Hoppy beers a trend?

[roymullins]

The IPA trend has send me back to lagers- even at times back to cheap lagers/lawnmower beers... I want to be able to enjoy and sip a smooth brew without having to make a face and have to gargle after drinking a glass full of fresh grass clippings... enough already! I hope to see a return of nice brown ales, red ales, smooth porters and quaffable stouts- even a real pale ale that has a nice hop bite but is balanced with malt and alcohol.. instead of a 9% mess with a half a pound if dandelion leaves in it!

 

[progmac]

The IPA trend has send me back to lagers- even at times back to cheap lagers/lawnmower beers... I want to be able to enjoy and sip a smooth brew without having to make a face and have to gargle after drinking a glass full of fresh grass clippings... enough already! I hope to see a return of nice brown ales, red ales, smooth porters and quaffable stouts- even a real pale ale that has a nice hop bite but is balanced with malt and alcohol.. instead of a 9% mess with a half a pound if dandelion leaves in it!

there is a certain je ne sais quoi about a lager, no doubt. it is absolutely the most unexplored territory in the craft beer world.

 

[progmac]

Samuel Smith's India Ale (my favorite)
Burton Bridge Empire India Pale Ale (my second favorite)
St. Peter's India Pale Ale was a skunky mess but that may have more to do with the green bottles they use.
Fuller's India Pale Ale would be my favorite if I could find it.
I did try Bass' India Pale Ale. It is the BMC version of an English IPA.

thanks for the recommendations! i'll see what i can find at my craft beer store.

 

[harrydrez]

The IPA trend has send me back to lagers- even at times back to cheap lagers/lawnmower beers... I want to be able to enjoy and sip a smooth brew without having to make a face and have to gargle after drinking a glass full of fresh grass clippings... enough already! I hope to see a return of nice brown ales, red ales, smooth porters and quaffable stouts- even a real pale ale that has a nice hop bite but is balanced with malt and alcohol.. instead of a 9% mess with a half a pound if dandelion leaves in it!

Lagers are a rather unexplored area of craft brew. There is this awesome brewery nearby called Jack's Abby that brews an amazing "India Pale Lager" and even a "Cascadian Swarzbier".

lol, hops aren't going anywhere

 

[inthesound]

This thread is funny.

Styles I want to see more of: Kölsch, ESB, Maibock (or just bocks in general), and hey, why not, altbier. A local brewpub makes a wonderful sticke alt.

Agreed on the craft brew/lager comment. There's a place in town that only does lagers. I still need to make it in there.

 

[high5apparatus]

In St. Louis, Morgan Street Brewery does an India Pale Lager that is very good, Urban Chestnut does many lagers, and one of the best beers Civil Life Brewery makes is their Vienna Lager. But they all say that they can't make them all the time because for these small brewers, a tied up fermenter is lost money.

 

[shoreman]

Hoppy beers were a trend 5 years ago

 

[Devin]

Funny how fired up people get.

Brew what you like. Drink what you like. If your local pub is only carrying "hop bombs" and it ticks you off, then go introduce yourself (in a friendly way) to the owner, and maybe ask him/her about it. I know that the owner of a local pub here in town is very open to suggestions from the public.

Long live hops and triple-digit-IBU bombs!

 

[GrogNerd]

Funny how fired up people get.

Brew what you like. Drink what you like. If your local pub is only carrying "hop bombs" and it ticks you off, then go introduce yourself (in a friendly way) to the owner, and maybe ask him/her about it. I know that the owner of a local pub here in town is very open to suggestions from the public.

Long live hops and triple-digit-IBU bombs!

a wise man once said, "it's all beer, it's all good"

wait. no, he was an idiot. disregard anything he says

 

[azmark]

They will remain trendy because "you can't get what I get". AmIPAs require freshness. Almost impossible to do a good one nationally, or on an extremely large scale.

You also have more variety in the AmIPA style as most other beers combined. You get grass, onion, pine, cat pee,,,,but you also get grapefruit, orange, lemon, tropical fruit, and yes wet ganja. Fresh the combinations can be wonderful,,, give it a month or two, or a few weeks under the fluorescents in your local store, and they turn to bitter grass and pine if you're lucky.

Plus it is almost impossible to get the mix just perfect every time (hop chemistry changes lots compared to grain year to year), so a Hop Stoopid this year may just be good, where last year it was divine. And it's a chase to find that perfect mix again!

 

[shoreman]

Lagers are a rather unexplored area of craft brew. There is this awesome brewery nearby called Jack's Abby that brews an amazing "India Pale Lager" and even a "Cascadian Swarzbier".

lol, hops aren't going anywhere

Jacks is great - ya good lagers are rare in craft.
Milds as well - I've had one bottled version in all the years I've been interested in craft beer (pretty things)

 

[roymullins]

You get grass, onion, pine, cat pee,,,,but you also get grapefruit, orange, lemon, tropical fruit, and yes wet ganja.------------------------------------------
I got in trouble for mentioning ganja on here...

