While I know that there are folk who actually do like hoppy beers (just as there are people who like practically anything you want to suggest), I have to believe that the current trend of every other beer being sold or on the menu at restaurants being some IPA or other hyper-hopped beer is part of some conspiracy of timid silence, wherein everyone thinks that they must love hops in order to seem cool and with it and sophisticated (and, for men, manly). So everyone nods and orders hoppy beers and doesn’t catch the wince that everyone else makes around the table when they take their first sip.
I am more than ready for the IPA fad to recede into something that will meet the actual demand.
[h/t Doug Moran]
Stop pretending to like IPAs
There’s something I need to say. It’s a tough thing to do and takes bravery, but this has been weighing on my moral compass for far too long. It’s about …
I truly dislike hoppy beers. My husband says they are the best.
Like so many trends, we are over doing it. Silly humans.
Give me a clean, crisp hefeweizen any day.
It is why we saved all our high IBU stuff for Scott. It's been a real hardship for us since he's been on the diet.
But being in a low IBU beer drinker and only like any kind of hoppiness being a front note to be followed by some other flavor to get rid of the taste of hops in my mouth, I fully agree with this article.
Ha ha ha, I hate IPA's… Gimme amber, red or brown ales. Red is as hoppy as I get. Then the stouts and the porters…mmm…
I don’t like them either. A late hopped beer maybe—gives it citrus without the bitter. But liking beer because someone added more preservatives to it?
I'm much in favor of the fad that is replacing IPAs, at least in Colorado …. sours. I do love me a good sour.
I hated beer until my wife introduced me to hoppy beers! So boo sucks to be y'all!
I agree with the OP. Also do not like sour beer. Malty is the way I roll.
Sours are… hmmm. If I'm in the right mood they are okay. But I can see that rapidly becoming as objectionably trendy as extreme-hopping.
+Simon B Heh. I hated beer until I discovered I actually just don’t like hops.
I hated beer until I traveled to Britain in the 80s and discovered…beer.
Hmm. I don't think I like them all, but I have to say I'll tend to choose Lagunitas IPA when I see it on the list…
Can't beat a real Bavarian Helles, though.
+Colm Buckley Yup, Bavarian Helles is the best. My favourite is Augustiner, with Tegernseer clocking in at second place. Availability in Vienna is scarce, but I found both a supplier and a bar that have and serve it.
Part of it is the time to make it. IPA is much faster to make than Porter or Stout.
The whole thing is a strictly US-based phenomenon. If you live in a region that has brewed beers for 500 years and developed a clear and distinct character of what beer is about, then you don't need to invent 'trends'.
Just look at Americans holding wine glasses, drinking expensive wine – and you know that the high IBU level is the beer equivalent to that. Culturally misguided and malinformed, but convinced that they can top anything other people have invented and brought to perfection over centuries.
Go ahead, drink your bitter stuff, while I enjoy a German or Austrian beer. Go ahead and strangle your wine glass, while I hold my 90 USD Riedel crystal glass by the stem and enjoy the sound of toasting with like minded people.
I actually REALLY enjoy IPAs. Of couse, I don't go to bars with friends, so when I drink them it's in my own home and not for cool points. /shrug
The only beer I like is lambic, which is a very low hop beer out of Belgium. Otherwise, I go for cider, wine mixed drinks (if I drink at all.)
Yeah, when given a choice I'll go for some sort of white or wheat. The sours are okay, in moderate doses. I actually like chili beers, which my wife rolls her eyes at. A good stout hits the spot at the right time.
It's really all about the not-hops.
But, hey, I'm totally cool with folk drinking what they want. Just not with being forced to go along with trends.
Come visit me in England, and we can drink proper IPA together.
@LH, out of courtesy I’d be willing to do so, next time I’m around. 🙂
Three 'B's is the answer folks!
British Beer is Best!!!