Seriously? Give me a break with the hops already.

[robtotten]

I'm generally not a fan of hop bombs, but whatever... To each their own I guess! I do love Stone Sublimely Self Righteous, I can't get enough of that stuff. I prefer beer that's a little more subtle, ESBs and Sierra Nevada have a nice level of bitterness for knocking back a six pack, but for session drinking I usually won't even go that hoppy.

I don't get it. I like a good IPA, but these over the top, hopbomb, I can cram more hops in a beer than you can, offerings are not my cup of tea.

I'm learning that somewhere between an IPA and a Double Super Hops Up Your ass IPA is where I get off the train.

Sometimes I don't see it coming, and that is even more annoying. I drank a 2011 Big foot Barleywine. I know Sierra Nevada loves the hops, but this thing was nearly undrinkable.

Thank you West Coast, for taking a good thing, and taking it too damn far.

 

[ooguyx]

I think that the hops love stems from all the hipsters and the Sam Adams commercials that advertised a whole 1lb of hops!

 

[luvhopps]

Watch out that Miller Lite is triple hop brewed, damn I hate those hop bombs.

 

[nymtber]

I'll take PBR over most IPA's any day. I recently had some Saranac IPA and it was balanced at least. But then again I am a brown and darker beer lover, so Hops are not so much a part of my beer love

I have tried an IPA that has 2.5lbs hops/barrel. It was liquid perfume. YUCK!

 

[GodsStepBrother]

:

 

[Chase22]

before I began homebrewing, I wasn't a fan of hoppy beers. My favorite was Shiner, a relatively hopless bock. But now that I've seen the light, so to speak, I've gained a real appreciation for big hop profiles, and even consider IPAs to be one of my favorite styles.

 

[EllisTX]

before I began homebrewing, I wasn't a fan of hoppy beers. My favorite was Shiner, a relatively hopless bock. But now that I've seen the light, so to speak, I've gained a real appreciation for big hop profiles, and even consider IPAs to be one of my favorite styles.

I'm in the same boat. Just ordered a few APA's and an IPA from AHS whit a bunch of extra hops. Maybe I'll tire of the hops someday but no time soon.

 

[Whut]

I burned myself out on hoppy beers this winter. So much to the point that I'm just today (since January or so) drinking a Kona Brewing Pale Ale (weak I know). I know I over did it in the sampling of all the great IPA's that made it to the Valley of the Sun this year - next winter I'll pace myself better.

Hopefully my chops will be fully restored in a few weeks since I brewed up 5g of Yoops awesome APA last weekend.

Trace

 

[40watt]

I'll always have something hoppy around in case the mood strikes me.

 

[EarthBound]

Double Bastard actually made me physically sick.

Double Bastard is my favorite beer of all.

 

[Airborneguy]

If anyone ever gives me some, its all yours!

 

[Big_Belgian]

I had a discussion with my dad recently in which I compared this trend to the hot sauce fad a few years ago, when we saw the store shelves suddenly packed with all manner of craft hot sauces, each trying to top one another on the insanely hot scale without regard to taste. Even for someone who loves the heat, the majority of the new trendy sauces were unusable. I think the craft beer experience the past few years has been similar with regard to hops.

That said, I think we're on the back end of that trend. When I go to my favorite beer store these days, I think the newest trend I am seeing is for labels to list abv and many the new (low abv) "session" beers that are coming out. Maybe its just a springtime thing, but my impression is that a huge percentage of the newer beers I see these days are under 5.0%.

 

[madbaldman]

I feel like I should clarify my opinion.

I have an issue with the over hopping trend that commercial "craft" brewers are caught up in. My singular issue is that it affects the kind of beer available for me to purchase.

Sounds like your gripe should be with your supplier and not the brewing industry as a whole. Tell them what you want and I'm sure they'll try to accommodate you. I also weary of the hops arms race but it doesn't bother me a bit. I enjoy the uber IPAs along side the more tradition styles. At my local grocery store I can choose between Hopsecutioner or Harpoon's well balanced IPA. Lately I've been buying (and making) more traditional styles than the amplified versions (though I'm drinking a Torpedo ale right now). Choice is a good thing.

 

[rycov]

i didn't feel like the hopsecutioner was overly hoppy. it was definately full hopped. but i felt like it was balenced (or whatever). the hops were crisp and flavorfull. wasn't a challenge to finish.

