IPA’s are like someone took the worst part of beer and made it the only part of the beer.
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.
Most probably none of those are proper IPAs. The ‘I’ in IPA stands for India. IPA is only half-done, if it did not travel on a sailboat around the Africa from England to India.
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.
I work for a brewery in Portland, and we’d like to make over varieties, but hazys and IPAs are what sell.
Nailed it.
“Welcome! We have 30 beers on tap.”
And dark beers?
“We have this single India pale ale.”
My comment isn’t disagreeing with you. Only adding my two cents.
I live in an city that is on the top 10 list for breweries per capita in the world. And it’s all IPAs. Maybe 20% is not. And yeah it’s nice that I have 20 beers to chose from that aren’t ipas when I go to a place with 100 taps. I just hate having to sort though it all.
There should be an IPA menu, and a non ipa menu.
Also: IPAs have a lot of sugar content, and combined with alcohol sugar gives me a shitty buzz and a headache. I don’t know how people can drink more than one.
My IPAs and my pilsners finish at the same final gravity. IPAs do not universally have a lot of sugar. It’s the same as any other beer of similar alcohol content/starting gravity. If I got rid of the hops, I’d just have a strong English ale.
I believe you. You obviously know more. But it just seems so clear when I drink something crisp and light that I’m not getting that sugar high and headache I associate with strawberry daiquiris. But I get it from IPAs.
I’d like a beer that doesn’t taste bitter to me. I know this is probably me because I am very sensitive to bitter tastes (I can even taste the light bitterness of artificial sweeteners in drinks). But I’d love to experience an alcoholic beverage for once without the bitter taste.
sour beers in my experience tend to be less bitter.
modelo especial with lime juice is about my favorite non-craft beer. usually i tend to favor less-bitter beerd myself such as witbiers, kolsch, or hefeweisens. there are some IPA’s I like and will drink but I find that most of the ones I prefer tend to be on the less-bitter side for an IPA (which means they’re still bitter-er than most non-IPA beers).
Thanks for the advice. I will check some of those out.
I think part of the problem is that alcohol itself tastes bitter. So I guess look for quite a low-alcohol beer, maybe a fruity one with not much hops…
Thanks for the advice.
I feel you.
I brew my own beer just have a decent Munich style lager.
That’s impressive. You filter it?
why? I don’t need filters to clarify the lager, just temperature control.
Context: I was raised in Chico during the rise of Sierra Nevada. I was drinking hoppy beer before it was a thing. I burnt out on the whole thing around 2010. Went to Germany and fell in love with their beer. So drinkable. I’m just really impressed.
Do you lean towards Helles and Kolsh or Dunkels?
I’d say helles. When in Berlin I drink a lot of Tegenseer.
