How things change.

Rummaging though some boxes, I found an IPA recipe from 1998. THREE ounces of hops and no Cascades! That was "out there" for the time. By 2002, we were making Stiffy with 12-14 ounces.

Still miss Guzzleboy.

Guzzleboy was your brewing partner? I assume you made a lot more batches when you had someone to suck it down like crazy.

I don't have a brewing partner, and I almost always brew alone. I do have a drinking partner though, and he makes it hard to keep production up to consumption.

I know that my tastes have changed dramatically since I started brewing. I used to think a hoppy beer was Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, and made almost all malty beers.

I can remember mentioning here on the forum a couple of years ago that Capital Brewery's Blonde Dopplebock was my all time favorite beer. I still like it- but whoa is it a malt bomb! I'm trying to still be open to other beers, but a hoppy beer with cascades is one of the best things I can put in my mouth. Those American C-hops (and lots of them) have changed me. I'm really getting into amarillo hops, too, because I'm loving that "in your face" citrus bite.

^^^
I can relate to that. The first time I had a Sam Adams or SNPA, I didn't like it because it was too bitter. I don't consider myself a hop-head, but I certainly don't think Sam Adams is too hoppy anymore.

YooperBrew said:

Those American C-hops (and lots of them) have changed me. I'm really getting into amarillo hops, too, because I'm loving that "in your face" citrus bite.

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I love me some Amarillo. It smells just like a tangerine to me.

Have you tried Citra yet? I brewed an APA and split the Citra with Centennial at all the late additions. It's got a super tropical fruit salad aroma with just a hint of catty/herbaceous spiciness. Really like it.

Yeah, Micheal was his real name. He drank about 80% of each batch. Tall, skinny and never gained a pound. Had one too many motorcycle accidents.

Odd, but many people here are moving away from massively hopped IPAs. The last Heart of the Valley meeting, there were NO IPAs at all, not even an APA. Lots of Belgians and dark beers. Even the beer fests are getting more balanced. 5 years ago, they'd be 80-90% IPAs.

david_42 said:

Odd, but many people here are moving away from massively hopped IPAs. The last Heart of the Valley meeting, there were NO IPAs at all, not even an APA. Lots of Belgians and dark beers. Even the beer fests are getting more balanced. 5 years ago, they'd be 80-90% IPAs.

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I don't go to many homebrew club meetings (nearest meetings are usually 60 miles away from me) but I've noticed that too. Belgians are way more common, and people are getting more and more into sour beers.

It seems to me that I'm about 5 years (or more) behind the trends. Just like in the rest of my life!

YooperBrew said:

I don't go to many homebrew club meetings (nearest meetings are usually 60 miles away from me) but I've noticed that too. Belgians are way more common, and people are getting more and more into sour beers.

It seems to me that I'm about 5 years (or more) behind the trends. Just like in the rest of my life!

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I say screw trends. I just like Pale Ales. I like others, really enjoyed malty beers when I first started drinking ales, but now, I may brew one batch of porter, stout, brown, or belgians every 6 months. I just genuinely enjoy the flavor of hops. I can tell you what, buying hops in bulk is dang near the only way I see making all these IPA's and APA's possible though (unless of course you grow them yourself).

Well nice thing about this hobby is you can say screw the trends and brew what YOU want to drink.

YooperBrew said:

I don't go to many homebrew club meetings (nearest meetings are usually 60 miles away from me) but I've noticed that too. Belgians are way more common, and people are getting more and more into sour beers.

It seems to me that I'm about 5 years (or more) behind the trends. Just like in the rest of my life!

Click to expand...

Definately seems that "sour" is the new "hoppy," although not sure how I feel about that. Sour beers - even ones that I know are outstanding examples, like the Dutchess - aren't REALLY my thing. There's a few examples I've had, Russian River beers, that I loved, but otherwise it's mostly ranged from "meh" to "blech!"

I too have noticed this.

I was thinking the other day, I haven't brewed and "American" style beer in almost 2 years.

Irish Red, German Alt, Irish Stouts...

I haven't made an IPA since my last "cleanup" IPA which was just all the leftover hops in the 1/4 or 1/2 oz I didn't use in other batches.

Not that I'm against hops, as I love a good hoppy beer (HopDevil), but I just haven't felt that urge.

I'm sure the hop shortage and $3/oz+ sure helped that trend as people slowed the regular brewing of hoppy beers because they became too expensive.

As the hop prices stabilize, I bet more hoppy homebrews will be made.