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.”
Oh, we’ve got a hoppy red for people who want something dark…
Live in Seattle and that’s not true. 95% of them are IPAs and I just want a good Blonde…
Same, except I want something like a bock or doppelbock.
Blondes are not completely uncommon here. They generally have one or something similar on tap at most bars/restaurants.
1 blonde and 47 IPAs that taste like compost. Ambers are good too amd Mack & Jack’s African Amber is a good beer to that I can usually find here.
An exaggeration but I do get your point. Bars should probably have maybe two IPAs (one hazy and one standard) and then a host of other beers styles. I’d love to come across more dark lagers personally but those are pretty rare even in places like Chuck’s Hop Shop
deleted by creator
This always cracked me up:
The brand is not named after the famous St. Pauli neighbourhood in Hamburg, which is home to one of the world’s largest entertainment and red light districts. Rather, the name comes from the former St. Paul’s Friary [de] in Bremen, which was next to the original brewery established in 1857 by Lüder Rutenberg. There are currently three brands of beer brewed: St. Pauli Girl Lager, St. Pauli Girl Special Dark and St. Pauli Non-Alcoholic Malt Beverage. The beer is only produced for export and is not sold in Germany.
guh, blonde ale, really?
Or Ambers
Amber Ale is waaaaaay more complex and generally better than blonde ales imo… Do you like malt forward beers?
Yarp. Theres lots of good beers out there, but the vast majority are IPAs at the moment.
Very true. I thought I hated craft beer because I lived in a small town in the middle of bumfuck nowhere, Minnesota. I moved to Minneapolis, and it’s craft beer galore. My personal favorite brewery is Fair State
Same here in New England, but… The restaurants are IPA heavy, and the beer vendors have lots of IPA.
And some of us are ok with that…
Yeah. I like Hazys, IPAs, Stouts, Reds, Amber’s, Pils, Browns, Bitters…shit. I think I just like beer. I’m not a fan of lager and wheat beers though.
But when weather calls for it, love a nice hazy, gose, or sour. And like parking through a strong IPA.
True. It does seem like it is more than 50% sometimes. Unforthcoming my taste buds are pretty burnt out from too many IPAs at this point. I used to love a wide range of beers but now basically stick to a hoppy-nonhoppy scale. I used to love Belgians and ambers and porters and all sorts of beers that were on the maltier side. Not really my jam anymore.
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.
IPA’s are like someone took the worst part of beer and made it the only part of the beer.
Oh, no…I like IPAs…does this mean you guys are gonna make me go back to Reddit?
I’m afraid so. Enjoying an IPA is simply unconscionable in the Lemmy hive mind.
Seriously though, I like an IPA once in a while myself, I just wish the local store had a little more selection
It’s not a hive mind, it’s a central consciousness
It’s a federated consciousness.
It’s a collective consciousness
It actually is more of a hive mind than reddit. A decentralized consciousness.
Resistance is futile.
No, you’ll just be the lemmy nerd and be bullied about it.
For anyone who likes IPAs anyway, their low alcohol versions do tend to taste a lot more like real beer than any low alcohol pale lager does.
Yeah, alcohol. IPAs taste like bitter piss as much as lagers do but at least with IPAs I get drunk faster and don’t put on as much weight.
What types of beer would you recommend?
Personally I’m more of a pilsner guy. I just hate the bitterness of IPA’s.
Bitter is the flavor of hops. IPA’s are made with a ridiculous amount of hops. I prefer beer with lower amounts of hops.
Bitter is the flavor of hops.
It very much depends on how you apply the hops. New England style IPAs aren’t bitter at all (very low IBU comparable to some pilsners in fact), even though it is probably the type of beer which has the most hops added. The hops are added in the form of aroma hops, which usually provides a citrus flavour instead of the bitterness of bittering hops.
I wish that was how American IPA’s worked. 90% of them are bitter af. Like I’d rather eat an entire grapefruit than drink the average American IPA
Saisons, sour, pilsner, altbier, Oktoberfest, stouts, bocks, porter
Username checks out
I’ve always liked IPAs, and I’m probably going to continue to, but the style is kinda beat. They’re at a point now where they’re just doing the most nitpicky variations on the theme. Dry-hopped rather than wet? That’s a juicy IPA. Lactose back sweetening? Milkshake IPA. Ran out of finings and can’t clarify your beer? It’s not ruined, it’s haaaaaazy. Strong enough to black you out after three? Double IPA. After two? Imperial IPA. No stronger than the American light lagers you used to steal from your dad? Session IPA.
