Why does everybody think everything is an IPA?

Rumor has it that Brew Dog is realising one for octogenarians. It's called IPA LOT and will be shipped in depends.

 

It's 2013 people, get with it. Every beer is a version of an IPA.

 

Breweries/companies think (often right) that if they put "IPA" on the label it will sell. Look at it from a marketing aspect.
I am not saying its right but I will look at a bottle closer if it is labeled as an IPA.

 

You know what I meant

 

I'd love a dark ice IPA right now...

 

Your going to the wrong bars. Every good craft bar I go to has a fair mix of all styles of beer, not a 5-1 ration of IPAs to other styles of craft beer. And if your bar has 20 IPAs and 4 pilseners, that's really bad tap management.

 

I totally agree with what you're saying, but I'm not sure that's the point the OP was trying to make. I agree with him that there does seem to be what appears to be a marketing-driven approach to tie every imaginable style to the IPA bandwagon, given that in the U.S., IPAs seem to one of the biggest-selling styles of craft beer. The problem with calling everything an IPA is that it becomes the snake that eats it's own tail. Of course, IPAs will be the best selling beers if EVERYthing is called an IPA -- which, in turn encourages brewers looking for sales to slap an IPA label on anything they make with an IBU over 10.

My main concern is it does a disservice to breweries that honestly label their beers by style, because people are less likely to try something they THINK they've never enjoyed before. It kind of mutes the celebration of all the different great styles of beers out there that seems (at least to me) to a fundamental part of the whole BA Constitution (and yes there is one, but it's kept locked away and only brought out to settle disputes such as this that come before the Supreme Court of Beer, more familiarly known as "the bar")

 

Not me, I really don't rate them all that much. I just can't see the difference in many of them and the DIPA, PA, IPA tag is confusing because they all just blend into one thing.

At any given bottle shop or bar, I would choose none of the above over a Quad, BA Stout, RIS, Any Sour, Tripel, Oud Bruin, Belgian Dark, Belgian Pale or Weizenbock to name a few. I just find them very one dimensional. Maybe I'm missing something I don't know

 

http://mybarbariantable.blogspot.com/2011/06/hop-ice-cream.html

 

Seems that breweries are adding ipa to anything that has a dry/bitter finish, even in the slightest bit. In my mind if the hops don't out weigh the malt it shouldn't be labeled ipa, period! I get it tho, self professed hop head and when I see ipa on anything I gravitate towards it, like a bug to a zapper :-\

 

Cause hops are good. Generalize much?

 

Just what I was thinking. If IPAs are selling like crazy, why put "Black Ale" on your hoppy, roasted malt offering instead of "Black IPA?"

 

Because IPAs are the new Pilsners.

 

No, but they should share similar characteristics/ingredients, otherwise what is the point of having "beer styles" at all? (Given the ever increasing amount of them, I do wonder myself sometimes...).

So, then, if "pilsner" has a good reputation, why not call your low hopped, adjunct-brewed, low-calorie light beer
a "Fine Pilsner Beer"?



Oh, wait... that's a product of Miller Brewing Company, so that makes it a laughing stock rather than brilliant marketing.

 

It's not brilliant marketing, it's just marketing: making your product seem desirable to anyone taking a quick glance at the packaging.

Brilliant marketing would involve taking that Black Ale I mentioned and getting creative with the label (or building your own brand's reputation) so you wouldn't have to slap "IPA" on it to get people to buy it.

 

I'll 2nd...3rd...what number are we up to now?!? that IPA is good basic descriptor. I have a basic expectation when I see black/Belgian/double/white IPA on a label.

I also agree that the IPA labeling is getting somewhat ludicrous. Too many "IPA"s come across as being less hoppy than say Dales Pale Ale. Some of the new styles, like the black IPA, aren't per se new at all. There isn't too much difference, aside from hop varieties used, between a black IPA and an original porter.

I just hope brewers get off the IPA labeling bandwagon, and just call a beer what it is, and not try to squeeze every beer with a noticeable hop quality into the IPA category. In short I want my pale ales back, dammit!!!

 

IPA Ice Cream sounds fucking delicious to be perfectly honest.

 

Could be. I may make a hop infused ice cream whenever I make myself a restaurant. DINGDING.

Also, why does everybody say "IPAs are made with hops to last longer" ... that myth has been debunked. It isn't even true.

 

It's quite amazing that so many people who live in the U.S.A. don't understand the basics of capitalist economics, but here we go with a simplified version:
1. Someone comes out with a new product or an improved product.
2. That product starts to sell really well, gets lots of media attention and gets people wondering that they should
try it or be left behind their neighbor/friend.
3. Other manufactures of a similar or related product take notice.
4. Those manufactures start producing their own version of the new or improved product.
5. The market gets flooded and you start to see all kinds of "new" versions of the new or improved product.
6. People complain that there's too much choice.