark Ale. It weighs in at 6.8 per cent abv and 70 IBUs, so is a fairly hoppy, bitter version of a black IPA.

Closer to home, Blacks of Kinsale (the name is merely a coincidence) have a lovely, accessible black IPA in their roster.

It's not as far along the bitterness scale as our Californian friend, coming in around 45 IBUs and is an almost sessionable 5 per cent.

For me, it's the best of both worlds. It fronts up with all that malty, roastiness, with a hint of chocolate, that you get from a stout before giving way to peachy, grapefruit flavour of an IPA and the familiar dry bitter finish."
http://www.irishnews.com/lifestyle/...ence-between-a-black-ipa-and-a-stout--565641/

 

I agree, I gravitate toward classic styles, but there are a lot traditional styles that are obscure. People who like exotic ingredients have as much of a right to their style as anyone else. Variety and Choice, that is what craft beer gives us.

 

I dislike most sours that use lactose. The lactose ends up making the beer too sweet. When I want a sour beer, I want it to be sour. Why would I want to buy a sour and have it be cloying?

 

I used to feel the same, then I had some South Carolina themed beer from weldwerks. I don't like others, but weldwerks milkshakes are fantastic.

 

They used to be called American stouts.

 

Definitely taking corn and or rice in my beer before marshmallows. Sugar fluffed up with artificial flavors is unappealing to me as a desert, let alone as a beer ingredient.
If you like IPAs I would recommend trying DRIPA from Kuhnenn brewing before writing off rice. So clean and refreshing

 

Yes. Are they beers or not? Think I'm not open-minded enough for them yet. And may not be, soda dominating over beer may just not be my taste thing. Do drink really little juice and soda. And my beverages have always been mainly on the beer-whisky axis, not so much wine-brandy.

 

Gose? I mean...shit. I’m not even a fan of sours, but there’s always a time and a place for them. Just my opinion though.

 

I can agree with OP about “hazy”. In the sense that I’ve never had a “balanced” NEIPA, since that’s really not the nature of the style. Even the “really good” ones I’ve tried are pretty imbalanced.

There’s a reason why, in the culinary world, salt, spice, sweet, and sour work harmoniously with each other in cuisines of more developed cultures. You get a full experience.

I don’t get that full experience with NEIPA. It’s just not for me. It leans too heavily on few parts of the IPA spectrum. I’ve tried and tried for years now, but it’s just not for me.

 

I guess I feel like all (most?) styles have their place and time for me. Except AALs By the same token they all go out of favor occasionally. I do like some styles generally more than others, but it's great there is so much variety.

 

I can think of styles of music that can fuck off, but can't think of a single style of beer I feel that way about.

Yesss! I have had more than a few that were awful, and now stick to Hudson Valley Brewery offerings in the style. Done right it is actually amazingly delicious!

 

Packaged/pre-mixed, though?

Never made sense to me that someone would buy those rather than just make them buying beer and pop separately. That way the drinker gets to control the ratio. Many of the US shandies/radlers have a similar ABV as standard US AALs (4-5%) which sort of eliminates the "lower alcohol" content of mixing pop and beer 50-50, thus cutting the alcohol in half.

 

I generally dislike black ipas, but Supremely Self Righteous was a terrific beer. They blended fruity hops into the mix so it just didn’t taste burnt. So it can be done where it’s truly a great beer, but it has to be super fresh too. So maybe I don’t dislike the style completely, just the poorly done beers, but SSR was the best of the bunch.

 

Easily one of the better ipas from anyone with a national footprint, it’s available most everywhere and I can generally find it under 30 days old, sometimes half that if I’m lucky. It’s also widely available on tap as well.

 

Hey, I agree with most that all beer styles have their place.

But I mean... Amber Ales? Come on... they could go...

 

Another vote for sure, 2 hearted is a good choice usually found next to things I would rather not drink.

As to OP, don't hate the player, just hate the game...by drinking what ya like

Vitriol for amber ales? There is one opinion I can't get on board with. Finely crafted examples like Red Wheelbarrow or Troegs Hopback are pleasant enough. I'll buy a sixer of Hopback if I don't find anything else more interesting or fresher.

Cheers!

 

Na, I’m just fuckin around. I don’t typically gravitate towards Ambers because I find them just sorta malty and boring, but I’m sure there are good ones. Just felt like being snarky at 5:30 am.

 

While I haven't reviewed all the current BA styles of beer, I gots ta say brut IPAs are pretty unremarkable and, at least the ones I've found, aren't worthy of being a distinct style - kind of shades of grey. Next we'll probably be adding cryo IPAs as a style but I think both should be lumped into the scurrilous category of AALs.

 

I generally agree as well, Amber beers don’t really work for me either. I’d also include Marzens in this as well, a bit to malty it comes off as a bit sweet. I much prefer lighter Fest beers. One Amber I like is Nugget Nectar, but it has to be fresh or it turns into a mess with some age on it.