The VIPA

This is one of those,

"Here is an opinion ..."

"You're wrong!!!! I'm the king of knowing everything about beer"

threads, huh?

Next time someone comes up with an idea or marketing strategy, I'll make sure to ask how I feel about it here first. Bummer. I thought the article was well written and the guy had a strong case.

 

There are many valid points brought up in previous posts.

I tend to think the another category may be appropriate. If highly regarded & rated beers like Double Sunshine, Heady Topper, Ephraim, Abner, Conehead and many other VT IPA's get snubbed in various competitions, perhaps a new official style is needed.

No offense intended, but Hop JuJu better DIPA than Double Sunshine. Not across my palate.

 

I guess my take is why do such things matter? Taste is extremely subjective, and winning competitions are pretty meaningless imo. I can see how a plaque on the wall of the brewery might mean something to some, but the brewers up here dont seem like those kind of people. They get plenty of praise, everyone wants to try their concoctions and many come back for more...the product speaks for itself, regardless of how its branded or what medals they've won.

I completely agree with the Fat Heads reference, just dont see why it matters to me, the consumer...form your own opinions, make your own decisions, dont base it on what others think. Adding styles isn't gonna change that.

 

Good lord...

 

Chico yeast is pretty dull and boring IMO. VT IPAs and especially heady aren't quite as neutral. For something like Heady it makes it what it is. Ferment Heady with Chico or some other bland California ale yeast and it would probably be just another IPA lost in the herd.

 

This probably belongs in the homebrew forums, but... Conan is not always clean. You can get a lot of fruit and spice at higher temps and after a lot of generations. If you do things just right you can even make a credible hefeweizen with it.

 

I embrace the new VIPA style label, which I define as "any great IPA that's such a pain in the ass to acquire that I rarely or never drink it."

 

Vermonters love to add their name to everything and pretend as if being from Vermont makes it better than everywhere else but we all know it's not true (i.e. cheddar cheese, maple syrup, etc...) That being said, I'm okay with a brewer calling their beer a VIPA if they want, just knowing that my expectations for the beer would be much higher than usual. By calling it a VIPA then you are automatically comparing it to HT, Abner, Double Sunshine and the like, so I'd be expecting a beer just as good as any of those.

 

'nuff said...