 

[azmark]

You get grass, onion, pine, cat pee,,,,but you also get grapefruit, orange, lemon, tropical fruit, and yes wet g(*&).------------------------------------------
I got in trouble for mentioning ganja on here...

Brewing with it, illegal, and frowned upon on most public forums. Having your hops produce a similar smell, and describing it that way would not be illegal. Hops being a close relative, there is a good chance in bringing up similar smells.

 

[mdgagne]

I think the trend is about "extreme" beers. The bottle shops in my area have a huge selection of imperial something-or-others. Whether it be a 100 IBU IIPA or a huge RIS, the trend (in my observation) is towards extreme flavors in malt-forward and hop-forward beers.

 

[Beerbelcher44]

I think its a rediscovery more then a trend . I drink what I like ....i dont believe there is that many sheep out there drinking beer just to be trendy

 

[shoreman]

I think its a rediscovery more then a trend . I drink what I like ....i dont believe there is that many sheep out there drinking beer just to be trendy

You bring up a good point - I know when I first got interested in craft it was all IPAs- maybe it's just that there are so many noobs that are getting interested in craft that IPAs get such a surge.

 

[Erroneous]

I think its a rediscovery more then a trend . I drink what I like ....i dont believe there is that many sheep out there drinking beer just to be trendy

In my experience most non craft drinkers can't deal with IPAs. I think an easier transition beer is a Belgian whit. I think it may be more due to craft brewers loving IPAs than having high demand for IPAs.

 

[mrshaund]

I wish I could get into the whole IPA thing I have had the privilege of having heady toppers which i did like after a few cans, and some APA like zombie dust and two hearted but thats the extent for me while i prefur Beers like Munich Helles, and stouts

On a side note I would love to make a clone of Zombie Dust

 

[Nomad]

Yeah, a trend, but its something that has gotten craft beer into shelves all over the country. "Hoppy" is a taste/flavor attribute that people can easily identify and talk about, so I think brewers have responded when people say they love it. It's not a "fad," like rainbow afro wigs or fish emblems on people's cars, but a trend that will rise and fall with popularity. I'm sure once the general public gets the idea of a Malty beer, that will gain in popularity too. Another example: I went to a beer tasting of 17 awful, over-spiced, Christmas ales this December. That's another trend that is getting people drinking craft beer, and one that will hopefully, like hoppy beers, eventually have people asking for flavorful, but more balanced beer in the future.

 

[wailingguitar]

Sad fact is that beers like that are relatively easy to make and hide flaws well. Some sub-par brewers make popular, highly hopped IPAs... they make a pale-amber wort and throw a bucket load of hops at it, that's it. I am not saying that there aren't examples that are excellent beers brewed by skilled brewers, just that they are one of the easier styles to make without skill. You want to see how good a brewer is? Ask to taste his Pilsner.

Trend? I suppose so. Not saying that is a good or bad thing in itself. I say trend not fad, because I don't think it will disappear entirely, nor do I think it is necessarily invalid. As a trend I can accept it, like them or not, because I think anything that makes people excited about beer is a good thing.

For my part, I am not hugely found of the extremely bitter beers, never did it for me. I have always been more of a malt forward kind of guy, or at least balanced. I like German and Czech lagers, traditional English ales, etc.

 

[bobbrews]

It's hilarious how misinformed some of you are with the naive personal claims about IPAs and brewers of IPAs. You can really pinpoint the newbs and haters.

 

[Devin]

You want to see how good a brewer is? Ask to taste his Pilsner.

Although I continue to try, I have NEVER had a Pils that I liked. And I have tried quite a few. They just taste bland and boring.

Maybe they are "easy to make", and "hide flaws well", and perhaps only sub-par brewers make them. But, if that is the case, I guess I will side with the sub-par brewers. Most of these "balanced" or "malt-forward" brews bore my taste buds. I like them bitter, and I like them to punch me in the face when I drink them.

The biggest reason that I started brewing was because most beers aren't "hoppy" enough for me. I often found myself sampling a brew and thinking, man, I wonder what this would taste like if we upped the hop flavor a few notches?

So I am sorry that the majority in this post get hurt when they go to the bar and see a string of IPA's and very few malt bombs. Some of us just like hops.....A LOT. Apparently quite a few of us, given the "trend".

 

[wailingguitar]

Although I continue to try, I have NEVER had a Pils that I liked. And I have tried quite a few. They just taste bland and boring.

Maybe they are "easy to make", and "hide flaws well", and perhaps only sub-par brewers make them. But, if that is the case, I guess I will side with the sub-par brewers. Most of these "balanced" or "malt-forward" brews bore my taste buds. I like them bitter, and I like them to punch me in the face when I drink them.

The biggest reason that I started brewing was because most beers aren't "hoppy" enough for me. I often found myself sampling a brew and thinking, man, I wonder what this would taste like if we upped the hop flavor a few notches?

So I am sorry that the majority in this post get hurt when they go to the bar and see a string of IPA's and very few malt bombs. Some of us just like hops.....A LOT. Apparently quite a few of us, given the "trend".

