The Session No. 77: IPA - What's the Big Deal?

Few times in the online beer world has such a question been asked. It once again has by Justin of the cleverly-named Justin's Brew Review blog for this month's edition of The Session. The question posed you ask? It asks what the big deal is with IPA's in American craft beer culture.

I feel that his Session topic is partly inspired by the Slate article that was ran a bit more than a month ago. The article claimed that hop enthusiasts are alienating others from craft beer. At least that's what I took from it.

I'm not so sure that the existence of many of these beer's isn't exactly great for the world either and for those lucky few of you that actually do consistently keep up with what I write on this blog you know exactly what I'm talking about. Not that you or I are wrong, but I just don't see the point of fighting over beers that get hoppier and hoppier every year they're released.

A good portion of craft beer folk in America tend to favor these extremely hoppy brews for whatever reason. I on the other hand am a staunch believer that hops should mainly be used as a compliment to the rest of the ingredients that were tossed in to make that beautiful product we all so desperately search for. Not the only thing I taste in a beer. I'm not saying IPA's are bad. There are certainly a few great ones that I enjoy and consider among some of the greatest beers I've had. Take Lagunitas IPA for example. For me, bitterness is strictly a complimentary flavor. Hoppy beers like IPA's taste all the same to me. There aren't any intricacies and nuances in flavors of said beers. Most of the time it's all hops. To me, that's boring.

Even as I have striven to figure out what the popularity is all about, I still don't think that anything I've mentioned previously is the problem. I think the real problem, or "the big deal" resides in some sort of communication issue.

Remember the new kids in school and how they were kind of shy and just wanted to fit in? I feel like we see the same kinds of things when people are new to craft beer. It's alright. We were all there at one point. We simply weren't just born into drinking craft beer.

I think that people get interested in the wide variety of craft beers available to them. They might also notice how some people already well-versed in this art hold many of these hoppy brews in high regard. Thus, to fit in some newbies to the trade might just take to these beers for the sole purpose of fitting in.

I'm serious. I've had an experience a few times upon seeing someone after a long while that I've known for years. They realize that I'm now into the craft beer stuff. I've had some people just then start asking about IPA's. "Hey, do you like IPA's? Do you have any IPA's? What are your favorite IPA's?" It's all they tend to talk about. Maybe it's because they don't know anybody else.

It's almost as if IPA's are the only thing some people can identify with when they first start exploring better beer.