Question for beer-lovers.

Question

Over the last few years, smaller breweries have been putting out beers (especially IPAs) that keep getting hoppier and hoppier. I am of the opinion that this has gotten out of hand and that some brewers are using an insane amount of hops as a substitute for well-balanced flavor. Don't get me wrong, I love a good hoppy beer, but some of them are just out of control. Thoughts?

Answer 1

I agree with you. Ive never been a huge fan of IPAs, but tend to lean more to the ambers and the red lagers. The problem with the really heavy beers is that they all start to taste the same after a while. I enjoy a nice dark, heavy beer from time to time, but youre right they go too far.

Answer 2

I agree. The companies are mimicking once another so much, that there is hardly any distinction.

Good Luck!

Answer 3

I like hoppy beers as well....but it is getting a little crazy soon it will be like 5 lbs hops per batch...than i wont like hops so much  

Answer 4

The breweries wouldn't put out the hop bombs is there wasn't a market. Me, I am a hophead. I love the IPA's, DIPA's, Hopped up stouts and Barleywines. Sure they take hops to the extreme but that goes with the style. For these micro's continuing to push the limit is a good thing for real beer drinkers everywhere. The further they go, the me we have to drink.  

Answer 5

I'm of two minds on your opinion.  Personally, I am with you.  I feel that over-the-top beers (whether it is alcohol or hops) are becoming a standard rather than an exception.  Take a look at the top 50 lists of the two leading online beer review sites:

http://www.ratebeer.com/Ratings/Ratings-...

and

http://beeradvocate.com/top_beers

You will be hard pressed to find low-alcohol balanced beers.  Beer snobs (unfortunately, myself among them) love the over the top beers.  

To me, there is nothing better than a balanced English bitter served from a hand-pull.  But, that isn't a "s**y" beer.  And it's unlikely to create any buzz among beer connoisseurs.  

As the niche brewers go after a beer snob market, it's almost expected that they produce complex, high alcohol and/or highly-hopped beers.  In my view, some of them are quite good, and others are quite bad.  But, actually, I am glad they are doing it.  It pushes the craft brew industry into areas that the macro-breweries will never touch.  I think that this strengthens the craft brew industries.  My own tastes be-damned, I hope that these types of beers eventually draw more folks to locally brewed beer!

Answer 6

According to my own research, hops are really really healthy. We can´t say "insane amount of hops". As more hops contains, more healthy beer is.

Answer 7

Agreed.  Additionally we are currently in a world wide hops shortage, so I have no idea why more breweries are over hopping.  This can easily be there to cover up flaws in the brew.  

An additional consideration is brewers using a large number of inferior, easy to find hops since better quality hops are unavailable this year.  Its hard to pick up the subtleties of good hops in an IPA.    

Answer 8

I'd liked wine and gourmet beer and coffe, but I can no longer drink.

Makes me sad.