Do you have to be a hop head to appreciate craft brews?

I have a friend who has been homebrewing for a couple months, and has a couple brews under his belt. We got into a "discussion" on whether you have to like a hoppy beer in order to be A true home brewer? He enjoys heavy hopped IPA's and I enjoy more off Belgian tripel or almost any of the less hopped beers. What's your input?i know this is ridiculous and that each brewer and drinker has their own taste and style they enjoy but just bear with me I need a little I put to settle this.

Not at all. My last three beers have both been light on the hops and have been excellent. Summertime rolls around, I'll probably be hitting more hoppy beers but who knows what mood will strike.

Am I true home brewer? I like to think so. Do I care what anyone else thinks about how I feel hoppy beers? No.

I am a hop head myself, but no way to you have to be a hop head to enjoy craft and homebrew. There are tons of non hoppy styles to enjoy. That's the beauty of homebrew, you can make whatever suits your taste.

There seems to be plenty of craft beers that aren't hoppy. Regardless, if you brew your own beer at home, you're a true home brewer, simple as that.

Hops are one component of homebrewing where brewers can create crazy combinations/flavors/aromas that commercial brewers are not doing. But, that is only one component. Yeast strains/techniques can give beers a variety of characteristics, endless varieties of malts and extracts lend different profiles and adjuncts such as fruit, vegetables, sugar, etc give brewers tons of creative freedom.

You do not need to enjoy hopped beers to love homebrewing.

If you are a hophead, you have to go to craft beers.
If you like craft beers, you don't have to like hoppy beer at all.

Think stouts and porters for a couple examples of very common craft beers.

I do love Black Butte!

Your friend is clearly right. Just like you have to like the most bitter coffee to be a home coffee brewer and must love ultra spicy foods to be a true home cook. Wait, that doesn't sound right.

Go here and look at how many styles are not hop forward. Now tell your friend to shut up.

No, but it sure helps. Sure there are lots of malt forward craft beers available but lets not kid ourselves. Hop forward beers are hot right now damn near every craft/micro/nano commercial brewery is making a hop forward Pale, IPA, 2XIPA, Black IPA, Rye PA, Seasonal IPA, ect...

I am a hop head but the amount of commercially available hop forward beers is rediculous and most of them are just ok certainly not special. One bar I frequent has 12 taps and will often have 5 IPAs or Pales. While I love me some hops, even more I love to try new beers and different beer styles.

Thankfully, as home brewers we can make whatever we want and not be beholden to public demands.

the_trout said:

No, but it sure helps. Sure there are lots of malt forward craft beers available but lets not kid ourselves. Hop forward beers are hot right now damn near every craft/micro/nano commercial brewery is making a hop forward Pale, IPA, 2XIPA, Black IPA, Rye PA, Seasonal IPA, ect...

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I agree - the Hop forward beers are definitely the trend right now, and I know people who will drink a Belgian Stong Dark and think it tastes "bland". I can turn around and take a sip of their IPA and think it tastes like perfume - so it is a little harder for me to find great craft beers.

That being said, I find this most apparent at the places that have just Marginal craft selections: they might have 10 "craft" beers on the shelf, but 8 of them will be Pale Ale or IPA, and the other 2 will be wheat beers.

If I want a malt-forward or belgian style, I need to go to a better store or pick up an import commercial example (say smithwicks).

Absolutely not. Hop-forward beers are the trend right now, that's true. But you don't have to like whatever is trendy to be a "true" homebrewer (whatever that means).

In fact, that's the best thing about homebrewing. You can make and drink what you like, even if it's not trending or popular. If there is such a thing as a "true" homebrewer, I think it has more to do with going against the grain (forgive the pun) and enjoying something original.

OP, I myself brew - and drink - malt forward beers. I keep trying IPAs, and while I've found a couple I can drink, I have yet to find one that I really like; I just don't care for intentional bitterness.

Lucky for me, there are plenty of other styles of beer. Belgians, brown ales, and red ales are probably my favorites. I'm becoming more and more a fan of German lagers. I like a nice stout (as long as it isn't so roasty that it tastes burned, or makes me think of licking coffee grounds).

In other words, I tend to prefer balanced beers without any on single radical element.

Others like to push the envelope, like to be punched in the mouth by grapefruity bitterness... more power to them.

Drink what you like, and tell your friend to shove it.

