(Illustration by Jeff Quinn)
This article appears in the September 2016 issue of All About Beer Magazine, on newsstands now.
From early on in my writing career, I’ve referred to pilsner as “the beer that conquered the world.” This dry, hoppy, golden lager rolled out of Bohemia in the early 1840s and quickly became the world’s favorite. Europe, Africa, Asia, South and North America, Australia (and undoubtedly Antarctica): Every continent fell to its allure. The “pilsners” of today are different from the pilsners of yesterday. They’ve metamorphosed: Czech pilsners begat German pilsners, North German pilsners, the sweeter pilsners of Latin America and the light pilsners of North America, but they are all, of course, pilsners (because they say so).
Eventually though, some of us got tired of a steady diet of pilsners brewed in huge tanks and shipped all across the land and sea. Some revolted and brewed other beers, throwbacks to the beers we read about, re-creations or homages—“riffs,” you could call them—of the quite different beers that still hung on in countries like England, and Ireland and Belgium. Ales of all varieties, sour and wild beers, spiced, fruited and unfiltered: all kinds of beers were offered, and new ideas flourished.
It took decades from those first tiny steps, but difference has conquered; variety has triumphed! We now have at least 37 kinds of IPA! Yes, once we only had Anchor Liberty Ale and Bass ale (which did say it was an IPA …), but then we got West Coast IPA and British IPA, and Imperial and Double IPA, and now we have 24/7 IPA, IPA All The Time, from Session to Quintuple, from bright to hazy. Session IPA was almost inevitable. IPA is “the beer that conquered the niche,” I guess.
Speaking as a guy who’s been preaching the beer gospel for over 30 years, I’m feeling short-changed. Damn it, I didn’t put up with the abuse of my co-workers and relatives, or spend thousands of dollars on questionable beers from brewers with six months’ experience during the buildup, just to get the opportunity to drink hoppy, hoppier and hoppiest, no matter how good those hops are! I’ve been at beer bars where over three-quarters of the taps were pouring some variation on an IPA, or at least something that called itself an IPA. There are a lot more taps at bars now than there were back in my salad days, but I happily recall places with only five taps that had more variety.
And please don’t tell me that there are sour beers too; I know all too well that there are sour beers. You know, we had them back in the day as well, but no one ever tried to fill a bar with them. At least if I get tired of IPA and sour, I can be sure that there’s going to be an imperial stout (probably barrel-aged) around to quench the bitter sourness. Of course, if I want more bitter sourness, I could always get a hoppy sour or a sour IPA!
It took 30 years, but we’ve almost come full circle. Back in the ’80s, almost everywhere you went offered you a choice of light lagers, and maybe a Guinness or a Bass, and if you were lucky, a cream ale. Now most of the places I visit offer me a broad choice of IPAs, and maybe a couple of sours or saisons, and a couple of big dark ales. There may be a pilsner, if I’m lucky; it’s probably hopped to the gills.
It’s so boring! We’ve reached the point where brewers are stuffing things into IPAs to make them more interesting: grapefruit, peppers, ginger, lemons, blood oranges, flowers. One brewer had the tongue-in-cheek puckishness to describe his IPA as “beer-flavored.” I can’t decide whether I should salute or punch him in the nose.
We’ve learned so much about flavor and brewing techniques that it seems a terrible waste to use it only to dry hop, spin out the hops oil, and then add the bug of the week to the fermenter. Session, Brett, Double, Red, White, Green, Triple, what flavor of IPA do you want, sir? We have everything.
For God’s sake, we changed the world! We brewed and we bought and we built a beer market that stood the old one on its head, from light lager everywhere to the possibility of stouts, bocks, lambics, pale ales, porters, altbiers, smoked beers, real ales, pilsners, imperial stouts, kölsches, kellerbiers, milds and bitters, even things we’d never heard of, like goses and grodziskies … and you use it to get 20 different kinds of IPA? I ought to kick your hop-sucking asses, all of you.
Try something different. If all you drink is IPA, you’re just another damned herbivore. It’s like you kicked the fast food habit and all you do is eat at different sushi houses. Sushi’s great, but … every day? What about cheese? What about waterzooi? What about baguettes? What about chicken mole? Always getting IPA is only a tiny bit off from Michael Jackson’s famous comparison of ordering “a beer” to ordering a plate of “food.”
