What do you mean it’s only IPAs here?
Why there’s also Double IPAs, triple IPAs, quad IPAs, Imperial IPAs, every kind of fruit-infused IPAs, hazy IPAs, seasonal IPAs, limited edition IPAs, New England style IPA, West Coast Style IPAs, wheat IPAs, rye IPAs, oat IPAs, Session IPAs, red IPAs, and non-alcoholic IPAs.
And if none of that appeals to you we also have a limited edition seasonal dry-hopped pils that according to the menu tastes like an IPA.
You forgot Black IPA’s, which I unironically love and have an extremely difficult time finding compared to 5-10 years ago.
I remember Lakefront Brewery made one for a while. I don’t know if they still do.
IPA’s are like someone took the worst part of beer and made it the only part of the beer.
Oh, no…I like IPAs…does this mean you guys are gonna make me go back to Reddit?
No, you’ll just be the lemmy nerd and be bullied about it.
What types of beer would you recommend?
Personally I’m more of a pilsner guy. I just hate the bitterness of IPA’s.
Bitter is the flavor of hops. IPA’s are made with a ridiculous amount of hops. I prefer beer with lower amounts of hops.
Bitter is the flavor of hops.
It very much depends on how you apply the hops. New England style IPAs aren’t bitter at all (very low IBU comparable to some pilsners in fact), even though it is probably the type of beer which has the most hops added. The hops are added in the form of aroma hops, which usually provides a citrus flavour instead of the bitterness of bittering hops.
I wish that was how American IPA’s worked. 90% of them are bitter af. Like I’d rather eat an entire grapefruit than drink the average American IPA
Saisons, sour, pilsner, altbier, Oktoberfest, stouts, bocks, porter
I’ve always liked IPAs, and I’m probably going to continue to, but the style is kinda beat. They’re at a point now where they’re just doing the most nitpicky variations on the theme. Dry-hopped rather than wet? That’s a juicy IPA. Lactose back sweetening? Milkshake IPA. Ran out of finings and can’t clarify your beer? It’s not ruined, it’s haaaaaazy. Strong enough to black you out after three? Double IPA. After two? Imperial IPA. No stronger than the American light lagers you used to steal from your dad? Session IPA.
The point of IPAs was that they were full of huge, bold flavor in a market that was saturated by beers that were competing with one another to taste the most like a vodka soda and have the lowest calories (and therefore ABV) possible. They were the revolutionary vanguard of beer that tasted like beer. But now I can get all sorts of wild shit. Fruit sours, coffee/chocolate stouts, real pilseners that actually taste like beer, proper copper lagers, all sorts of amazing stuff. The era of the IPA being the only “real beer” has ended. I wish someone would tell the breweries.
Do you mean you wish someone would tell the stores? You just said you can get all those other things, those would be coming from breweries.
No, I mean I wish someone would tell the breweries that they can pare it back to only seven different IPAs per season and instead invest more in different styles. I can get some wild shit because I’m fortunate to have one really good store about 20 minutes away but between being in PA with weird laws about who can sell booze, how strong it can be and how much they can sell and the relative glut of local brewers that are still in 2010 we could stand some work. Even moreso because the summer is winding down and I can already hear the thunderous sound of the Imperial Pumpkin Ales rolling in. “It’s 14% ABV! Put a caramel cinnamon rim on the glass and it might even taste like something!”
IPAs sell.
A lot of that stuff existed alongside IPAs like Dogfish Head for years. The explosion of IPAs in recent years coincides with the rise of Tree House Brewing, who may not have invented the New England IPA, but certainly mainstreamed it. At their second brewery, you’d see license plates from all over the country and you had to either show up 3 hours before opening or wait 3 hours in line. It was insanity. They were selling out every day at $15-20 a can back in 2014. They made stupid money, and their expansions since then will tell you all you need to know.
Anyway, within a year, the copycats started appearing, and that’s when the IPA craze really took off.
OMG, I’ve quit so many homebrew clubs because of their unnatural fascination with hops, Hops, HOPS!!! Boil 'em, brew on 'em, back 'em in your taps… HOPSSS!!!
If i wanted to feel like I’ve just been smacked in the face with a bag of fresh grass cuttings, I’m sure I could pay a guy.
One fucking guy was making hops extracts to DROPPER into his Hazy New England IPA so there was a fucking green oil slick on top. I quit on the spot, got up and walked out.
Reference brewing in to US is a lost art. Present a Kölsch or a Maibock in spec and they shit on you because its too sweet, but if you just make it an Imperial with more hops…?
Ptui.
Removed by mod
Can’t a man get a sour or two? Maybe some regional cider, if it’s not too much to ask?
I mean yeah, sure. You can at every beer store near me 🤷🏻
I think that’s kinda the thing about this post. Alot of people don’t have a place to find these things at all. Though I know a few, just not super convenient for me. I feeling like I am ALWAYS at the grocery store for something, though.
You may, we have a space provisioned at the rear of the facility
Have you ever had a hopped cider?
cant relate. i love the International Phonetic Alphabet
Well, I also like Isopropyl Alcohol
Meanwhile, in France, wine consumption is down due to craft beers to the point the government is going to spend 200 millions to prevent market crash.
Not being a beer drinker I have to ask: why the IPA craze? Aren’t lagers, stouts and whatever other beers an option for crafters?
IPAs are still riding a popularity high in the US. It’s easy to make, you don’t have to be as precise and careful with your beer when you make them, the hops will hide your mistakes. Sign of a bad brewery, is they only sell IPAs. Currently in the US, IPAs are the top selling style, unfortunately. Saisons are so much better, for example.