 

[madbaldman]

I don't consider it to be either, but it's far more hoppy than your tradition English style IPA. It's definitely part of the recent trend towards more, more, more..

 

[dunnright00]

Drinking a 100+ IBU Ruination IPA right now, love it!

My mood and tastes change daily, but right now I'm in a hoppy mood!

 

[stevedasleeve]

Hmm I think it is Belgium beers that are hogging the shelves and taps these days. I was at a gig at an 'upscale" bar and all I asked for was an IPA, any IPA. They looked all over - has several on the menu - but the only hoppy beer they could find was Dales Pale ale. Belgian beers, several wheat and wits, craft pilsners a plenty but no IPAs. Wow I said. Second night I brought my own!

 

[rycov]

I don't consider it to be either, but it's far more hoppy than your tradition English style IPA. It's definitely part of the recent trend towards more, more, more..

true. wasn't arguing your point. but thats not one of the ones that bothers me. i just hate when i get a beer that seems like some one should be daring me to drink it. but your right, it does seem like part of the trend. i guess i have more of a problem with too much bittering hops than too much late boil addition hops. (also i'm drunk at this point. looks like i did a pretty good job typing though)

 

[SC_Ryan]

It cracks me up how people get angry about beers that they think are too bitter or too hoppy. If you don't like it don't drink it...

Thank you West Coast, for taking a good thing, and taking it too damn far.

The American craft beer culture, as we know it, was started on the West Coast. Without it's conviction in good beer despite the existing beer market you would still be drinking Budweiser and complaining that Lowenbrau was too bitter. Thank you West Coast for bringing good beer to the United States.

 

[Babylon]

I have yet to find a beer that is too hoppy. The thing that turns me off are beers that are supposed to be hoppy that turn out to be a sweet malty mess.



Beer Advocate is not a good barometer on whether a beer is good or not. The rating system is very flawed and most reviewers seem to think that B is average. I just love the reviews that trash a beer and then rate it a B-. WTF?

I wouldn't use Beer Advocate to tell me if a beer is good or not. However it can give you a good idea of what a beer tastes like.

Personally I am not a Hops fan, I love malt, I love roast, I love ABV. I like a little hops to balance all that out and keep it from tasting too much like candy but my ideal beer is a huge RIS with a real low hops profile.

Good thing I can make my own beer so it suits my tastes huh?

I know what a good IPA should taste like, I know I personally prefer a not very good IPA, but I'd rather drink a good or even not very good stout, porter, or nut brown ale.

I certainly won't bash the hopheads though, or the micros that cater to them. I am all for variety and everyone making and drinking what they love.

 

[jiggs_casey]

I like the occasional hopbomb. I like the occasional 'too hot to eat chicken wing' too...

I think New Belgiums Ranger IPA is a good every day IPA.

 

[tedclev]

Yeah, I can get into some hops for sure, and I like a balanced IPA. And yes, the west coast was very instrumental in bringing craft beer to America. However, it doesn't mean it didn't go too far. I am also sick of seeing buttloads of hops in every kind of beer; it's a sign that the brewer doesn't know how to use malts and relies instead on buckets of hops. Of course, as I said before, I'll try anything once, and if it doesn't appeal to me, then oh well. But come on- the Mikkeller 1000 IBU "IPA"- f-ing absurd. It's the epitome of a good thing gone way too far. It's like drinking the hop break material out of the bottom of your kettle. Nasty sludge!

 

[SC_Ryan]

I am also sick of seeing buttloads of hops in every kind of beer; it's a sign that the brewer doesn't know how to use malts and relies instead on buckets of hops.

Because you don't like the style, it shows a lack of skill by the brewer? Please... Perhaps it's a lack of pallet sophistication on your part to be able to enjoy the intricacies of these strong flavors.

I totally agree that a 1000 IBU beer is just ridiculous, but that was a marketing tactic not a representation of the style. Would you have ever heard of Mikkeller were it not for the 1000 IBU beer? I wouldn't have. I think it was genius (marketing).

 

[Airborneguy]

Actually, SC, its well known that hops are used to cover up flaws in fermentation and malt bills. I'm not saying all of these garbage beers are because of that, but some certainly are.

 

[SC_Ryan]

I use hops for flavor...