Thank you guys for your input, I will have to email him this thread. While I appreciate the more hop forward beer's place in the beer world I myself favor a malt forward style. The one thing that I have picked up on this forum during my first brew is that there are ALOT of different styles and to each their own. I think he had just had one too many of my bland "golden monkey" and he has bout 6 more brews under his belt than me so he felt like he had to show me up with his "knowledge". I have noticed though how trendy all the IPA and such seem to be, has there ever been a period of time when Belgians (my favorite) were trendy?

Gotta ask......hop forward, malt forward, what does that mean? Thanks for the education

Naah this argument is crazy. Anyone who enjoys good beer, who is willing to try different styles simply because they enjoy the experience, is a craft beer lover. There are different levels of course, from casual to BJCP master taster, but in the end its about the love of beer. Not one kind of beer, all beer.

scrapes said:

Gotta ask......hop forward, malt forward, what does that mean? Thanks for the education

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Hop forward means the dominant flavor is hops, malt forward means the dominant flavor is the malt. Hops add bitterness, and pine, grass, herbs, floral, and citrus flavors depending on the style/use. Think IPAs, American Pale ales, etc. Very hop forwards beers can taste almost perfumey.

Malt forward means the malt is the dominant flavor. Malt comes from the grains and is much sweeter and has caramel flavors on the lightly roasted side and dark, smokey, chocolate, coffee like flavors on the dark side. Bocks, ESBs, porters, stouts, and some Belgian beers are malt forward. Super malty beers can taste almost syrupy.

In a way, they're the yin and yang of your beer and the trick to brewing is finding the appropriate balance for the style you're trying to brew.

To the OP: some people think that as you get better at beer you'll learn to like hoppy beers and use the IBUs as a measuring stick. Rubbish. There are good beers of all kinds!

timduncan200021 said:

Thank you guys for your input, I will have to email him this thread. While I appreciate the more hop forward beer's place in the beer world I myself favor a malt forward style. The one thing that I have picked up on this forum during my first brew is that there are ALOT of different styles and to each their own. I think he had just had one too many of my bland "golden monkey" and he has bout 6 more brews under his belt than me so he felt like he had to show me up with his "knowledge". I have noticed though how trendy all the IPA and such seem to be, has there ever been a period of time when Belgians (my favorite) were trendy?

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I would think that time would be now... it seems to me that the age of the extream IPA is starting to pass.
In my opinion to be a true home brewer you have to brew... at home

I like hop forward brews, Torpedo, Doublewide, Ruination ECT. But I also like mild malty beers like Bitter. My personal favorite style for ordinary consumption is a good APA.

Craft beer describes so many styles that to point out just one is absurd. Drink and brew what you like, I do.

Rick

I am a hop head. I love you lots of hop flavor and aroma.
I like to be hit with overpowering hop aroma from a fresh pint.

If it wouldn't cost so much, I would hang an ounce of fresh hops for air freshener in my truck every couple days.

Hoppy beer is not what got me into good beer though.
Rich dark beers is what got me into quality beer.

I would love to see a 6 pack of Deschutes Chocolate Stout on my grocery store shelf.

As home brewers we can help get other types of beers being produced.
When you share a really good beer with someone and it's not an IPA you're helping to spread the love of other types of beer.

Micro breweries aren't that different than BMC.

If there is a large demand for a particular quality beer, they will start to fill that demand.

My tastes are always changing. I've never been a hop head, though my wife is. I used to like scottish ales but lately the pure maltyness doesn't thrill me either. So I prefer a good mild blend of both sides like in a English bitter. I really want to try the Munich Helles stuff. I also like nut browns and a belgian wit.

Seems a lot of homebrewers go through the "let's see how many hops I can cram in a 5 gallon batch" phase. Either that, or "let's see how high of an ABV I can make". Often times it's both. And that goes for craft drinkers who don't brew as well. For a lot of folks, it passes.

I've gotten to a point where I find IPAs boring. The market is saturated, and it takes a damned good one to impress me. And the same for high alcohol. I'm garnering a real respect (and trying to brew a lot) for well-balanced session beers.

There's a boatload of styles out there. And there's great examples of every single one of them. And merit to every single one. And many are NOT hop head beers. So tell your friend to shove it.

Personally I think "hophead" is not entirely accurate to describe someone who prefers bitter beers (strictly an opinion, here). There's such a wide variety of hops that are great for dryhopping or hopbursting that I think an affinity for aroma should be equal to an affinity for bitterness if someone were a true "hophead."

mattd2 said:

I would think that time would be now... it seems to me that the age of the extream IPA is starting to pass.

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I hope so. Don't get me wrong - I love a good IPA but I'm honestly tired of seeing 100 beers, and 98 of them have "Hopsplosion" or "Hopsopocolypse" or "Hopres". There is a flavour other than bitter.

