Why are IPAs/Double IPAs still so popular?

Think, "pays the bills."

What keeps them at the top is lots of people want and do buy them. Yes, palate fatigue could well be a factor for some folks since lots and lots of hops partially numb the taste buds and you need more and more hops to get the flavors you enjoy.

In addition there are now new varieties of "IPAs" that people enjoy for different reasons.

 

People like hops.

 

Because they are fucking awesome!

 

@oldbean wins the award here!

He beat me to the correct answer: "people like hops".

I can envision that at some future date the level of love for hoppy beers may diminish a bit for the beer geek segment of the craft beer market but I suspect that hoppy beers will always remain popular.

Stone Brewing sure seems to be thinking the same, the vast majority of their products are hoppy beers.

Cheers!

 

Huh?

 

Many factors, one of which is the already simply-stated "people like hops."

IPAs are viewed as the antithesis of what people thought beer was when macro American Adjunct Lagers were king and/or what their parents drank.

People like strong flavors, and IPAs have some of the strongest.

IPAs (especially New England style IPAs) have approachable flavors that appeal to non-traditional beer drinkers and are pulling these drinkers into the market, creating more demand.

On some level, it's a self-perpetuating cycle: more demand by the public for IPAs forces breweries to make more IPAs, and 'round and 'round we go.

Also, from a brewing perspective, the turnover on them is among the fastest.

 

People greatly enjoy to drink them is my simple answer. Since customers drive the market, craft brewers make them more than many other styles.

 

I can't do any better than the following:

 

Indeed. Just like the AAL defines the macros, IPA has come to define craft. They are everything that AALs aren't.

 

Not sure. For most, its an acquired taste. Hop heads don't represent average beer drinker.

 

l

 

(I)IPAs offer low alcohol, moderate, and high octane versions. They include sugary and fruity to bitter and biting to smooth and creamy. They include malty backdrops, and others totally mask malts. They include absolute flavor bombs to subtle displays.

In other words, (I)IPAs may just be two styles, but they encompass a huge variety within beer. That variety is invaluable when it comes to style recognition in the general consumer population.

 

I didn’t say it wasn’t an acquired taste, or that hop heads represent the average beer drinker.

 

I do see the trend waning, though. Lots of IPAs/DIPAs that used to fly off of the shelves in my neck of the woods sit and collect dust now. We are finally seeing more variety, especially when it comes to new releases. I'm not anti-IPA by any means and enjoy many but the race to make the most bitter beer/in an effort to be different soon things become the same was getting a little ridiculous.

 

I'm totally a hop head and I get accused of being a hipster all the time for my love of IPAs.

 

Because they be the best!!!!

 

Hearing folks talk about the potential demise or fading popularity of the IPA reminds me of a few of my favorite historical predictions.....

"Not to mince words, Mr. Epstein, but we don't like your boys' sound. Groups are out; four-piece groups with guitars particularly are finished”
Dick Rowe, executive in charge of evaluating new talent for the London office of Decca Records, 1962 - speaking about the Beatles

"640K ought to be enough for anybody."
Bill Gates, 1981

"Television won't last because people will soon get tired of staring at a plywood box every night."
Darryl Zanuck, movie producer, 20th Century Fox, 1946

 

I think younger craft beer enthusiasts in their 20's seem drawn to those. And so breweries will keep pumping them out. Someone said "pay the bills." I agree with that. I'm close to retirement and I like traditional IPAs to these juice and fruit bombs.