- Joined
- Mar 24, 2022
- Messages
- 308
- Reaction score
- 891
I feel like I’m starting to understand the old “fool me once, shame on me, fool me twice, shame on you” saying.
I picked up a 4-pack of canned IPA from a very respected brewery here in Southern California. Packaged on 2/4/24 printed on the bottom. I crack one of these cans open and pour it into a glass. The tantalizing aroma practically fills the room. The can says Nelson, Simcoe, and Columbus. Looks like I’m in for a good time. There is a slight haze but it’s mostly clear and a light blonde color in the glass. 6.3% ABV is modest by today’s standards but still enough to get the job done. Based on aroma alone I feel like I could crawl into this beer and let it envelop me. This beer tells me I’ll be safe here, and to feel free to stay a while.
I take a sip. Hmm…. Not at rich as I’d expected. Another sip. Hmm… even less than before? What’s going on? How can something so enticing be so bland?
I hear time and time again from brewers talking about the new west coast ipa. How they’ve done everything they can to “make room for the hops”. Caramel/Crystal malt is gone. Pale malt has been replaced by the lightest possible Pilsner malts. Hot side hopping has been minimized if not downright eliminated. Lager yeast really gets out of the way and “lets the hops shine” they say. Brewing salts are approached from more of a German/Czech lager perspective now than that of the old English ways.
I understand the idea that dry hopping at rates of 4+ pounds per barrel introduces its own kind of bitterness. I get that crystal malt can give flavors that one might associate with oxidation. I get that neutral yeast strains may not compete with hop flavor and aroma. I do. But at the end of the day, does it make for a good/interesting beer? I’d argue no, it doesn’t. This isn’t just based off of my experience with this specific beer today. This is me getting tired of the same thing over and over again. Giving breweries chance after chance to show that what they say is real and meaningful. This isn’t some ‘old man yells at cloud’ sort of thing. It’s more of an ‘emperor’s new clothes’ sort of situation. These beers are out here completely bland and naked. No soul, no structure. They smell great but leave the rest of the experience empty. Yet everyone seems to be praising how great and put together they are. How brewers of these beers are constantly “pushing boundaries”. But fundamentally they are lacking. A true taste experience has to hit all aspects of our palate to really be interesting. It needs to be savory, and seasoned, and bitter, etc. But all in balance with each other of course. Lately these beers seem like they’re killing it in one department, and then just calling it a day. Completely neglecting the rest of the fundamentals and structure needed for a fully formed and balanced presentation. I’m trying not to be biased or one who expects things to be locked into a certain time and place. But I also understand taste and flavor, and how things that we might not enjoy (like bitterness) on their own still play a supporting roll in making things super inviting and interesting on the palate.
I get that brewing is a business and that they need to do what they can to keep the doors open and the lights on. The IBU wars were dumb. But that also doesn’t mean bitterness is bad. I think there is an opportunity here for brewers to take the power back a bit. It’s clear that consumers have driven the industry lately more so than the creators have. But this has lead to a neutered beer landscape in many ways. Craft beer doesn’t need to be offensive but it does need to push people out of their comfort zones. I experienced this with trying to understand hazies. I came around to at least understanding it and appreciating it for what it was.
But let’s also not forget that beer is for adults. Adults should learn to appreciate how things like bitterness can actually enhance the tasting experience. That stouts don’t need to taste like breakfast cereal. Coffee doesn’t always need cream and sugar. And if people need beer to be soft and unoffensive then maybe it’s ok to tell them to look elsewhere.
Craft breweries, some famously, would talk sh*t about macro lager and how it was bland and boring, and was appealing to an audience who didn’t actually like beer. Nowadays, likely from the rise of craft lager, it seems like it’s cool to talk sh*t on those breweries for talking sh*t. But that’s missing the point completely. They weren’t talking sh*t about the classic German and Czech lager breweries. They were talking on the companies that sold a watered down product that was more concerned with pleasing the uninitiated than the diehards. I love hops and hoppy beer. I just can’t help but feel disappointed that that’s what I’m seeing and tasting now from the craft scene.