We did this for you. Don’t squander it. Enjoy it. To paraphrase Jackson again: IPA is a playground; it’s not a prison.
aab
Lew Bryson has been writing about beer for more than 25 years and is the author of Tasting Whiskey. On Twitter @LewBryson
Hot damn! This is so beautiful it brought tears to my eyes!!! BRAVO!!!!!! BRAVO!!!!!!!!
Bravo!
If I put my feelings on IPA’s into words it would be along these lines you wrote.
Not to self-promote, but just wrote THIS on Monday! And I’m not saying it’s a unique idea, just that obviously it’s something we should be talking about:
http://www.beer-simple.com/beer/2016/8/1/ipa-the-dan-brown-of-craft-beer
I have travelled to CA annually for 15 years, and have noticed not only the exponential proliferation of IPA’s, but even more annoying, that even beers purporting to be something else e.g. pale ales are not even close to traditional styles. They aren’t pale, nor do they taste that much different to (you guessed it) IPA’s! I recently went to a beer class in Australia run by 3 very experienced brewers. As an intro they introduced 4 styles. #4 was titled “American style”. aka just hoppy as hell. Hopefully we will see a reversal back to beers with subtlety and style before its too late.
Bitching about IPAs is as cliche as actual IPAs at this point. At this point in time we’re absolutely spoiled as beer lovers and drinkers. There are literally hundreds of beers you can drink that aren’t Barrel Aged, Sour, or Hoppy.
The proliferation of these styles and mostly IPA is an economic one. They sell, if the public didn’t enjoy the style and buy a metric shit ton of it brewers wouldn’t make it. I’ve known people who opened brewers wanting to focus on malt forward English style beers and then 4 months later they’re brewing an IPA to put on tap because they’re sick of being asked why the don’t have one and meeting that demand.
We all have styles of beer we enjoy less then others, yours happens to be IPA and that’s fine. Just spare us the nonsense clickbait articles rife with whining that people like something that you don’t.
Nicely said. I’m tired of all the complaining as well.
“We all have styles of beer we enjoy less then others, yours happens to be IPA and that’s fine.”
Ah, no. I actually love IPA, and drink a LOT of it. Not so fond of witbiers, not a big fan of gose, don’t really go for gruit, despite wanting to like it. But you should try to see that what I’m “whining” about isn’t IPA, per se: it’s about a lack of variety in many craft beer bars. IPA overwhelms the taplines in many of them. But I repeat myself. What I mostly wanted to say is that I do like IPA. Not that it matters.
Agree with your response about it being about economics. If the demand is for IPA you better meet it or risk going out of business. We’ve come a long way from Lagers, thankfully, but IPAs are the easiest to customize and still appeal to the masses so this is what you get in a capital market. If the writer wants variety at a beer bar (1st mistake BTW… should be going right to the source) then they better renew their passport!
Beautiful! I’m crying in my underhopped mild.
Finally, someone speaking sense. Balance and nuance are the sign of a good beer and an accomplished brewer. Big flavors are easy.
Congratulations on finding something to complain about during the best time for beer lovers in the last 100 years (and possibly in human history). A beer lover complaining about the overabundance of IPAs in today’s beer market has probably been made complacent by the almost ludicrous selection that has become so easily accessed.
As mentioned in the article, pilsner became so popular simply because people loved drinking it. The IPA phenomenon is no different. It’s inevitable for one style to become more popular than others — and the fact that it turned out to be IPA in the craft world makes so much sense because it’s the perfect antidote to the macro-brewed bastardization of pilsner that came to dominate the market.
Yes, there are probably too many IPAs and IPA riffs than we need, but what a splendid problem to have! A beer menu that is 3/4 IPA may be unwieldy, but the remaining 1/4 is bound to have a wider variety than most menus did 20 years ago, and overlooking that out of spite for the hop bombs is just curmudgeonly. Slagging IPAs is just as trendy as the beer itself these days. It reminds me of the 1990s when some of my favourite “alternative” bands made it big and signed to major labels only to be shunned by so-called music purists for selling out, while real fans stuck with them because they simply loved the music and didn’t give a shit about the bands going mainstream.
