Hoppy beers a trend?

I just had a Sam Adam's summer ale the other night and could barely drink it since it was too sweet and malty for me. I like beers that are bitter and refreshing so call me hipster if you like I'm still gonna drink what I like

I think in my area, BEER in general is making big strides. When I was in college 5+ years ago, you didn't see nearly as many non BMC choices. Granted part of this is my own awareness increasing. But we're seeing an explosion of breweries in the state. I think it's like wine 10 years ago. It was huge and a lot of people got into it big and started wineries. The good ones are still around and still doing well. The mediocre ones have gone away.

I hope we keep the interest in beer. I don't see it going away, but I see it leveling out and/or evolving.

funnycreature said:

I just had a Sam Adam's summer ale the other night and could barely drink it since it was too sweet and malty for me. I like beers that are bitter and refreshing so call me hipster if you like I'm still gonna drink what I like

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Agreed. I could drink 1 APA or IPA and feel more refreshed than having several sweeter beers. Sure, it took some time to work my palette up to that point, but I really enjoy it now. Whether that's being trendy or not, I don't care.

Although the conventional wisdom right now seems to be, "you can't be a craft brewery unless you make at least 1 IPA," I'm sure that the brewing trends will more in another direction given enough time.

funnycreature said:

I just had a Sam Adam's summer ale the other night and could barely drink it since it was too sweet and malty for me. I like beers that are bitter and refreshing so call me hipster if you like I'm still gonna drink what I like

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I purchased a sa summer pack and couldn't stand almost any of them. Boston lager was the best of the bunch and it isn't seasonal. I like hops, enjoy ipas when the mood strikes, but every one had fruit or spices. Don't love fruit and spices are usually overdone.

Wait, I thought "Hipsters" only drank PBR?

Yeah, until it got to be cool to drink PBR ironically, so they had to find something else.

I almost didn't get into craft beer because of IPA saturation around me. The first craft beer I ever tried was DFH60 on tap at a restaurant. I had an interest in trying something craft and a friend of mine told me to try anything from DFH because it's all excellent. Yeah, I could barely choke it down.

Fast forward six months or so. My also new to craft beer FIL bought a sixer of Long Trail IPA and gave me four bottles because he didn't like it. I could barely choke that down as well.

Fast forward a year or so, and my wife's uncle (a homebrewer) practically forced me to drink a Scottish 60 he made after hearing about the beers I've tried up to that point and my dislike for them. It was like someone finally flipped the switch.

So ultimately I began brewing because I simply couldn't find styles I liked in the stores near me, which were full of IPAs and lagers.

Just a couple weeks ago, I had a commercial porter that seriously had black IPA levels of hop flavor that took over the whole palate. Made me glad I can brew porters how I feel they should be.

Mike37 said:

Made me glad I can brew **INSERT FAVORITE BEER STYLE** how I feel they should be.

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doesn't get any simpler than this

Its weird that a lot of people are saying they can't find the beer styles they like in stores...sure there are plenty of IPAs but I've never really encountered a store (note: a store where I actually trust to buy craft beer and not crap that's been sitting for months and/or has had poor transportation/storage practices) that didn't have other varieties as well. Secondly, sure there are styles out there that are hard to find, but THAT'S NOT BECAUSE IPAS HAVE TAKEN OVER, ITS BECAUSE THOSE STYLES DON'T SELL ENOUGH. Not sure why everyone is blaming IPAs for the lack of availability of their other preferred style of beer when their own preferred style of beer is only liked by a small population...why stock beer shelves with a plethora of other beer styles when they aren't going to sell? It looks like all of you who dislike IPAs are going to have to try harder to find the styles you like just like with every other consumer based commodity...

I don't mean to start anything, but my economics background just kicked in and I had to get that out on (virtual) paper.

funnycreature said:

I just had a Sam Adam's summer ale the other night and could barely drink it since it was too sweet and malty for me. I like beers that are bitter and refreshing so call me hipster if you like I'm still gonna drink what I like

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I prefer my beers a little bit on the bitter side, too. I don't think I could sit down and drink more than a few Summer Ale's without wanting to switch to something else. That being said, next up on my list to brew is a SA Summer Ale clone. Why? Cuz halfway through mowing the lawn on a sweltering day, that's my go-to break beer, served refreshingly cold.

funnycreature said:

I just had a Sam Adam's summer ale the other night and could barely drink it since it was too sweet and malty for me. I like beers that are bitter and refreshing so call me hipster if you like I'm still gonna drink what I like

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Me too. I had some Rogue Dead Guy Ale last week and couldn't drink it alone or with various food - it tasted like somebody dumped sugar into a real beer.