Anybody else not a big fan of highly hopped beers?

StoutFan said:

I think hop aroma and hop bitterness can live together in harmony if the brew is done to taste. I love the sweeter aroma's and spiciness, but not overly bitter. Balance I think can be achieved depending on what style, personal preference, and (IMHO) temp.

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My thoughts exactly.

I used to like them, but it got out of hand 4-5 years ago and the beers stopped tasting like beer, just bitter hop water. Example: Racer X, Bear Republic. Great beer in 2002-3 I'd buy gallon boxes at the brewpub. Had one at a fest last year, gross! I mostly brew on the dark side and it isn't a good place for a hophead. Had a couple Dark IPAs at the last club meeting. I understand what the brewer was trying to do, but the hops ran rough-shod over the caramel & malt.

If buying beer, I tend to stay away from IPAs. Rahrs Stormcloud is good though.

SWMBO usually says beers taste too bitter so the honey wheat in primary now has no hops at all.

david_42 said:

it got out of hand 4-5 years ago and the beers stopped tasting like beer, just bitter hop water.

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+1 My thoughts exactly!

I always thought I was the only homebrewer in the world that wasn't a hophead.
I would get a recipe from a friend, or online, and I would always cut back on the hops. Sometimes I would cut the hops in half. show me the malt, baby!

Bernie Brewer said:

I always thought I was the only homebrewer in the world that wasn't a hophead.
I would get a recipe from a friend, or online, and I would always cut back on the hops. Sometimes I would cut the hops in half. show me the malt, baby!

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I've always felt and done the same. Not only do I not really enjoy the taste much but I have horrible sinus problems and high IBU's means swollen sinuses for me. Not fun.

KingBrianI said:

this reminds me of wasabi. when i first started eating sushi i'd use just a little and wham! it would smack me on the face. next time i needed a little more to get the same effect. and on and on until now my soy sauce is thick and clump with the stuff. mmm wasabi...

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and nothing goes better with sushi than a highly hopped IPA.

david_42 said:

I used to like them, but it got out of hand 4-5 years ago and the beers stopped tasting like beer, just bitter hop water...

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I agree. I'm a fan of the maltier, later hop addition beers. I guess that is why Bells appeals to me. Even my Hb's are a bare minimum of bittering hops and everything else goes in at 20 minutes or less. Love the flavor and aroma...but give me a break when it comes to eye watering bitterness.

BierMuncher said:

I agree. I'm a fan of the maltier, later hop addition beers. I guess that is why Bells appeals to me. Even my Hb's are a bare minimum of bittering hops and everything else goes in at 20 minutes or less. Love the flavor and aroma...but give me a break when it comes to eye watering bitterness.

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Bells is my absolute favorite. However when I talk about how much I love hops, Two Hearted is the first thing that comes to mind. I guess I interpret hops to mean both their bittering qualities and the flavor aroma you get from a bells. I detect very little bittering in it, just a nice sharp crisp taste and all that flavor!

Just last night I noticed that I had two forgotten Two Hearted's in the bottom door of the fridge (SWMBO must have moved them, I would never disrespect them in that way) I was like a kid at Christmas.

I think hops are a necessary evil, best used in moderation. I once tried a Stone IPA and poured it out in the yard.

I think Bell's HopSlam is a good example of an IPA that can have a lot of hop flavor and aroma, but not be mouth puckering bitter. The honey lets it finish really clean, you don't taste it as much as it's presence does not let the hops take over.

BeerRunner said:

I once tried a Stone IPA and poured it out in the yard.

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+10...Horrible.. It was a Stone Ruination..I think that's a Stone product...

not a huge hops fan but its growing on me. i havent made it to enjoying ipa's yet but they are becoming tolerable.

Eh, I would have to fall into the 'im on the fence' category but leaning towards maybe not so much. I went ahead and grabbed a couple of beers last night (ironically Stone Arrogant Bastard, and Stone IPA) I started out with the IPA as it was my 'first' experience with an IPA. And wow... It was something! VERY fragrant and VERY hoppy. Its like my daughter said - 'It smells like flowers with beer in it'

Yes it is an acquired taste, and I can foresee myself possibly becoming a fan in the future. But for now, I dont think the highly hopped beers are quite a fav yet. The Arrogant Bastard was quite hoppy as well, but nowhere NEAR that IPA that I slowly drank.

