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US craft beer disappears up its own #$%#$%^

sean99

sean99

pfm Member
I went to a tasting last Friday. Apparently the "in thing" is unfiltered super hoppy "IPA"s. I put this in inverted commas because IMO an IPA should have the hops complement the other flavours of the beer, not dominate.

I tried 5 or 6 beers that were utterly undrinkable - like a nasty homebrewing experiment gone wrong. And yet this stuff is wildly popular and is selling for $15 for a 4 pack.

Maybe I should turn this into a poll - anyone else find the lastest ultra hoppy unfiltered beers revolting ?
 
I find a lot of craft beer undrinkable tosh. The various heavily hopped draft ales from the like of UK brewers Adnams, Thornbridge and the Dark Star Brewery (yes, it is named after the Grateful Dead song) are amongst my favourite things to drink, though.
 
For the uninitiated there are more really good US microbreweries than those in the rest of the world put together. I love unfiltered beer.
 
sean.

we have the same problem in toronto/ontario, but i find that things have started to get better over the past year or so. there is one super-hoppy beer that i actually like a lot, but only when i am in the mood for it.
 
gintonic said:
For the uninitiated there are more really good US microbreweries than those in the rest of the world put together. I love unfiltered beer.
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i don't think that is possible, just judging by the number we have in the toronto area alone.
 
One of the best craft beers I've found in the US is called "Sex in a Canoe". With a name like that I just had to try it, and found it to be excellent. There was another from a brewery, also Texan (Revolver, I think) called Blood and Honey that I could drink far too much of.
Like everywhere, there are pockets of excellence, and ones of total crap.
 
Beer should only ever be brewed in monasteries. It is what monks are for.

PS One of my old muso mates from the ‘80s, Becky, who played bass in The Room & Benny Profane, now runs a micro-brewery up in Cumbria; Stringers Beer. Not seen her for ages and not tried the beer yet, but reputedly very nice stuff.
 
Tony L said:
Beer should only ever be brewed in monasteries. It is what monks are for.

PS One of my old muso mates from the ‘80s, Becky, who played bass in The Room & Benny Profane, now runs a micro-brewery up in Cumbria; Stringers Beer. Not seen her for ages and not tried the beer yet, but reputedly very nice stuff.
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I think I might have had a bottle of stout from Stringers
 
sean99 said:
I went to a tasting last Friday. Apparently the "in thing" is unfiltered super hoppy "IPA"s. I put this in inverted commas because IMO an IPA should have the hops complement the other flavours of the beer, not dominate.

I tried 5 or 6 beers that were utterly undrinkable - like a nasty homebrewing experiment gone wrong. And yet this stuff is wildly popular and is selling for $15 for a 4 pack.

Maybe I should turn this into a poll - anyone else find the lastest ultra hoppy unfiltered beers revolting ?
Click to expand...

1 million likes.

I love beer but do not understand the fascination initially in the US and now seemingly everyfreakingwhere for overhopped beer. Stop it! Enough already..... 600,000 different IPA's are not needed. Try making some different stuff, I was in a US bar last week and asked for a "not very hoppy beer" and was looked at like I had asked for blended babies. Beer can have flavour without hops.
 
sean99 said:
I went to a tasting last Friday. Apparently the "in thing" is unfiltered super hoppy "IPA"s. I put this in inverted commas because IMO an IPA should have the hops complement the other flavours of the beer, not dominate.

I tried 5 or 6 beers that were utterly undrinkable - like a nasty homebrewing experiment gone wrong. And yet this stuff is wildly popular and is selling for $15 for a 4 pack.

Maybe I should turn this into a poll - anyone else find the lastest ultra hoppy unfiltered beers revolting ?
Click to expand...

Other flavours of the beer? There's malt and there's hops and there's ..... ? I don't know what you were drinking, but generally, American IPAs are pretty good, in fact, the best in my opinion. Pray tell what beers you found so unpalatable, I think they might be interesting. For the record I'm not a big fan of Punk IPA which is a bit OTT with hoppiness and leaves a dry bitter aftertaste which I don't care for, but American IPAs don't do this (AFAIK).
 
gassor said:
Other flavours of the beer? There's malt and there's hops and there's ..... ?
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Yeast. Different strains have a distinct flavour. The three elements that contribute to a beers flavour should be kept in some sort of balance, just like a good wine should balance the contrasting flavours of fruit, oak tannins and yeast. I am a big fan of the APA style, but agree with the OP that there has been an annoying trend to ridiculously over-hopped beers. In general I think the recent development of the craft beer scene in the US and elsewhere has been a positive development. It wasnt that long ago that the only excuse for a beer you could get in USA was horrible watery lagers.
 
gassor said:
Other flavours of the beer? There's malt and there's hops and there's ..... ?
Click to expand...

I’m not big on craft beer, but I have a couple of mates who are. And earlier this year I happened to be near Miami with a couple of them, and one suggested that we go and visit the tasting room at the Funky Buddha brewery. I have absolutely no idea how they get the flavours they do into the beers, but some of the porters they brew were amazing. One of their apparently award winning flagships, Maple Bacon Coffee Porter might sound like a terrible idea. But it really does taste of those things, and it was delicious.
 
sean99 said:
I went to a tasting last Friday. Apparently the "in thing" is unfiltered super hoppy "IPA"s. I put this in inverted commas because IMO an IPA should have the hops complement the other flavours of the beer, not dominate.

I tried 5 or 6 beers that were utterly undrinkable - like a nasty homebrewing experiment gone wrong. And yet this stuff is wildly popular and is selling for $15 for a 4 pack.

Maybe I should turn this into a poll - anyone else find the lastest ultra hoppy unfiltered beers revolting ?
Click to expand...
I'm an enormous fan of the modern IPA styles, but each to his own. My favourite brewery is a local Manchester one - Cloudwater - which also sells its beer unfiltered (that's partly how it got its name); it's beers are characteristically cloudy. The rationale is that a lot of the flavour comes from the stuff that some brewers filter out.

The modern styles have developed to take advantage of the different flavour profiles in modern 'new world' hop varieties. In place of Fuggles and Goldings we now have hops like Citra, Centennial, Chinook, Challenger (and before we get too 'c' obsessed, others like Nelson Sauvin and Sorachi Ace). They all add something different, but one pretty common feature is an intensely fruity aroma, often of tropical fruits like mango and passion fruit.

They are different, and its a revolution,. not unlike the new world/old world revolution in the wine business a generation or so ago. You don't have to like it, other beers are still available, but I think you should acknowledge the innovation (and, happily, the strong spirit of collaboration and common cause that permeates the craft brewing world). As Dave***t says, some of the flavours these brewers are bringing out are amazing.
 
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