The point of IPAs was that they were full of huge, bold flavor in a market that was saturated by beers that were competing with one another to taste the most like a vodka soda and have the lowest calories (and therefore ABV) possible. They were the revolutionary vanguard of beer that tasted like beer. But now I can get all sorts of wild shit. Fruit sours, coffee/chocolate stouts, real pilseners that actually taste like beer, proper copper lagers, all sorts of amazing stuff. The era of the IPA being the only “real beer” has ended. I wish someone would tell the breweries.
Man, all those “wild things” you mention have existed for ages here in Belgium. IPAs are pretty much the new kid on the block. Weird how different our cultures are.
Do you mean you wish someone would tell the stores? You just said you can get all those other things, those would be coming from breweries.
No, I mean I wish someone would tell the breweries that they can pare it back to only seven different IPAs per season and instead invest more in different styles. I can get some wild shit because I’m fortunate to have one really good store about 20 minutes away but between being in PA with weird laws about who can sell booze, how strong it can be and how much they can sell and the relative glut of local brewers that are still in 2010 we could stand some work. Even moreso because the summer is winding down and I can already hear the thunderous sound of the Imperial Pumpkin Ales rolling in. “It’s 14% ABV! Put a caramel cinnamon rim on the glass and it might even taste like something!”
deleted by creator
Fair go. I really only brew ciders and seltzers nowadays but that’s mostly because they don’t have a cook step (and therefore don’t have a wort chilling step that’s a giant pain in the ass and a wonderful place for infection to creep in)
IPAs sell.
Fuck that, I love ipas. I had to live half if my life with bland lager and pilsner and nothing else. Ipas ftw
There are beers that are not IPA but do have taste too.
Same here. The limey taste of hops makes the beer for me, when I get a lighter beer I’m more often than not left disappointed, like I’m drinking bubbly water that’s been sitting in a pipe for 25 years. Craft IPAs on the other hand range from “meh it’s alright” to “this is amazing”.
Now you live your life with lager and pilsner and ipa and nothing else.
Me Me Me Me Me
So you don’t give a shit that they only sell IPA as long as you’re satisfied? Sounds like one hell of an ego trip to me.
So you don’t give a shit that they only sell IPA as long as you’re satisfied? Sounds like one hell of an ego trip to me.
Yeah. The guy wants to buy things he likes and is pleased when a store has a few suitable items as a minimum.
Fuck him and his wallet, right?
A few, you mean like 90% of the aisle and very few of anything else to choose from?
OMG, I’ve quit so many homebrew clubs because of their unnatural fascination with hops, Hops, HOPS!!! Boil 'em, brew on 'em, back 'em in your taps… HOPSSS!!!
If i wanted to feel like I’ve just been smacked in the face with a bag of fresh grass cuttings, I’m sure I could pay a guy.
One fucking guy was making hops extracts to DROPPER into his Hazy New England IPA so there was a fucking green oil slick on top. I quit on the spot, got up and walked out.
Reference brewing in to US is a lost art. Present a Kölsch or a Maibock in spec and they shit on you because its too sweet, but if you just make it an Imperial with more hops…?
Ptui.
Removed by mod
What the fudge is this comment?
Removed by mod
Some people can’t take a breath without making it political.
Removed by mod
Okay, I’m going to give you some advise before I block your stupidity.
Look closely at what you said and the comment that replied to you and realize the ignorance of what you said next.
You still have time to gain awareness and not be a dumbass in life.
Removed by mod
Fair enough. Didn’t look at username. Carry on.
cant relate. i love the International Phonetic Alphabet
Well, I also like Isopropyl Alcohol
Can’t a man get a sour or two? Maybe some regional cider, if it’s not too much to ask?
You may, we have a space provisioned at the rear of the facility
I mean yeah, sure. You can at every beer store near me 🤷🏻
I think that’s kinda the thing about this post. Alot of people don’t have a place to find these things at all. Though I know a few, just not super convenient for me. I feeling like I am ALWAYS at the grocery store for something, though.
Come to New England and have some Downeast. Don’t need any other cider after that.
Downeast is pretty dang good, give Ninepin a shot as well.
Have you ever had a hopped cider?
Meanwhile, in France, wine consumption is down due to craft beers to the point the government is going to spend 200 millions to prevent market crash.
Not being a beer drinker I have to ask: why the IPA craze? Aren’t lagers, stouts and whatever other beers an option for crafters?
IPAs are still riding a popularity high in the US. It’s easy to make, you don’t have to be as precise and careful with your beer when you make them, the hops will hide your mistakes. Sign of a bad brewery, is they only sell IPAs. Currently in the US, IPAs are the top selling style, unfortunately. Saisons are so much better, for example.
Saisons aren’t better. All taste is subjective. If I never get served another “bubblegummy with hint of white pepper, barnyard and Meyer lemon” I’ll be happy
The IPA bros are annoying, but the “over it” pilsner and saison snobs aren’t much better.
I was over everything before it became hipster mainstream cool.
I homebrewed all the desire for wacky beer out of myself.
Basically, despite all the vocal complaints, IPAs sell better.
I enjoy IPAs personally but it does get frustrating when you want something different.
I love an IPA but you need to have a pallet cleanser from time to time. I’m a big fan of ‘Purity Law’ beers, they tend to be predictable, mellow flavour, and light to medium alcohol content. Perfect for lawn mowing, BBQing, or working on the car.
While not the cheapest, IPAs are relatively easy to make and extremely easy to iterate on. IPAs in general allow brewers to fine-tune flavors and thus pump out multiple novel flavors quickly in order to find a market. If you go the stout or lager route, there’s really only so much wiggle room as they’re mostly ‘solved’ beers; as in buyers know exactly what they want to taste, and you better deliver that taste. IPAs are also really, really easy to dial in alcohol content without giving up flavor, where as lagers like Budweiser can only lower alcohol content while lowering the overall taste profile, hence the term ‘piss water’ for low alcohol lagers.
Ipa allow brewers to mask brewing mistakes by burying them in hop flavor. And if you think Budweiser is the only example of a lager, you shouldn’t be talking about beer. You can create 5-6% lagers without sacrificing flavor. There are tons of good lagers out there, Budweiser isn’t one of them.
I was with you until the very end. Budweiser is a good lager, like Imagine Dragons is good pop music.
This does not apply in any way to Bud Light.
I think most people would agree, in general, lagers are the worst beer; but sure there could be a good low alcohol lager somewhere out there. Stouts will always win out in my book so maybe my tastes don’t align well with others.
Saying lager is a style is kind of a misnomer, lagers use a different type of fermentation that takes longer than ales. Budweiser is a mass produced riff on the (Czech) pilsner style which is a lager. The thing with Bud is a lot of these sorts of beers use adjuncts in the malt bill which gives them a light body/ flavor. Instead of high quality wheat, there’s a lot of filler gains like rice and corn to the point where some can almost be considered gluten free. At the end of the day those sorts of beers are impressive in that they can create so much of it in different facilities and have it be so consistent.
Saying pilsners are bad after drinking only Bud is like eating McDonald’s and thinking all beef is terrible
Side note: Baltic Porters can be brewed as ales or lagers and they’re probably right up your alley
Considering lagers are the number 1 selling beer in the world, you’re wrong. You know that lager is a broad term that actually covers several styles, including some of the most popular specialties. The fact that you think a lager means Budweiser shows that you don’t understand the conversation. Helles, maibock, bock, Vienna’s, Octoberfest, pilsner, are all lagers and that’s not the full list. American macrobrew is not the definition of a lager, which is why a class was made called.american light lager to cover those.
This is just ignorant lol. If you don’t like lager you don’t like lager but that doesn’t mean it’s the worst beer. I don’t really like stout but I’m not going around saying it’s the worst, it’s all preference. There are tons of different types of lager if you actually look, plenty of micro brewers make them.
Some brewers can’t help themselves. Even when they brew a style that would traditionally have low IBUs they bump it up by about 10. Lagunitas totally messed with Newcastle Brown Ale once they got their grubby hops-loving mitts on it.
This breaks my heart as I’ve been looking to try it since I loved the old one
Lagunitas already makes too many IPAs. I like them, but you would think they would want some variety in their lineup. Its sad to hear that they messed up the old brown ale.
Even more luck need if you dare like dark beer.
I guess I’ll always have Guinness and negro modelo. but I crave variety.