We live in a time of great abundance. It may be overhopped at times, but I am going to enjoy it regardless. I am going to try as many IPAs as I can, along with all the other styles I can get my lips on. I will continue to let beer surprise, disappoint, and delight my palate for as long as this golden age lasts. Anyone who complains about “too many IPAs” is just bitter (see what I did there).
Very well said! Agree, agree. Please people, don’t be bitter!
Yay, another beer writer bemoaning the current IPA trend. Cutting edge, you are. I await the day when beer writing moves past, “Hey, here’s this thing I hate. Do better, brewers, of which I am not one.” I won’t hold my breath.
Hey, you know…fifteen years ago, people wanted beer writing to move past, “Gee, all craft beers are great, and isn’t that wonderful!” So we did, and now we get this. Look, do you want us to be critical, or not? Aren’t you really saying, “Do better, writers, of which I am not one”? Start a blog, sell a piece, develop a voice. Not everyone’s a brewer or bar owner.
I already started a blog, because I knew I could do better. Unfortunately, if you’re not all, “best thing ever!” or “worse than Hitler!”, no one pays attention. Because of the way writers have fallen back on clickbait and facile, incendiary articles.
Thank you, Scott, for saving us beer writers from ourselves. You know you can do better? By what measure? I can’t wait to see what depths you plomb for your stories that by your own admission may not get read. Don’t label an article as click-bait just because you disagree with it. I was at Ommegang this weekend, which I believe was the first all-Belgian brewery in the U.S. What did I drink?Their first IPA and DIPA.
What a mistaken, misguided, whiny article. How many beer bars do you frequent? I’ve been to several in the last month – across several states – and not a one met the IPA overdose you describe. Sours, Saisons, Belgians, Farmhouse Ales, Hefeweizens and yes, Pilsners were on tap. And as long as there is variety, what’s wrong with a well done IPA anyway?
I read the whole article before coming to this conclusion, and my conclusion is this:
You’re an idiot. This has nothing to do with IPA’s, and everything to do with people simply differing from you. What’s on tap is a democracy we call Capitalism, where votes are our dollars. If business roll with beer styles you don’t like, or don’t like a ton, then don’t go there.
If all the people who write articles bitching about IPA’s actually did something about it, then we’d have less IPA’s at taphouses. But no, all you want to do is bitch.
Grow up. Shut up.
Nailed it.
Thanks for writing this. Excellent article! It describes exactly how I have been feeling as a beer drinker for quite a while. I’ve been bored stiff for the last several years and I’m so sick of IPAs and overly hopped beers of other styles that I could spit nails. I will be sharing this.
IPA’S just suck…. too many of them now ?
There is some truth to what you say, that there is probably an overabundance of IPAs out there. But I don’t see it as negative. Yes, it shows a certain lack of creativity by some brewers, but, as someone else posted, that’s what people want. Personally, I drink an IPA about twice a week. The rest of the time, I hunt for Belgians or anything that sounds interesting. I will admit that I became a bit tired of IPAs a while back, but just realized that to continue to enjoy the style, I had to scale it back, have less of it. I honestly don’t see this style disappearing, ever. When well made, a balanced, fragrant American IPA is tough to beat.
As someone who discovered IPA back in the 80’s, thanks Charlie P, I don’t like to hear them all labelled hop bombs, or a that they lack nuance and balance, that’s just wrong!
Big beers with big flavours are just as much a part of the brewer’s art as milds, etc. As for the IPAs flooding the market, every Brewer out there, big or small, feels the pressure from the public to produce something called IPA wether it really is or isn’t.
It’s all good., (even if it isn’t!)
I think the proliferation of IPAs might at least partly be due to the tendency of IPAs to kind of ruin your palate for less hoppy beers. Ever drink an IPA and follow it up with a traditional Pilsner? Pilsners that used to taste hoppy can start to taste like water next to a hoppy IPA. I hate myself for it, but the deeper I have gotten into the IPA world, the harder it is to enjoy the more balanced beers that I used to love.