I picked up a 4-pack of canned IPA from a very respected brewery here in Southern California. Packaged on 2/4/24 printed on the bottom. I crack one of these cans open and pour it into a glass. The tantalizing aroma practically fills the room. The can says Nelson, Simcoe, and Columbus. Looks like I’m in for a good time. There is a slight haze but it’s mostly clear and a light blonde color in the glass. 6.3% ABV is modest by today’s standards but still enough to get the job done. Based on aroma alone I feel like I could crawl into this beer and let it envelop me. This beer tells me I’ll be safe here, and to feel free to stay a while.
I take a sip. Hmm…. Not at rich as I’d expected. Another sip. Hmm… even less than before? What’s going on? How can something so enticing be so bland?
I hear time and time again from brewers talking about the new west coast ipa. How they’ve done everything they can to “make room for the hops”. Caramel/Crystal malt is gone. Pale malt has been replaced by the lightest possible Pilsner malts. Hot side hopping has been minimized if not downright eliminated. Lager yeast really gets out of the way and “lets the hops shine” they say. Brewing salts are approached from more of a German/Czech lager perspective now than that of the old English ways.
I understand the idea that dry hopping at rates of 4+ pounds per barrel introduces its own kind of bitterness. I get that crystal malt can give flavors that one might associate with oxidation. I get that neutral yeast strains may not compete with hop flavor and aroma. I do. But at the end of the day, does it make for a good/interesting beer? I’d argue no, it doesn’t. This isn’t just based off of my experience with this specific beer today. This is me getting tired of the same thing over and over again. Giving breweries chance after chance to show that what they say is real and meaningful. This isn’t some ‘old man yells at cloud’ sort of thing. It’s more of an ‘emperor’s new clothes’ sort of situation. These beers are out here completely bland and naked. No soul, no structure. They smell great but leave the rest of the experience empty. Yet everyone seems to be praising how great and put together they are. How brewers of these beers are constantly “pushing boundaries”. But fundamentally they are lacking. A true taste experience has to hit all aspects of our palate to really be interesting. It needs to be savory, and seasoned, and bitter, etc. But all in balance with each other of course. Lately these beers seem like they’re killing it in one department, and then just calling it a day. Completely neglecting the rest of the fundamentals and structure needed for a fully formed and balanced presentation. I’m trying not to be biased or one who expects things to be locked into a certain time and place. But I also understand taste and flavor, and how things that we might not enjoy (like bitterness) on their own still play a supporting roll in making things super inviting and interesting on the palate.
I get that brewing is a business and that they need to do what they can to keep the doors open and the lights on. The IBU wars were dumb. But that also doesn’t mean bitterness is bad. I think there is an opportunity here for brewers to take the power back a bit. It’s clear that consumers have driven the industry lately more so than the creators have. But this has lead to a neutered beer landscape in many ways. Craft beer doesn’t need to be offensive but it does need to push people out of their comfort zones. I experienced this with trying to understand hazies. I came around to at least understanding it and appreciating it for what it was.
But let’s also not forget that beer is for adults. Adults should learn to appreciate how things like bitterness can actually enhance the tasting experience. That stouts don’t need to taste like breakfast cereal. Coffee doesn’t always need cream and sugar. And if people need beer to be soft and unoffensive then maybe it’s ok to tell them to look elsewhere.
Craft breweries, some famously, would talk sh*t about macro lager and how it was bland and boring, and was appealing to an audience who didn’t actually like beer. Nowadays, likely from the rise of craft lager, it seems like it’s cool to talk sh*t on those breweries for talking sh*t. But that’s missing the point completely. They weren’t talking sh*t about the classic German and Czech lager breweries. They were talking on the companies that sold a watered down product that was more concerned with pleasing the uninitiated than the diehards. I love hops and hoppy beer. I just can’t help but feel disappointed that that’s what I’m seeing and tasting now from the craft scene.
Last edited: