wee bit of a rant
It is time for the stranglehold of IPA's to be over.
Sure IPA's are tasty but there are plenty of other delicious beers out there. This evening at the grocery store I counted 29 different varieties of IPA. Seriously 29! Compare that to 7 different pale ales, 3 porters, 5 stouts and maybe 6 amber ales. That is a ludicrous ratio of avaliablle IPA's to all other types.
A good IPA is a wonderful thing but too many of them are just lackluster pale ales that have had an absurd amount of hops added to them. Astringent and acidic are the first words that come to mind when I try and describe them.
A little history lesson might be in order here. The original india pale ales were british beers DESIGNED to last the long journey to india. The higher the alcohol content the better a beer ages so the standard pale ales' malt content was pumped up to bring the alcohol levels up enough, to balance that sweetness and alcohol they also added more hops.
There is a critical word there. BALANCE! Something that almost all of the near 30 IPA's on the shelf lack. They are just a sledgehammer of hops with no extra malt to balance them. I really blame terminal gravity brewing for this fad. TG's IPA was the first one on the scene and it inspired a bevy of copycats. Longhammer IPA, inversion IPA...ect.
We need a new word for these beers. They do not meet the definition of a traditional IPA. Perhaps "Northwest Pale Ale" or "retardedly Hoppy ale" Any other ideas?
Sure IPA's are tasty but there are plenty of other delicious beers out there. This evening at the grocery store I counted 29 different varieties of IPA. Seriously 29! Compare that to 7 different pale ales, 3 porters, 5 stouts and maybe 6 amber ales. That is a ludicrous ratio of avaliablle IPA's to all other types.
A good IPA is a wonderful thing but too many of them are just lackluster pale ales that have had an absurd amount of hops added to them. Astringent and acidic are the first words that come to mind when I try and describe them.
A little history lesson might be in order here. The original india pale ales were british beers DESIGNED to last the long journey to india. The higher the alcohol content the better a beer ages so the standard pale ales' malt content was pumped up to bring the alcohol levels up enough, to balance that sweetness and alcohol they also added more hops.
There is a critical word there. BALANCE! Something that almost all of the near 30 IPA's on the shelf lack. They are just a sledgehammer of hops with no extra malt to balance them. I really blame terminal gravity brewing for this fad. TG's IPA was the first one on the scene and it inspired a bevy of copycats. Longhammer IPA, inversion IPA...ect.
We need a new word for these beers. They do not meet the definition of a traditional IPA. Perhaps "Northwest Pale Ale" or "retardedly Hoppy ale" Any other ideas?
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