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.
Depends where you live. Areas with a smaller craft brew scene do end up with the "nothing but IPA" problem. But where I live in the PNW there's simply so damn many that even with 50% of them being IPA's, you still get a huge selection of other pilsners, stouts, amber ales, hefenweizens... its pretty nice.
About 10 years ago it was probably closer to 80% IPAs. It was a big joke here that IPA stands for I Pretend (I'm not an) Alcoholic.
The only reason there is more on the market now is because we all stopped pretending the taste of motor oil with grapefruit gave us a better buzz.
Even now, most breweries will only seem to offer 4 varieties of IPAs, a pilsner/lager and a stout. Maybe an Amber but I feel the Mac & Jack's copycat scene has mostly died out now.
True. It does seem like it is more than 50% sometimes. Unforthcoming my taste buds are pretty burnt out from too many IPAs at this point. I used to love a wide range of beers but now basically stick to a hoppy-nonhoppy scale. I used to love Belgians and ambers and porters and all sorts of beers that were on the maltier side. Not really my jam anymore.
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.
I love a real ass IPA, but like anything, after a while you get bored of the same old same old. Dabbled with seltzers for a hot minute, but I'm back to wine/cider mostly now. IPAs being so heavy feel more like Trappistes to me now: only during the winter.
Fair go. I really only brew ciders and seltzers nowadays but that's mostly because they don't have a cook step (and therefore don't have a wort chilling step that's a giant pain in the ass and a wonderful place for infection to creep in)
Man, all those "wild things" you mention have existed for ages here in Belgium. IPAs are pretty much the new kid on the block. Weird how different our cultures are.
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.
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!"
Fuck that, I love ipas. I had to live half if my life with bland lager and pilsner and nothing else. Ipas ftw
Can't a man get a sour or two? Maybe some regional cider, if it's not too much to ask?
Come to New England and have some Downeast. Don’t need any other cider after that.
At this point my taste buds are even burnt out on good IPAs (for those who accept such a premise as possible).
I'm lucky enough to see some good reds/stouts/etc come through a few times a year, but the ratio of IPA:Not is just ridiculous IMO.
yeah TBH I barely drink beer at all anymore because finding beers I like has gotten to be such a chore.
There's some IPA's I like but I don't like drinking nothing but IPA's every time I drink beer. And pretty much the only "mainstream" beer I spend money on is Modelo, but again, if I drink nothing but that all the time after a while I start to get tired of it.
If you haven't tried it, Carlsburg Elephant is a seriously good pilsner that's widely available.
Fun fact*: Carlsburg gave Niels Bohr a house with a tap straight from the brewery for winning the Nobel prize.
Edit: * maybe not a fact.
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.
Belgium is really the best place for beer in my opinion. There is a good variety of local/traditional styles but you can also get the more modern stuff
Also much cheaper there. And you have a lot of pubs to go to. And you can drink them when you're 16.
Yeah, when I went there it was hella cheaper to get a beer with dinner than water.
Help, I'm stuck in a boring-ass red state so even some IPAs would be an IMPROVEMENT. Nothing but "Natural Light" here now that Bud Light got cancelled.
Sorry, IPAs are too gay for your neighbors and their extremely secure masculinity.
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.
Lucky you. In the south east is just the typical big name brands and an unrelenting wall of pale ale, unless you go out of your way to a store that specializes in boutique beers
I just went straight to hard liquor when I started drinking. Can't fuck up straight gin!
I just got into home brewing over the last year. The process is a lot easier than expected. You can yield about 5 gallons of beer for about $40, USD. The initial start up cost to get the gear wasn't unreasonable either.
I haven't brewed in forever. There used to be a brew shop I would go to that was an hour from me. They closed and now the closest place is 4 hours from me so I'll probably have to order grains online.
You have some pretty cheap ingredients. Beers I made were generally closer to $60.
Obviously different beers range in price, but most of the yeast and hops I have built up a stash on hand. Generally when I go to the store I only need the grains for the most part.
Same here! I even found most my stuff second hand off craigslist / Facebook marketplace. So far have made a great peanut butter porter, coconut milk stout and hefeweizen.
It's almost Oktoberfest season! There will be lots of great non-IPA beers then!
I like saisons and kettle sours, not always easy to find those
Gose beers finally arrived in my area after years of waiting. Still fifty IPAs to every gose but it's something
I thought, not so long ago, this was the same meme but with "pilsner" instead if "ipa" .
I guess things are a trend/popular for a reason.