We’ve come a long way with hop varieties and yeast and bug cultures in the past 40 years. But the flavors of US produced malts are just starting to outshine the best of the imported varieties. I predict that in ten years, “malt” will be the new “hop”. And I, for one, can’t wait. Articles like yours give me hope that we’re starting to see a shift, and that we’ll once again be able to taste the third ingredient (besides water) in beer. Cheers to that!
I have been saying this for a while. I do think people are starting to realise that there is more out there than just a tongue-numbing hop bomb.
Yeah well that’s just like your opinion man. Punch someone in the nose? Kick all of our asses? Lol, you come across as a HUGE douche nozzle. How about people drink what they want and you drink what you want? Clearly the masses disagree with you. Supply and demand, and the revered breweries can’t keep up.
Lew,
As a professional brewer who loves brewing and drinking IPA (among the multitude of other styles), thank you, thank you, thank you. You articulate the problem so well and with such an appreciation of what the craft beer movement has been, at least to me. Also, as a member of the millennial generation of brewers, I’m sorry.
“You’re an idiot. Grow up. Shut up.” Well, then! At least IPAs have embiggened our discourse.
But the best -and we have the best words- is, “What a mistaken, misguided, whiny article. How many beer bars do you frequent?” Might I humbly suggest Google or Amazon Books?
Bob Tupper (Google him!) has often said, “I’ve never met a brewer I didn’t like.” Smart man that he is, he didn’t say “craft beer drinker.”
Preach on, Brother Lew!
Nicely done. I was at a popular San Diego beer bar/restaurant the other day and 50% of their 40+ taps were some variation on an IPA. Sometimes, I just want a nice craft version of a Czech style Pilsner, but I can’t find one anywhere. I have a feeling that as consumers get burned out on the IPA madness, that we will start to see more variety. Don’t get me wrong, I love IPAs, but I also love other finely crafted styles.
I love IPA as well, though a bunch of people seem to assume I’m an IPA hater. Not so.
Lew, thanks for the refreshing rant. I spent 30 years in the industry and traveled extensively during that time. I wss lucky enough to be a part of the beer Renaissance. But enough is enough. Stupidly high IBUs, odd flavorings, unusual and often bizarre ingredients along with silly names do nothing for the drinkability of the beer. Brewers are trying to stand out in a crowded market, consumers pretend to like the products because they’re hip and cool, and the cycle continues. Many has been the time that I have seen a local beer blowhard order a pint of the latest hop juice and go on about how wonderful it is to a rapt audience(of his two buddies)and then retreat to the PBR tap. Your point is well taken and proves that the emperor truly has no clothes. As for the individual who eloquently referred to you as a “douche nozzle”, his words speak volumes about himself.
“We changed the world”
” I ought to kick your hop-sucking asses, all of you.”
You’ve certainly got your head in the clouds and up your butt at the same time.
Amen. You are preaching to the choir. I ahve been telling friends that we are “overhopped” for some time.I do enjoy an IPA at times, but give me Belgian Ale anytime.
Thanks for a thoughtful article. Won’t say I completely agree, but I appreciate the critical tone instead of just, “hey, this beer is great.” Enjoyed your responses to comments as well.
I’ll forgo an IPA (admittedly my favorite) for a different style for my next pint in your honor!
Nicely written. Variety is the spice of life!
My first piece three or four years ago for the now-dormant NJ Brew magazine discussed the IPA-ification of the beer scene. Like Lew, I love a good IPA or DIPA when the time is right. I, too, took some heat for daring to suggest there were other styles with a similar claim to a ” right time.” While we as writers enjoy encomiums for our work, the reason we write is to get a reaction, no? Remember Oscar Wilde’s classic dictum : The only thing worse than being talked about us not being talked about. Na Zdravi, Lew!
Prost, Kurt!
Solution: Don’t drink them. Don’t patronize bars that don’t carry your preferred styles.
Great article!
I don’t frequent beer bars as much as I do breweries (mostly during work travel) and when I order my standard line is “give me your most popular beer and one that you’re most proud of…” Rarely is the second one an IPA.
You’re all a bunch of twats.
Fantastic piece. I started drinking around the time craft brewing was really picking up steam, and since then it feels like the mainstream of craft brewing has been a hops arms race.