 

[unionrdr]

The problem I have with these hop bombs is that you can't taste the malt profile at all on some. Making good beer is not just about the hops. It's about striking a balance between the malt & hops,so both can be appreciated. Or cut some of the sweetness in a malt forward ale with some hops that benefit both the yeast flavors & the resulting malt profile. To me,anyway...

 

[SC_Ryan]

It's about striking a balance between the malt & hops,so both can be appreciated.

By this criteria, a Scottish ale is a poorly executed beer as well because it's unbalanced.

 

[edgeofblade]

Go after Black IPA/Cascadian Dark Ale styles. They are nice and hoppy, but I find them much more balanced with respectable malty presence.

 

[PanzerBanana]

I loves me some monster hops, but in moderation so they're still special.

American beer tastes are leaning toward hoppier beer, I've got that confirmation straight from a local brewery. Which is something that I enjoy about the evolution of beer. Until the growth of craft beer it'd been decades since America boasted beers to be proud of.

And now with tastes and style leaning toward hoppier beer, America now has a distinct character to "American" beer. Some places like sweeter beer, some drier, more balanced, and every combination thereof.

Expecting everything to be standardized and homogenized is just boring. Too many compare apples and oranges and complain because one isn't enough like the other, when the only thing they have in common is being fruit.

Not to say that at times things aren't a might heavy handed with "ultra super mega hop explosion" stuff, but it's something fun and new. Brewers and some drinkers are just having fun with some change. Eventually things will find a balance.

But you may as well accept that "American" beers are going to air on the hoppier side of the flavor spectrum.

 

[TTB-J]

I am a big fan of hops - so I often order the hop bomb du jour at the local. I've noticed, however, that it generally ruins my palette for the rest of the night if I start off with the swift hop kick to the crotch, so now I opt for something more balanced to start and work my way towards sweet or hoppy, depending on my mood. It's kind of like wine tasting - you can't start off with a cotes du rhone and expect to taste much of anything with your second glass.

Honestly, my issue isn't so much with the hop bombs (although I agree there is a pretty big movement towards high ABV, high IBU beers), it's with the lack of regular beers that are characteristic to a style. Half of my desire to get into homebrewing was just to make a good APA that I could drink when I come home from work. Most times I want a good brown ale, or a good amber, or a good stout, porter, etc.

Personally, I have more fun trying to identify subtle differences in what someone is doing within a style than I have with craft breweries trying to take a style and add one or more "twists." Let's put three porters on the table talk about how they are unique in little ways, rather than having a vanilla porter, a bourbon barrel porter, and a double-imperial-cinnamon-sugar-banana-peel-on-the-floor-for-six-days-porter. And maybe it's just the fact that craft breweries feel like they have mastered the basics and are looking for a new challenge or something to keep their brand "fresh." That's fine, but, like I said, that's part of why I started homebrewing - because I feel like it's harder to find straightforward, high quality beers that don't have a million things going on at once.

 

[smurfjuice]

/opens bottle for further analysis

* brilliant *

 

[tedclev]

Because you don't like the style, it shows a lack of skill by the brewer? Please... Perhaps it's a lack of pallet sophistication on your part to be able to enjoy the intricacies of these strong flavors.

I totally agree that a 1000 IBU beer is just ridiculous, but that was a marketing tactic not a representation of the style. Would you have ever heard of Mikkeller were it not for the 1000 IBU beer? I wouldn't have. I think it was genius (marketing).

Ha! No- the problem is that I DO enjoy the varieties of styles and I DO have a sophisticated pallet that enjoys more than just a crapload of hops- anyone can throw in a bunch of hops. I am all for the brewers experimenting and pushing boundaries, and I do love a HopSlam every now and again; you are missing the point. Good super hoppy beers can be made but still be sophisticated. A good example from your coast is Pliny. Not exactly a balanced beer, but it has more going for it than just a lot of hoppiness. From the east coast, Dogfish Head 90 minute IPA is fantastic! My beef is with brewers disregarding any concern for crafting a recipe/beer and just more or less using 1/2 2-row, 1/2 Cascade/Cent./Columbus/Chinook/Amarillo. I also enjoy a great stout, but I know that if the trend started going roastier and roastier until the only thing I could taste is dry burnt roasty character, I would not approve and I'd have the same gripe, same with a chocolate stout that's pretty much only chocolate syrup with a little alcohol. Good things can go too far and not be good anymore. Again, I appreciate the hard work of brewers and so I'll try anything; if I don't like it I don't have to drink it. That's the beauty of diversity.