Those beers were at least drinkable to me - that awfulbock (Doppelbock) I tried was just disgusting. (IMO)
-Me

JoeMama said:

Eh, I would have to fall into the 'im on the fence' category but leaning towards maybe not so much.

Yes it is an acquired taste, and I can foresee myself possibly becoming a fan in the future. But for now, I dont think the highly hopped beers are quite a fav yet. The Arrogant Bastard was quite hoppy as well, but nowhere NEAR that IPA that I slowly drank.

Those beers were at least drinkable to me - that awfulbock (Doppelbock) I tried was just disgusting. (IMO)
-Me

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If you like AB(somewhat hoppy) better than the Doppelbock(malty) then I believe IPA's are in your future

When i first had a hoppy beer I really didnt care for it to much. After consuming more of them i started to like them. So I think it is just a thing you need to get used to.

I agree with the original post in this thread. I love hops, but many American IPAs are frankly overhopped, in my opinion. I think you can have too much of a good thing, and beer becomes unbalanced with too high a concentration of hops.

Oh yeah --- I used to love me a good IPA back in 1998 - 2000 or so, but the the taste buds have made a retreat from hoppy-land.

And the growing hopitization of all brews (esp American origin) is a clear and present danger for those of us who go for a more balanced or milder brew.

And a trip to Germany pretty much cinched that with some of the very smooth brews I had there - this one being the best:
Brauerei Bischoff Winnweiler -- http://www.bischoff-bier.de --

Notice the description --- milde Dunkle --- mild dark

Like drinking beer flavored silk ......

So I mainly brew ambers - darks

I'm a hophead. Didn't used to be, but time changes things. I recently have decided to open my horizons again and try some different directions.

I drank a Dubbel last night, and barely choked it down. Too tart and weird for me. I just don't enjoy the sour taste. I do like the trippels and golden ales and stuff, but not that dubbel.

I also recently tried a porter again, after a long absence, and really liked it. But, generally, I like the APA, IPA, IIPA, ect. Cascade and Centennial flavors and aroma are good for me.

I seem to be more of a Bavarian beer kind of guy. I really like Hefe's and Dunkel's. Also on the list of likes is most any kind of Bock.
I'm also a big fan of most anything by Unibroue and most beers by Dieu Du Ciel in Montreal.

to the OP (i didn't read the whole thread) see this post. https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f14/funny-how-your-tastebuds-can-change-36471/

long story short. keep drinking beer. it's ALL good. :fro:

I'm not a big fan of the ultra-bitter stuff either. I can see where people like it, and have a couple friends that love it.

What bothers me most about it, is that it seems to be the trend lately. The more hoppy your beer is, the better it is. Some companies, Flying Dog I think, have started labeling their brews so that you can tell what the bitterness is going to be like.

Others though, are a stab in the dark it seems like. I bought a Rogue Double Deady Guy and a Rogue Double Imperial Stout. Something on the order of $15 per bottle. I was so sad to find out that they are unbelievably hoppy (to me anyway). Perhaps I just need to improve my reading comprehension skills.

My first IPA was not a fan, now a ruination is a nice relaxing hoppy beer.

I was a hater on IPAs just a few years ago. Thought they were "trendy" and just high abv to get ****ed up. When I started brewing though and bought some fresh centennial and cascde hops I fell in love with hoppy beers. Now I put hops in everything. Not doing the counting now but at least 8 of my top 10 commercial beers are hoppy and most of those are IPAs.

Zoidberg said:

I was a hater on IPAs just a few years ago. Thought they were "trendy" and just high abv to get ****ed up. When I started brewing though and bought some fresh centennial and cascde hops I fell in love with hoppy beers. Now I put hops in everything. Not doing the counting now but at least 8 of my top 10 commercial beers are hoppy and most of those are IPAs.