The overabundance of IPA is a market driven phenomena that started in the United States that has now influenced breweries all over the world.
My only complaint about this overabundance is that shelf space is limited to the many contributions of other styles. For example, beers concerned with other historical significance, such as Pabst Blue Ribbon’s Old Tankard Ale are difficult to find, and this revitalized recipe from a Macro Brewery.
But I spend little time worrying about this.
Having difficulty finding 1516 keller bier from the world’s oldest brewery, or Breckenridge’s tribute to Burton Ale (A quart of ale is a feast for a king) is a gentle reminder that The Beer Hunter was not only Michael Jackson, but a designation for those seeking the wonderful flavorful worlds of beer.
I just wish there was more tap room for a good, biscuit-laden, less carbonated British Mild.
Dude comes across as … wait for it … BITTER
Well done, Lew! My saying is, just because you can doesn’t mean you should.
Oh, ye drinker’s of the India Pale Ale think you are beyond reproach. Let me tell you a time existed when my IPA was the only one needed. And what an IPA it was! However, even beyond my own IPA was my stock ale, cream ale, straight ale, porter, stout, bock and half and half, all of which found more favor with a great many of our fine citizens. All ye drinkers of the India Pale, take heed, gentlemen!
Thank you thank you *bowing*
You saved me much time, thought and energy on a rant.
I really could not have written that any other way.
I was JUST lamenting the hopiness “revolution” the other day…my response is the same as the French revolution…OFF WITH THEIR HOPS!
Bravo.
I couldn’t agree more. Brewers really need to start thinking about brewing more than just IPA.
I read another great blog post from the UK recently on a similar subject:
https://thornbridge.wordpress.com/2015/02/12/hops-and-flucloxacillin/
These guys should know what they are talking about as they won Gold and Silver at the Beer World cup in the barrel aged sour category. Does anyone know if their beer is available in the US? I have always been disappointed with UK beers but I would love to try those sours!
This is a great article. Well said. I am tired of complaining about the selection and the beer crowd. TIRED! I stopped buying beer and going to brew fests. This is disgusting. My friend and I just brew our own beer now. I dont need to see another douchey IPA or a peanut butter porter. This industry used to be the greatest thing ever in which may of us saw grow and were proud of. Now, its an awful shame.
Lew,
Thanks for the fun and sorta true column. 🙂 It seems to me that, just when you were becoming so right, the tide was already turning. I can only speak about the (excellent) craft brew scene in Indianapolis (and throw in Three Floyds, near my Ma), but I am seeing a lot of the variety you desire. For example, Bier brewery in Broad Ripple has a very good pale ale, but most of their board is lagers, wheat bears, and other non-hoppy stuff. They do a very good job with it. Black Acre has a very good variety of all types of beers. Union up in Carmel has a good balance between pales/IPAs and lagers/stouts/other stuff. Even going to something like the 130+ tap Hopcat, only a reasonable sections of the menu is especially hoppy.
A visit to Rhinegeist in Cincy a couple weeks ago told a similar tale: a pretty balanced menu.
Even my fave hoppy artistes, Three Floyds, have been doing a lot of nice lagers, not all of which are hoppy (though Jinx Proof is pretty nice).
So… maybe things aren’t so bad? 🙂 Cheers!
By the way, I came to your post via the Google search “sick of IPAs,” so I *do* get where you’re coming from. 🙂
IPAs are (for the most part- not all) for the folks that really do not like the taste of beer. Let’s face, they do not taste like beer, they were the prior drinkers of the bottled hard iced teas, the wine collers, etc. So this crowd loved the tap room atmosphere and wanted to take part. Can’t blame ’em and thanks for contributing to the capitalism American dream at least.
True , cannot stop the phenomenon, and the cycle will shift again, just hope that the art of crafting BEER does not get lost in the art of pushing a product.
I am reading this as I drink a Three Floyds “imperial stout” that tastes likem…you guessed it…an IPA. This has to stop. We need a hop shortage or something….
I will add that I have seen some signs of a potential resurgence of other styles. Including pilsners. I’m a fan of the resurrected Baderbrau out of chicago.
IPA’s suck.