I just want a good brown or porter.
Honest advice? Brew it your self.
I started making my own beer because I couldn’t find a good Scotch ale. I now have a pile of recipes for English style of ale (which I’m happy to share for those interested).
Stout n port game down under is strong. We have good selection here now but it’s pricey.
There was a time where i could walk down the street and get a 4-pack of guinness from the gas station, but now it’s all IPAs. That, or cheap beer.
Same here. The few that are available aside from guineas extra stouts and a couple nationwide coffee/oatmeal stouts are like $16 for four cans. I can’t afford that.
At this point my taste buds are even burnt out on good IPAs (for those who accept such a premise as possible).
I’m lucky enough to see some good reds/stouts/etc come through a few times a year, but the ratio of IPA:Not is just ridiculous IMO.
yeah TBH I barely drink beer at all anymore because finding beers I like has gotten to be such a chore.
There’s some IPA’s I like but I don’t like drinking nothing but IPA’s every time I drink beer. And pretty much the only “mainstream” beer I spend money on is Modelo, but again, if I drink nothing but that all the time after a while I start to get tired of it.
If you haven’t tried it, Carlsburg Elephant is a seriously good pilsner that’s widely available.
Fun fact*: Carlsburg gave Niels Bohr a house with a tap straight from the brewery for winning the Nobel prize.
Edit: * maybe not a fact.
*Carlsberg.
Move to Sweden, here you can’t buy a beer above 3.5% abv in a store. Anything above that you have to buy at the state owned liqueur store systembolaget. The upside is that they have a pretty good assortment. The store in my small town carry about 300 different beers. About a third is IPA.
Where I am in the states, you can’t buy any alcohol in a grocery store.
You guys have some confusing alcohol laws and customs that side of the pond. I was in Pennsylvania (amongst other places) a month ago and couldn’t find any alcohol in Walmart if my life depended on it. I knew from previous visits that Pennsylvania didn’t allow sale in grocery stores, but that has since changed hasn’t it?
Also sometimes beer was super expensive, and sometimes it was $1.25 for 25 fl oz for some brand I’d never heard of at a freaking gas station. They don’t alcohol in gas stations here in the Netherland, but even surrounding countries that do allow it usually have fairly high prices at gas stations.
Belgium is really the best place for beer in my opinion. There is a good variety of local/traditional styles but you can also get the more modern stuff
Also much cheaper there. And you have a lot of pubs to go to. And you can drink them when you’re 16.
Yeah, when I went there it was hella cheaper to get a beer with dinner than water.
I feel like this has changed a lot, actually. 8-10 years ago it was all IPAs, but now I can find all kinds of craft beer. Maybe it’s more of a west coast thing. I currently enjoy grabbing new Pilseners when I see them.
Lucky you. In the south east is just the typical big name brands and an unrelenting wall of pale ale, unless you go out of your way to a store that specializes in boutique beers
Yeah I feel like the “lol OMG all craft beers are IPA” meme is pretty outdated, and just not true anymore in my experience.
I don’t think it’s just a west coast thing. I live in the Midwest, and my local Kroger has two beer aisles: one for typical macrobrew/domestic stuff, another entirely dedicated to craft beers. IPAs make up like 40% of the craft aisle, which is a lot, but it’s by no means the only option anymore.
This is true for the NE as well, but greatly depends on population size. Rural beer stores don’t tend to have as much demand for newer, different things.
Is a porter too much to ask for?
Hear hear. So few and far between to find a good Porter these days. Then when you do, half the hipster two rooms serve them chilled.
I just want a dark good thick porter that doesn’t taste like an IPA but burned and bitter.
Thank God stout season is coming back at least
I was so sad when I once stumbled on a limited run stout on tap and they served it ice cold in a heavy frosted mug.
Assuming you’re in the northern hemisphere, yes? Wait until it’s not 100 degrees out and they’ll be back
It’s almost Oktoberfest season! There will be lots of great non-IPA beers then!
Oktoberfest beers are the best beers.
It should be a worldwide holiday.
Cincinnati has a big Octoberfest event every year but I always miss it because it’s in September. I guess I should try to be ready for it this year.
Around here, Oktoberfest beers come out in mid August, drives me nuts.
They’re already selling Oktoberfest beers at the stores near me. Feels early, but I do enjoy a good Oktoberfest beer so it evens out.