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5 years...well done sir

I only occasionally want a very hoppy beer.


In that case, I would prefer something with a nice hop character and flavor, as opposed to just trying to achieve more IBUs. I have no use for a "hop bomb".

The more refined my pallet gets, the less I want to blow it out with hops.

I enjoy a good IPA or IIPA still on occasion. Have to be in the right mood.

Unfortunately I still think too many breweries are still caught up on the IPA kick and spend too much time developing a bazillion different IPA's instead of branching out. They are marketed well enough that the local stores seem to think IPA's are the only thing the customer wants.

Its amazing how individual taste is. Last year when I started brewing I hated IPA's, my wife really hated them. However I was a Guinness fan and she hated that too. Only thing she would drink is a very bland lager or ale.
Now? We both are hop heads, in fact we prefer then to almost any other style. She also has gotten to love porter and stouts. Life is good! So you can acquire tastes

I'm no hop head. I prefer a balance between malt and hops.


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I'm a hop head for sure but still enjoy a good lightly hopped brew on occasion. I've said for years that one can brew a crappy beer and load it up with hops and people will drink it.


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I honestly think its all due to preference like i said, I DO NOT have a very refined pallet. I need strong tastes in my beer to get my attention. Someone with a refined pallet can detect subtle differences and a strong hop presence can cover up these subtle flavors

Talonracer67 said:

I honestly think its all due to preference like i said, I DO NOT have a very refined pallet. I need strong tastes in my beer to get my attention. Someone with a refined pallet can detect subtle differences and a strong hop presence can cover up these subtle flavors

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I tend to be the same way. I need bold flavors. My cooking and brewing shows that. Some people love my cooking, but it can be a bit overpowering to others.

Workin' on being a hop-head.

I tried a simple IPA that came out pleasant and rather hoppy. I still prefer Porters, Stouts, and Browns. All that malty, chocolate, and coffee goodness in varying proportions

So may beers, so little time.

Interesting thread. I wonder how much the seasons have to do with what I drink....Being from the northeast I tend to Drink and brew IPA's in the summer, Pales in fall and porters in the winter and yeasty Belgiums in the spring..Not sure why But that tends to be the trend for me. I love IPA's but something about the cold makes me not want to drink them in the winter.

uncleozzy said:

Honestly, I used to think I was a hop-head, but it turns out that I'd rather have hop flavor and aroma than bitterness. Lots of late-addition and dry-hops, and just enough actual bitterness in the background to balance the malt. DIPAs always seem like too much of a good thing to me

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I've recently come to the same conclusion, hops can equal flavour without the bitter. Then again I've always claimed to not like "overly bitter" beers, and never said anything bad about hops.

jharres said:

Hoppy beers seem to be all the rage. I think some people go overboard with it. I have a friend who drinks the hoppiest beers he can find and is quite proud of it. I just have to shake my head. It's almost like buying a hoppier beer is a status symbol.

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Sad how true this is.

I think somewhere at the begining of this thread I said I don't like them but recently I have been buying the very hoppy beers and I like one or two now and then, refreshing change. That said I recently bought a six pack of Samuel Adams latitude 48 and I think that one might have crossed the boundry of too hoppy.

I'm in the Bay Area and hop levels do seem to get associated with "beer cred" a lot here. I'm personally not a big fan of heavily hopped beers because I have an incredibly poor sense of smell (can't smell a road-killed skunk); so beers that rely on their aromas tend to just taste overly bitter to me.

That said, I think if I'm drinking beer that is more heavily hopped than my usual, I can usually "step up" in IBUs much higher than if I were drinking less hoppy beers and still enjoy them. My father-in-law thinks i'm killing my tastebuds.

It's that "beer cred" phenomenon that really makes me laugh. I don't know how many times I've heard "when your pallet improves" or something similar, you will learn to appreciate a more hoppy beer. As if you just moved over from Milwaukee's Best. I think when your pallet becomes more developed, you will be more interested in balance, subtle yeast flavors, or the malt backbone of a good pilsner.

I like to taste different hops, but don't like to taste nothing else.