• abraxas ( abraxas@lemmy.ml ) English
          7·
          3 years ago

          I heard a real-world explanation about why IPAs are the most common and commonly-sought craft beer. Half the reasons are unflattering, but a few are valid.

          1. They’re harder to fuck up because the Hops covers every damn thing and is so forgiving. Ever heard a cooking show talk about how hard a perfect Filet Mignon is because you can’t hide behind anything and everyone knows what it should taste like? Ditto with a good red ale or even pilsner.
          2. Similarly, nobody is known for their signature Filet Mignon because (within reason) a filet is a filet. Ditto with most types of beers. IPAs give opportunity for a lot more variety. Which is why you have more breweries making them, and then more people consuming them. I go out of my way to find non-MGP whiskey because MGP whiskies all taste the damn same to me, and I usually find a couple unique bottles every year. I can respect someone who wants to try a totally new beer every week and just fall back on a few faves.
          3. Related again to #2. Beyond being “SO hoppy”, IPAs have more unique flavor profiles than all other beers combined. Different hops can net you notes of orange, lemon, grapefruit, or notes of the pith of one of those, or notes of the rind of one of those. Different amounts or processing of hops can give you different intensities of those. That’s a lot of flavor profiles from sweet to sour to bitter, all in the same category.

          So I’m “basic” nowadays re: beer, and I despise IPAs because I literally cannot stand the bitter&pithy ones (esp Grapefruit Pith), and there’s no easy way to know what an IPA will taste like till you’ve paid for it and cracked it open. I also get reflux and nothing blows that shit out of the water like an IPA. There’s a hops shop down the street from me, but if I’m going to brew a beer (super rare, I usually make whiskey or mead) it’s gonna be something will a chill flavor profile.

          • reverendsteveii ( reverendsteveii@sopuli.xyz ) 
            1·
            3 years ago

            there’s no way to know what an IPA will taste like before you crack it open

            That’s why I like brewers that publish their hops. I’m the opposite of you, I live for the citrusy, fruity type of hops and despise the more traditional floral/piney strains. If I see simcoe on the bill I’ll go to bed sober, but if you’ve got Willamette or Cascade I’ll make tea from them.

  • Monument ( Monument@lemmy.sdf.org ) English
    11·
    3 years ago

    I’ve never really considered hops to be an interesting flavor. It’s just… flat and bitter to me.

    I truly don’t understand why so many people love IPAs, or try to sneak extreme hoppiness into other beer styles. (An IPA with fruit juice is not a saison! And a 70 IBU “kolsch” is a war crime!)

    As a person who prefers the complex, bright and earthy flavors from grains and yeast, getting face-fucked at the end of every sip by a one-note weed pine cone is so disappointing.

    • abraxas ( abraxas@lemmy.ml ) English
      4·
      3 years ago

      I truly don’t understand why so many people love IPAs

      Flavor nuance. I don’t like hopsy beer myself, but there’s a LOT of different profiles out there. I’ve even found a few IPAs I liked.

      As a person who prefers the complex, bright and earthy flavors from grains and yeast, getting face-fucked at the end of every sip by a one-note weed pine cone is so disappointing.

      That I’ll agree with. Not a lot of drinkers respect the mashbill anymore.

    • PersonalDevKit ( PersonalDevKit@aussie.zone ) 
      4·
      3 years ago

      I’m the opposite. I prefer a pale ale over an IPA, but recently I found hoppy larger and it is great. I find straight larger so tasteless most of the time.

      Though if I am only drinking 1 or 2 beers for the night then I would choose a dark beer.

    • Kale ( kale@lemmy.zip ) English
      3·
      3 years ago

      I don’t have a refined palette, and I like fairly hoppy beers. It has to have a good flavor to it though. If it’s made hoppy for the sake of IBUs, then it’s probably bad. Like joke hot sauces are disgusting, but there are some that are delicious but really painful for me to eat, even one bite.

      Older IPA hops like cascade are great but only slightly hop heavy with their classic hop flavors. The hops used more recently (I think citra and mosaic?) have great flavors when pushed to high IBUs.

      Hops have amazing range. Fuggles smell like dirt. Lemondrop has a strong citrus smell.

      About half of beer variety is from hops. Unless your talking about Belgians. Then it’s all yeast.

      • Monument ( Monument@lemmy.sdf.org ) English
        1·
        3 years ago

        While making my earlier comment, I actually looked it up to see if maybe there was something unusual about my perception of hops, but didn’t want to overload folks with info. It seems that some people are more sensitive to bitter tastes, such as those in hops, and some folks can’t taste them at all. It’s like if the whole cilantro/soap thing were less a dichotomy, and more of a spectrum. (And I’m one of the people to whom cilantro tastes like soap.)

        That’s not to say I don’t recognize or value the contribution of hops to beer, but hops aren’t the primary driver of most beers flavor profile, nor should they be. In most beer styles, the bitterness of the hops are used to balance the sweetness of the malt so the beer doesn’t taste like syrup. This allows other flavors in the malt to come out, or flavors from the yeast to say hi.

        For me it’s a very fine line. I think I’m more sensitive than the average person.
        If the bitterness does more than balance, then it dominates all other flavors, including any flavors within the hops themselves. It’s just bitter, flat, and tastes like how bad weed smells.
        I don’t believe it’s a matter of unrefined taste. I can talk to you all day about floral notes of lightly roasted grains, the heavier flavors of darker roasted malts, or what kind of funk a yeasty beer has.
        But hops. Too much, and it’s just one flavor for me. I think the only time I’ve been able to enjoy a hop’s flavor was when I ate a fresh one on a brewery tour.

  • jdf038 ( jdf038@mander.xyz ) OP
    5·
    3 years ago

    Something I should mention: I do like IPAs (not only IPA but they are tasty) and can find all 3 of the style of shirt in this weird AI looking stock image in my closet.

    Soooooo…

  • PrettyFlyForAFatGuy ( PrettyFlyForAFatGuy@lemmy.ml ) 
    5·
    3 years ago

    cant get much else craft beer wise where i live.

    i like a porter ale but theres only like one shop that does one.

    Stouts are nice but guinness is overplayed. Brewdog have released a stout that seems to be doing well though, but i like variety

  • socsa ( socsa@lemmy.ml ) BannedBanned
    5·
    3 years ago

    IPAs aren’t really seasonal? I always associate fall with Marzen style lagers for Oktoberfest, and big winter warmers like barleywine and sweet stouts.

  • deathbird ( deathbird@mander.xyz ) 
    3·
    3 years ago

    If they weren’t so overplayed it wouldn’t be so bad, but every microbrew has like 3 IPAs, 2 dry-hopped pilsners, and a seasonal novelty that if you’re lucky is something noticably different like a wheat beer or a porter.