And Mikkeller- of course I know who he is. He is a very gifted brewer and I am fortunate that my LBS carries about 25 different beers by him, some of which are collabs with BrewDog. Still- 1000 IBU, FAIL. Again!- the epitome of a good thing gone too far. And like you said, you use hops for flavor. That's what they are for. But when all you do is just throw lots and lots and lots of hops every damn second, then you don't have to be a good brewer or make good beer. As another poster said, hops are commonly used to mask errors and/or poor brewing.

 

[leapdog]

But when all you do is just throw lots and lots and lots of hops every damn second, then you don't have to be a good brewer or make good beer. As another poster said, hops are commonly used to mask errors and/or poor brewing.

I just read all 12 pages of this and have a few random comments. First, to the above poster, it sounds like you are contradicting yourself. You say that you don't have to be a good brewer to brew a hop-bomb, but you've listed some examples of GREAT and awful beers in the same style. I think it takes just as much skill to make a balanced and delicious super-hoppy beer as it does to make a subtle beer. I've tried plenty of ipa's that i don't like at all... hop stoopid for example. It's all in what you like, but there is a difference between blindly adding hops and carefully crafting a delicious beer. If people can't tell the difference then it's because their palate isn't fine-tuned to that style and the differences.

I will say that for a while every time I went to a bar it was IPA time, but now I'm leaning back the other way more often. I am also seeing myself looking for more of a malt backbone to go with the extreme amounts of hops.

I would tend to agree that oak aged beers are trending up as well as wilds/sours. those styles are going to become more available in the next few years, although they won't quite make the impact that ipa's have made.

I recently had the pleasure of tasting Big Foot from 1996. Wow... such a smooth and beautiful beer. Amazing to try a beer that was brewed before I even started drinking! So be patient out there. Just hold onto that thing for 15 years and you'll be rewarded.

 

[Airborneguy]

First, to the above poster, it sounds like you are contradicting yourself. You say that you don't have to be a good brewer to brew a hop-bomb, but you've listed some examples of GREAT and awful beers in the same style.

Makes perfect sense:

1. Anyone can toss hops into a boil and create a hop bomb.

2. Not anyone can create finely tuned styles, and here are some examples (blah blah examples)...

Contradictory?

 

[SC_Ryan]

you are missing the point. Good super hoppy beers can be made but still be sophisticated.

That's actually my point exactly. A lot of people who don't have a high taste threshold for bitter often dismiss the style as subpar because they don't personally like it very much.

 

[SC_Ryan]

1. Anyone can toss hops into a boil and create a hop bomb.

Anybody can throw roast malts into a mash tun and make a porter. What's the point?

 

[unionrdr]

What he's saying is it's easy to throw a ton of hops in a brew & call it excellent. But if you can't taste the malt at all,it's skewed too far out of balance. You can have a hoppy beer & still have a good malt profile. Beer is not just about the dozen different hops used,but that it supports the malt profile.

 

[SC_Ryan]

It's easy to ferment an American ale at 85* and call it good. It is true that there are well executed and poorly executed beers of all varieties, hop bombs included. I still don't understand how this is a point that only applies to hoppy beers. Nobody is saying all IIPAs are good because there are a lot of hops in them.

 

[Airborneguy]

Anybody can throw roast malts into a mash tun and make a porter. What's the point?

That would be a crappy porter.

I think the disconnect here is that you are thinking that myself and the other principal poster here who disagrees with you are knocking hoppy-beers in general. You'll have to re-read the posts without that bias to understand our points.

In summary, we both feel like there is an over-abundance of beers out there right now that are over-hopped for no particular reason. There are established hoppy-styles, and of course some outside of the box recipes being made that are enjoyable, but at the same time, there seems to be a trend towards over-hopping every style, and many beers are over-hopped to mask flaws in other parts of the brewing process that are easily identifiable.

Quite frankly, I am a firm believer that Dogfishead puts out very few good beers because of this constant attempt at experimentation.

 

[SC_Ryan]

I understood your point. My original point was that a lot of people like their beers to be hopped up. The fact that it doesn't fit your preference or your definition of balance does not necessarily mean that the brewer is unskilled or covering anything up.