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.
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.
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..?
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.
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.
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.
I just got into home brewing over the last year. The process is a lot easier than expected. You can yield about 5 gallons of beer for about $40, USD. The initial start up cost to get the gear wasn't unreasonable either.
I love IPAs. I t seems that the sour and gose fad is still going on, but IPAs are easy to produce and popular, so I don't think they're going anywhere anytime soon.
As someone who doesn't drink beer, reading this thread feels like I'm trying to read Dutch: I definitely know some of these words, but the rest is a mystery.
I kinda thought all beer was made roughly the same with just different ingredients, now I'm falling down a deep Wikipedia rabbithole.
There is a local brewery here in Alabama that makes a beer called “Sour-Pash”. Does it have a lot of alcohol? No. Hops? No. Is it fucking delicious and refreshing? You god damn right.
I love this beer, and it’s always sold out when I go to buy it.
Help, I'm stuck in a boring-ass red state so even some IPAs would be an IMPROVEMENT. Nothing but "Natural Light" here now that Bud Light got cancelled.
Ugh same here, every selection is half IPAs. Not a fan myself but the history behind the style is my favorite beer "origin story". It would help if more breweries listed the hops used. To me that's the key to knowing if I'll like it
Never had a beer I liked, and EVERY SINGLE TIME a friend will tell me what they like is actually good "you can't even taste the beer flavor, just the blank" and every single time, it tastes like beer with no hint of the blank.
I did a Sweet 16 bracket elimination contest for regional IPAs a few years back just to force myself to identify the 'good' ones and eliminate bad ones. Even after doing that, I do a little dance any time there's something else available.
I like IPA and there's like 3-4 very distinct sort of IPAs. There's a imperial IPA from a local craft around me that's almost caramel dark and people might not even call an IPA on a blind taste test.
But, I must agree it's kinda silly theres 2-3 IPAs in the craft section for every other type most places. I tend to buy the IPAs when I buy craft beer (outside of making a trip to the really big selection places) because the only other craft options are like "bland blonde #82 from probably owned by Budweiser brewery" or "ale that tastes like spoiled Newcastle". Sometimes they have dales pale ale in a few different labels for more money.
Craft beer has just become a shit show at retailers for me. No one carries any of the cans I like anymore. I have to go far out of my way to buy anything I actually want. Fortunately I live 15ish minutes from a downtown with a half dozen good breweries that have 10+ beers on tap year round. I'm not a bar/brewery person and I wish I could get cans to drink at home still though.
Disclaimer: im an IPA drinker. But honestly, I will drink almost any style of beer. Just no bretts for me.
I’ve honestly gotten to the point where I’m just buying from my local breweries. I still grab some from the grocery stores, but I’m done hoping the grocery stores will carry the good stuff.
The local grocery that’s supposed to be the “good guys” (they aren’t) gutted their beer aisle and somehow got rid of almost all the good stuff.
I'm happy with the number of varieties of ciders and perris for sale here. And some nice wines, these days. Sometimes the trick is to switch from beer.
I'd like a beer that doesn't taste bitter to me. I know this is probably me because I am very sensitive to bitter tastes (I can even taste the light bitterness of artificial sweeteners in drinks). But I'd love to experience an alcoholic beverage for once without the bitter taste.
I love this time of year because we get pumpkin beers and other amber types. They always take me back to good times with my friends during Oktoberfest.
I love IPAs. I t seems that the sour and gose fad is still going on, but IPAs are easy to produce and popular, so I don't think they're going anywhere anytime soon.
Seems like OP only goes to shitty bars that only have bud light and lagunitas IPA on tab. Get a Hop Passport and explore the local scene https://www.hoppassport.com/ (assuming you are in the US)