Whether a person likes or dislikes pilsner isn't the point, they are difficult to brew properly because flaws in process pop out so clearly. Also, never said that ALL brewers that make the extremely hoppy beers are unskilled, I said SOME, and that they are easier to make than some other styles. This has the odd side effect of some brewers that are not as skilled as others making beers that are popular in the style. If it does it for you, that's great, have fun. For my taste, I find excessive bitterness to be unpleasant.

Considering the fact that I was brewing at Rogue at the time Brutal Bitter (originally called I2PA) was first brewed (1995), and actually assisted in the formulation, I would be the last to say that all of those beers and their brewers are bad. Two Hearted Ale is another beer that I have brewed on the commercial level, started at Bell's in '89, and while it isn't as huge as most of the beers in question, it is one of the earlier highly-hopped beers.

 

[Jon73]

I think its a rediscovery more then a trend . I drink what I like ....i dont believe there is that many sheep out there drinking beer just to be trendy

IMO, that is an untrue statement. At least here in Southern Oregon. From what I've seen from the local brewpub/nano's/beer festivals, there are people there that may have been beer drinkers without the trend, but now that beer drinking is en vogue, they are creating a trend out of it. Whether that is good or bad is up to you.

And since you mentioned sheep, I'm tired of fighting past the bleating hoards of beards, skinny jeans, vans, and wool caps to find a seat at the local pub.

 

[wailingguitar]

IMO, that is an untrue statement. At least here in Southern Oregon. From what I've seen from the local brewpub/nano's/beer festivals, there are people there that may have been beer drinkers without the trend, but now that beer drinking is en vogue, they are creating a trend out of it. Whether that is good or bad is up to you.

And since you mentioned sheep, I'm tired of fighting past the bleating hoards of beards, skinny jeans, vans, and wool caps to find a seat at the local pub.

That's an interesting point... people that may not have been beer drinkers before getting into craft beers because it is trendy... hmm Is it a good thing or not? I think, ultimately it is. I think that when the 'trend' passes that most of those folks would find it hard to go back to drinking BMC, the craft brewers will still see sales and while there is not always going to be growth, the worst we are likely to see is an occasional flattening. As to the issue with having to fight for a seat, well... I don't know what to say there except that I would rather have to fight for a seat than my fave brewery go under because no one was buying their beer... *shrug*

 

[harrydrez]

The only thing I don't really like about "hoppy" beers is most stores around here don't know how to handle them. They have a very short shelf life and need to be moved quickly.

 

[Gitmoe]

You should all try working at a LHBS and telling customers you don't really like hoppy beers... The look on their faces is priceless. People act like I'm crazy for not being a hop head. I feel like they assume all "Beer Nuts" are also "Hop Heads" for some reason. I respect and appreciate well crafted IPAs. I brew IPAs against my better judgement and to my wife's dismay (she's a malty fan as well). I can't help customers if I don't know how to make a good IPA. Knowing a lot of the local brewers and owners of breweries in the Philly area, I can say several have told me they brew IPAs because it pays the bills right now. IPAs are really popular and it's much easier to get a bar to put on a keg of IPA than something like a Bock or Munich Helles (both styles I really love). I'm working at a beer/food fest today (farephiladelphia.com) and expect to see the majority of the breweries in attendance pouring at least one IPA. I think the IPA craze will calm down eventually. It's just part of the US craft brew resurgence which is still relatively young and is a good thing for all of us no matter how you look at it. If IPAs are the reason I can visit 11 different breweries within an hour of my house, then bring on the IPA!

 

[AnOldUR]

Sad fact is that beers like that are relatively easy to make and hide flaws well. Some sub-par brewers make popular, highly hopped IPAs... they make a pale-amber wort and throw a bucket load of hops at it, that's it. I am not saying that there aren't examples that are excellent beers brewed by skilled brewers, just that they are one of the easier styles to make without skill. You want to see how good a brewer is? Ask to taste his Pilsner.

So, what you're saying is that some peoples palates aren't developed enough to distinguish a good IPA from a bad one. And because of that it is easier to brew a good IPA than a good Pilsner.

I would argue that it takes more to brew an IPA that stands out from the others than it does a Pils. Good Pilsners rely heavily on technique and have a relatively narrow style space. This is something that can be learned. A top notch American IPA takes creativity along with skill. It's a style with more room for both success and failure for those who can tell the difference.

 

[wailingguitar]

So, what you're saying is that some peoples palates aren't developed enough to distinguish a good IPA from a bad one. And because of that it is easier to brew a good IPA than a good Pilsner.

I would argue that it takes more to brew an IPA that stands out from the others than it does a Pils. Good Pilsners rely heavily on technique and have a relatively narrow style space. This is something that can be learned. A top notch American IPA takes creativity along with skill. It's a style with more room for both success and failure for those who can tell the difference.

While it is true that the average consumer doesn't have a developed palate, that is not what I'm saying. I would agree that it takes creative skill to brew an exceptional IPA, that is true... but we aren't talking 'exceptional' beers here, I said 'popular', as we all know those two terms don't necessarily coincide!

 

[Randy_Bugger]

Beer trends according to google:
IPA vs. Stout vs. Lager vs. Pale Ale

Clickable link ^