Saisons aren’t better. All taste is subjective. If I never get served another “bubblegummy with hint of white pepper, barnyard and Meyer lemon” I’ll be happy
The IPA bros are annoying, but the “over it” pilsner and saison snobs aren’t much better.
I was over everything before it became hipster mainstream cool.
I homebrewed all the desire for wacky beer out of myself.
Basically, despite all the vocal complaints, IPAs sell better.
I enjoy IPAs personally but it does get frustrating when you want something different.
I love an IPA but you need to have a pallet cleanser from time to time. I’m a big fan of ‘Purity Law’ beers, they tend to be predictable, mellow flavour, and light to medium alcohol content. Perfect for lawn mowing, BBQing, or working on the car.
Perfect for lawn mowing, BBQing, or working on the car.
Oh beautiful, for spacious skies…
sheds a tear
Some brewers can’t help themselves. Even when they brew a style that would traditionally have low IBUs they bump it up by about 10. Lagunitas totally messed with Newcastle Brown Ale once they got their grubby hops-loving mitts on it.
This breaks my heart as I’ve been looking to try it since I loved the old one
Lagunitas already makes too many IPAs. I like them, but you would think they would want some variety in their lineup. Its sad to hear that they messed up the old brown ale.
Even more luck need if you dare like dark beer.
I guess I’ll always have Guinness and negro modelo. but I crave variety.
I just want a good brown or porter.
Same here. The few that are available aside from guineas extra stouts and a couple nationwide coffee/oatmeal stouts are like $16 for four cans. I can’t afford that.
I feel like this has changed a lot, actually. 8-10 years ago it was all IPAs, but now I can find all kinds of craft beer. Maybe it’s more of a west coast thing. I currently enjoy grabbing new Pilseners when I see them.
Yeah I feel like the “lol OMG all craft beers are IPA” meme is pretty outdated, and just not true anymore in my experience.
I don’t think it’s just a west coast thing. I live in the Midwest, and my local Kroger has two beer aisles: one for typical macrobrew/domestic stuff, another entirely dedicated to craft beers. IPAs make up like 40% of the craft aisle, which is a lot, but it’s by no means the only option anymore.
This is true for the NE as well, but greatly depends on population size. Rural beer stores don’t tend to have as much demand for newer, different things.
Move to Sweden, here you can’t buy a beer above 3.5% abv in a store. Anything above that you have to buy at the state owned liqueur store systembolaget. The upside is that they have a pretty good assortment. The store in my small town carry about 300 different beers. About a third is IPA.
Where I am in the states, you can’t buy any alcohol in a grocery store.
It’s almost Oktoberfest season! There will be lots of great non-IPA beers then!
Oktoberfest beers are the best beers.
It should be a worldwide holiday.
Cincinnati has a big Octoberfest event every year but I always miss it because it’s in September. I guess I should try to be ready for it this year.
They’re already selling Oktoberfest beers at the stores near me. Feels early, but I do enjoy a good Oktoberfest beer so it evens out.
Around here, Oktoberfest beers come out in mid August, drives me nuts.
Is a porter too much to ask for?
Hear hear. So few and far between to find a good Porter these days. Then when you do, half the hipster two rooms serve them chilled.
I was so sad when I once stumbled on a limited run stout on tap and they served it ice cold in a heavy frosted mug.
Assuming you’re in the northern hemisphere, yes? Wait until it’s not 100 degrees out and they’ll be back
milk stout, Belgian Ale, porter, or brown ale - excellent most of the year.
Wheat ale, white ale, whitbier are where it’s at for thirst quenching in summer heat.
For those of us in New England - treehouse brewery, for the win!
I once home brewed for a wedding. 21 gallons of beer. One amber, one milk stout, one wheat, and one brown… and only one exploding bottle!
and only one exploding bottle!
People not in the know might think you’re joking, but that’s seriously impressive! 😁
Thank you. I haven’t home brewed in years. It’s a lot of work and very disappointing when a batch gets infected. Depending on where you are, it can be very difficult to properly disinfect the equipment. I do miss it, though.
properly disinfect equipment
I was into the hobby pretty deep before someone taught me the homebrewer’s axiom: fermenters are cheaper than beer.
Idk if that extends to kegs and other equipment though.
Idn raw dollars, yes, but you are committing labor, which has a value. If you are being paid $60/hr at a job, theoretically you should multiply the hours of labor you put on by that value. Of coursevwe know a labor of love should not really be calculated that way, but it is a useful metric.
I remember several of the brews I did were two-stage. They started inn a plastic bucket, then moved to a glass carboy. These produced more sophisticated flavors and clearer beers. That is labor intensive and adds labor and risk of contamination during transfer.
Then there is the bottling process! That’s fun for the first 10 minutes.
I think you’re missing my point, and it’s my fault. For clarity, when I say fermenters are cheaper than beer what I mean is that it’s a bad gamble to try to use a fermenter that may have pockets of infectious material in it from a previously infected brew. Better to spend $30 on a new bucket than to trash $100 worth of ingredients and whatever value you place on your labor because you didn’t want to spend the money on a new primary
I love IPAs. I t seems that the sour and gose fad is still going on, but IPAs are easy to produce and popular, so I don’t think they’re going anywhere anytime soon.
jesus christ gose, really? my wife is german and when she had a gose a few months ago she said it reminded her of her childhood (her parents would let her have some when she was like 13 and they’d order large bottle for the table w/ dinner)
Yeah, they started getting popular about 4 years ago and pretty much every US tap house has at least one these days.
The biggest issue with IPAs is that the ratio of good IPA to bad is way too skewed in the bad direction.
