You won't find sours making up 50% of the beer selection list in any store. I feel fairly confident when I make such a statement because sours are absolutely an acquired taste. IPAs on the other hand, while still considered an acquired taste, they are more beer than sours can be at times. Depending upon the sour of course.
I don't care how many IPA hate threads there are around. IPAs are indeed very popular and I think for a time they will remain popular. IPAs and APAs dominate many grocery store shelves with the so-called "seasonal" porters and stouts taking a back seat, especially this time of year. The selection of ambers are limited as well.
I like IPAs. I hated them before and now I like them, but I have days where an IPA is the furthest thing from what I really want. I find that there is a decently balanced selection in all places I buy beer with exception of a grocery store. I do think they move out some beers depending upon the season, but I could be wrong.
As for the hops. There are definitely popular hops, Cascade being one of those. Mosaic is popular to the point where they're a little harder to get in various places. I know my LHBS hasn't had them in ages. Simcoe is another and Amarillo would be the 4th that I consider hugely popular. With the right combination you can get yourself a piney IPA or a fruity IPA.
When you speak of balance and how IPAs aren't, well that is exactly the intent. This is a style that highlights hops, not malt. If you're looking for something that highlights both, there are some good ambers and browns out there that give more of a balance.
I will say that the beauty of being a home brewer is that you have the power to brew what you like. If the commercial beer selection is limited, brew a batch of something you want. You don't have to love IPAs at all. I'm pretty sure no one will mind.
More or less agree.
In the right mode, an IPA or even DIPA is the absolute best thing ever. Other days its RIS, or a chocolate stout, or a milk stout, or an oatmeal stout, or an APA or a Oud Bruin, or a Gueze or a dry stout, or a porter or a black and tan or a...
The list goes on. Just depends on what I am in the mode for. It is why I rarely brew really big brews. I tend to go for 2.5-3.5G batches...because I like having 5-8 different beers bottled at any given time, because on any given day my tastes vary a lot.
If I had to pick a top 5 styles, it probably would be DIPA, RIS, Oktoberfest, Oud Bruin and Nut Brown Ale.
On my DIPAs, other than the rare instance, I am not a 100+ IBU fan. If I were to craft the perfect DIPA, it would probably be a mix of Centenial and Chinook hops at around 80IBUs and 8.5% ABV. Dry hopped, but not to a ridiculous extent.
I love me some hops and hop aroma, but most of the time I enjoy ONE really good IPA or DIPA. Sometimes I can be in the mood for a second one. That is generally it. I mostly prefer darker beers or sours, but my mode just varies so much.
I would have said the only catagory I dislike is light beers, but starting to experiment with making <5% ABV beers recently, I've been brewing up some I've really liked. I think the issue I have is that most <5% commercial examples (even from smaller breweries) tend to not be particularly complex and/or are adjunct heavy. The Berliner Wiesse I just brewed up at 3.5% ABV is tasting pretty good, though I have to adjust the sourness a little with some lactic when I bottle it tonight (other half is going on peaches to age for a couple of weeks). I recently tried someones English mild that was really good that was only 4% ABV. I have my own English Mild recipe I've put together that I am anxious to try. I have several 5-5.5% beers in my pipe line (German Pilsner I bottled last week, Steam beer I bottled a few weeks ago that tastes great, Belgian Single still bubbling, English Pale Lager still bubbling and Schwarzbier also still bubbling) that are either great or seem like they hold a lot of promise. I don't know that I'd necessarily say 5-5.5% is "light", but it is lighter than any other beers I've made until the last 2 months (other than my first 2 beer kits, before I moved in to my own extract recipes for a couple of beers and then AG after that, they've all been >5.8%)
For me light is <5.5%, medium is 5.6-7% and heavy is >7% (I'd consider very heavy to be >9%). My general preference is medium.
Other than adjunct heavy light beers, I really don't have an issue with anyone's tastes. Though, I guess even adjunct heavy light beers, if that is what you are in to, that is fine. I'd just consider that not having a taste for beer, but wanting to get buzzed or drunk and not liking mixed drinks, wine or hard liquor.
