Changing tastes, due to brewing???

[stratslinger]

A couple years ago, when I first got interested in brewing, I had quite different tastes than I do now... I was already well into the non-BMC camp - I tended heavily towards brown ales, porters, stouts, and various german lagers (Bocks, Double Bocks, Oktoberfest/Marzen, etc). When first considering brewing, I figured I'd be big into making these big malt bomb type of beers...

So, I started helping out a buddy who took the plunge earlier than I did, got a chance to learn the process, but my pallette didn't change dramatically. I was still into mostly the same styles - but I definitely gained more of an appreciation for the aroma of hops, at least...

However, at the start of this year, I started brewing on my own. I've still got less than 10 of my own batches under my belt, but I've begun to develop a much greater appreciation for hoppy beers, and I notice a seemingly similar trend around HBT; it seems like a very large majority of folks around here are really into hops. At the same time, my brewing buddy has seemingly developed more of a taste for hops - a couple of the brews he's come up with recently have been very much the direction I'd like to start exploring!

Is this possibly some side-effect of brewing? Or is it more because that's a major direction in the craft brewing industry these days, and homebrewers and craft beer lovers tend to intersect?

Just thought it was a curious thing, is all...

 

[kpr121]

Or is it more because that's a major direction in the craft brewing industry these days, and homebrewers and craft beer lovers tend to intersect?

This. Although its sort of a Chicken or the Egg type of question, homebrewing is directly related to craft brewing as far as styles and trends go. The great thing about homebrewing is you can buck the trend if you want!

Me personally, I've been trending the opposite direction. My first real craft brews were Dogfish 60 min and Troegs Nugget Nectar. My last 6-8 batches have been mostly malty or at least less hoppy than I would have liked 2 years ago. The combination of this thread and looking at my beer resume in my sig made me realize I need a DIPA in the rotation ASAP! Thanks for that!

 

[Yooper]

I've really become a hophead over the last few years myself, and now so has my husband. I used to make quite a few German lagers, and some nut brown ales, and even make a Dead Guy clone often. Now, I brew probably 4 hoppy beers to every non-hoppy beers, maybe even more!

On tap right now, I have two hoppy APAs and an IPA. There is a Belgian pale ale coming, but the next beer I'm brewing will be an IPA. I just LOVE the hops!

I think the craft brewing "hot item" lately has been sours, though. I just can't really get into sours, even though I've tried.

 

[makomachine]

I've progressed from hop centric to more malt centric beers recently. That said, I have found a much broader love and appreciation for different styles than I've ever had before. To me, home brewing has opened doors to styles I didn't previously appreciate or even know existed.

 

[rexbanner]

Hopefully it stops there. It's totally spoiled me on beer. I'm not a beer snob, but I have no enthusiasm for 90% of beers out there.

 

[TopherM]

I have been a craft brew drinker every since I had a few bucks in my pocket. I started brewing in December and have 14 extract batches and 4 AG BIAB batches under my belt.

Now that the fall seasonals are coming out, I am finding that the same fall seasonals that I thought were GREAT beers last year, I am having this year and thinking, "I could make it better than that." There are still some great commercial craft brews, but I'd just assume drink my own versions.

 

[IffyG]

I think I have drifted towards preferring bolder flavors in general in beer. Stuff that I used to drink regularly and thought was fantastic before I started brewing now seems pretty insipid to me. When I getting into craft beer, I tended towards amber ales and now they taste like water to me.

 

[Sardoman]

Another reason we might enjoy hoppy beers more as homebrewers has to do with freshness. Hoppy beers shine brightest when they are fresher, yet distribution and retail can make it difficult to get beer from a commercial brewery while it is at its best. I think people often get good, but not-so-fresh hoppy beers at the store and find them ho-hum.

 

[solbes]

I can see myself doing the same, gravitating towards hoppy beer. But I am fighting it to some extent. If I drink APA's or IPA's exclusively for a week or so most of the other beer appears kinda bland. I really don't want to let go of my ESB's, nut browns, belgian dubbels, wheat beers, pilsner lagers, etc.

So I still drink the hoppy stuff, but I space them out. One of my favorite things about beer is all the different varieties out there. I don't want to spend all my time in one corner.

 

[HexKrak]

I've been a bit of a hop-head since before I started brewing, but my tastes are incredibly fickle. I brew more pale ales than dark, but not by much. The more variety I brew the less burned out I get on any one thing.

 

[stratslinger]

I guess what really got me thinking was dinner with SWMBO the other night... I've traditionally really dug this time of year, as the Oktoberfests start becoming available. I ordered a Spaten Oktoberfest (one of my favorites over the past couple of years), and it just didn't do it for me like it has in years past.

 

[Coolmac]

One thing I've learnt about beer since I started drinking craft beers (and more so since I started brewing), is that variety is what I like more than anything else. And it seems that along with this, is a slower bouncing between enjoying mostly hoppy or mostly malty beers.

For the last year, it was almost all English styled malty ales, but recently the need for hops has increased dramatically. No doubt, in a years time (or less), the swing back to malty will have happened.

 

[ozzy1038]

I'm a hop freak! I am really intrigued by an article I read recently which mentions very late additions of hops to get the desired IBU's, but also to have intense hop flavor and aroma. I love APA's and IPA's, but I am really excited to brew a lower IBU hop bomb. Considering how much I love Ed Wort's Haus Pale Ale, that will probably be my lab rat brew if you will.

 

[david_42]

I started as a hop-head, but I can get hoppy beers just about anywhere around here. So, I don't brew them any more. I focus on brews that are harder to find. Since getting married last year, the wife and I have even been experimenting with non-hopped beers/gruits.

 

[SarahMatt]

I've progressed from hop centric to more malt centric beers recently. That said, I have found a much broader love and appreciation for different styles than I've ever had before. To me, home brewing has opened doors to styles I didn't previously appreciate or even know existed.

++1 Yep!!
I've learned and read so much that I'll try anything twice. I loved when my LHBS had Maharajah on tap....but have a Dead Guy clone fermenting now. The ability to take 4 ingredients and make them taste completely different is magic!!