Everywhere I look now, I see Saisons.

45_70sharps said:

If you are a hophead, you have to go to craft beers.
If you like craft beers, you don't have to like hoppy beer at all.

Think stouts and porters for a couple examples of very common craft beers.

I do love Black Butte!

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100% in agreement. Although if you ever tell the bartender you're a homebrewer, they automatically give you a sample of their enamel-remover. I give it a low-ball BJCP review and order a porter.

I've been making less hoppy beers for the last few years. I find that those disappear quickly, whereas the really hoppy ones don't. We like hoppy beers enough, but don't always want to be overwhelmed by hops.

That said, my next batch is going to be a Ruination clone. But to my point above, I'm going to bottle this one rather than keg it. I don't need to have 5 gallons of something I need to be in the mood for sitting in my one keg.

BigRob said:

Everywhere I look now, I see Saisons.

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That is a beautiful world you live in then. I can't find good commercial saisons around here. I brew my own.

I don't mind a boarding insanity iipa I also don't mind a super malty roasty stout I tend to shoot for balance in my homebrew though. if I'm going to sit down and have a beer with friends and family I'm not going to test the limits of a sharable beer. Beer is social to me. Do I brew ipas? Yes. Would I brew only ipas? No. If I did I think it would turn people off from drinking my beer. One overly hoppy brew for someone who can't take the bitterness, and I've ruined them for homebrew.

Didn't say they were GOOD hah!

timduncan200021 said:

I have a friend who has been homebrewing for a couple months, and has a couple brews under his belt. We got into a "discussion" on whether you have to like a hoppy beer in order to be A true home brewer? He enjoys heavy hopped IPA's and I enjoy more off Belgian tripel or almost any of the less hopped beers. What's your input?i know this is ridiculous and that each brewer and drinker has their own taste and style they enjoy but just bear with me I need a little I put to settle this.

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The phrase "a true ____" is such BS.

From what I've read it seems like some of the Belgian styles are the more technically difficult styles to make and brewing beers focusing on hops probably don't have to rely on complicated mashing techniques. It seems like there are galaxies of sub-categories within homebrewing and to say that favoring any particular one makes you the consummate brewer is foolish.

Arrheinous said:

The phrase "a true ____" is such BS.

From what I've read it seems like some of the Belgian styles are the more technically difficult styles to make and brewing beers focusing on hops probably don't have to rely on complicated mashing techniques. It seems like there are galaxies of sub-categories within homebrewing and to say that favoring any particular one makes you the consummate brewer is foolish.

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"No True Scotsman" and such.

I'd venture to say making a good Belgian (or Hefe, or anything potently estery and phenolic) is actually quite easy. Making a great one is a little tougher. Same thing with a Dry Stout. Easy to make a good one, hard to make a great one.

I'd say your lighter lagers are the hardest ones to make. That's how you know whether or not someone actually knows what they're talking about- if you call BMC bad beer, you're proving your lack of brewing knowledge. Calling it boring, tasteless, etc, are valid subjective assessments. But calling it badly made crappy beer is not. And I'd wager folks who say it is are the same ones saying you have to be a hophead to enjoy craft beer.

Atonk said:

Personally I think "hophead" is not entirely accurate to describe someone who prefers bitter beers (strictly an opinion, here). There's such a wide variety of hops that are great for dryhopping or hopbursting that I think an affinity for aroma should be equal to an affinity for bitterness if someone were a true "hophead."

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I agree. It doesn't have to be bitter at all. I prefer my IPA's to have very balanced bitterness and be late addition/dryhop bombs. I guess that makes me a hop head, but I also love a good malt forward beer.

45_70sharps said:

If you are a hophead, you have to go to craft beers.
If you like craft beers, you don't have to like hoppy beer at all.

Think stouts and porters for a couple examples of very common craft beers.

I do love Black Butte!

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:yup: I am a rare exception that I can not really stand hoppy beers, and stay away from IPAs as much as possible.. (other some home brewed ones have been good to sample..)

I like smooth and malty beers.. and there are a lot of craft beers like that..

Just don't get anything with the word IPA in it if you don't like hops. Search for the word Ale (but Not PALE), Scottish Ales, Stouts, Porters, etc.. can be some find non-hoppy drinking.

I would say you definitely don't have to be a hop head. I enjoy a good balanced beer more than one someone dumped a basket of hops into the pot to prove something. There's a little bit more to it then cramming a bunch of hops in and calling it great because you can literally taste nothing else. I have friends that will drink nothing but super hoppy beer and to me that is missing out on everything else. And that's a shame.