I’m also a fan of the craft beer hype. I never really tasted a difference between all our local beers, they’re all the same to me... but an IPA, that’s something very different!
I don't really care for IPAs and I am a little annoyed that making a beer as bitter as possible is now what constitutes making a high-quality beer for so many people. But I realize my own preference, really sour beers, isn't exactly pleasing to everyone either.
Are you in the US? American IPAs are quite different from British or other European IPAs in style and flavour. Could be worth trying if you can find some as the British IPAs tend to be much less heavy on the bitter notes and have a rounder flavour.
I am more positively inclined to British beers like Spitfire and Bishop's Finger which, although I'm not sure they're technically IPA, are definitely quite bitter. I don't think I've ever seen them in the US, though.
I would have agreed with you a year ago, however, some of the "New England style" IPAs have been quite good lately. New England style has less hops and tastes really "juicy."
Interestingly enough, some of the ultra-high-IBU beers come out the other end and don't taste nearly as bitter as mid-IBU IPAs, and they tend to have more actual flavor even. Something like, for example, Lagunitas Hop Stupid with 100 IBUs doesn't taste half as bitter as your typical 60-70 IBU IPA.
Hop Stoopid is one of the few IPAs I can stand, actually, which I find particularly bizarre because I normally don't like hops (I normally go for thick malty beers).
While that was true to some extent 5-10 years ago, that is not the trend now nor has it been for several years. Hop flavor and aroma are the focus now of craft beer breweries, with significantly less bitterness.
Viva la difference! (I'm a Brit btw). An IPA (India Pale Ale) in the US is not the same as here, however I have noticed that our IPAs are rapidly heading in the same direction as the US version. That includes serving it rather colder ... I am also seeing a lot more "craft" beer here again - yay!
Anyway, my point is that at least there is some choice around - you are not restricted to Miller and Bud or Sam Adams (the last is not a bad brew) and I am not restricted to Carling and Fosters or shudder "creamflow" bitters.
That's true, but if I go to a restaurant and they only have a couple "craft" beers, the odds are extremely high that they're all IPAs, which is kind of a bummer if you're into beer but don't really like IPAs.
Look on the bright side mate, you don't have to put up with creamflow. British ale is generally considered a bit weird by non Brits at the best of times but that thing is an abomination.
Try to imagine what marketing would come up with in this scenario:
You brew a pretty non descript British ale that has been guzzled for years, in vast quantities for decades. Your competition is a few other huge breweries that do exactly the same. You experimented with a stout (in England - hah!) a few years back and looked stupid. Your ale is served at a few degrees below room temperature, it is completely flat, it is very brown. It tastes like err brown coloured ale. Cider is also available.
Then lager arrives, and then Pils and all sorts of other things (wine is invented as well at this point by a plucky chef called Floyd) and at about the same time Britons develop tastebuds on their tongues.
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Marketing and Product Development come up with "Cremeflow". As far as I can tell the idea is to turn a decent hoppy bitter into a sort of pseudo lager with a creamy head. Weird and unsurprisingly unsatisfying on a lot of levels. What is even odder is that this abomination is served everywhere that a corporate logo is involved. Oh and let's freeze the bloody thing. Even worse: Guinness "fucking stupidly cold".
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OK, in the UKoGBnNI we have come up with some absolute belting beers/ales - we have a very long tradition on this in common with many other countries. We have an organisation called CAMERA (CAMpaign for Real Ale) that tries to keep the firm straight.
IPA is really a Britain specific concept and belongs to our Empire days. India Pale Ale was brewed to be strong enough to survive being transported to India (the Raj) which took a fair old while. More alcohol == less bacteria. Back then there was no refrigeration and bizarrely, the locals didn't produce beer (fancy!)
Trust me, whatever you see printed on the bottle in the US - it is not an IPA. Drink that stuff and you will turn into a Redcoat and become a Brit, so unless you find yourself wearing a big wig after a serious quaff it isn't. Get your own name for your stuff - this awful chapter in history is taken already.
Agreed. It really annoys me that I can go to the grocery store and get all sorts of IPAs (and some brewers have more than one!) yet I can only find a handful of stouts.
And no, Guinness doesn't count. Except for their Antwerpen stout--that one is actually really good...but I think it's only available in their 200 Years of Stout in America pack. Their foreign extra stout is okay too.
