it's that time of year

I like IPAs and I'm secure enough to not be bothered by the mockery my basic brothers and I face online.
- This thing got really popular for some reason. It must be awful!
- My perspective is that the "basic" people can't wait to bring up how much they despise IPAs and without a single exception the reason is always "they're just SO hoppy!!!"
What if my enjoyement is making fun of basic white dudes drinking IPA's?

Those dudes are so basic the pic looks ai-generated.

I don't get it? IPAs are good year round.

And you don't drink them in the morning.
- you don't drink them in the morning 🍺😊
- Yeah, the meme should have said "Pumpkin Ales" instead of "IPAs"
I don't care what other people drink. In fact I love it when people show me their favorite drinks. Even if I don't like it I enjoy the experience of something new. I get bored very easily.
That being said, I moved to the Pacific Northwest a few years ago and it seems like local breweries only make IPAs. They'll have like eight local or inhouse brews and 7 will be IPAs. I just miss the variety I used to be able to find in other parts of the country. It also seems a little lazy and uncreative on the brewery's side.

Vegans, PSL girls, IPA guys, furries, and anime nerds seem to be the most popular targets for boring, basic memes.

I'm German. I look down upon these pesants. The best beer is dark and unfiltered. Anything else cannot compare.

I’ve had your beer while in your country. Much respect and all given the history and contributions to beer over all, but after a week…it got boring.
I’m happy to be a peasant with never ending variety of styles and variations within styles without being hamstrung by some unimaginative and restrictive laws.
- There's variety too, you just didn't get to see it during your stay. The laws are now much more liberal than they used to be.
  But yeah, when you go to a basic place, many German beers have a similar character I would say. Normally there's just the difference between light, dark, red, weizen and then the mixed ones.
I never liked beer until I tried it in Germany. I’m here now on vacation, a Radler is probably my preference just for sweet tooth but even the basics go down nicely.
Canadian IPA is dark and unfiltered.
- Germany is the only country that produces palatable white wine
  Wow wow wow, take it easy there, them are some fighting words.
We should aspire to be friends with all beers. Let us appreciate all styles for the unique qualities they bring to the table.
Except sours, those are gross

Good beer is good beer.

I don't get it.

I don't even like IPAs all that much.

But like... Pumpkin Spice is a seasonal artificial flavor that is I think annoying to people because it's made its way into everything from marshmallows to crackers to milk.

IPA is a style of beer. That's it.

IPAs don't even taste the same, people just think of the (ex: Sierra Nevada) hoppy taste and assume it's all like that.
I don't know if it's like this where you are, but in Scandinavia if you like beer but don't like IPAs, you're shit out of luck for like the last five years at least. It has completely taken over the beer aisles at like 70 % of the offering. As someone who hates that bitter taste with a passion, the fact that it makes the selection of beers that I enjoy so much smaller, means it's akin to how I imagine pumpkin spice taking over in the US during fall, except it isn't just seasonal.
- That sucks. It was like that here in the US about 5 years ago with IPAs. Every micro brewery made like 10 IPAs and nothing else. They are still the most prevalent style but there is a noticeable shift toward making lagers or less hoppy ales the past few years and it's been a really nice change.
They're both popular, and something that you can just not buy if you don't like them, but people like to complain about because they see the popular thing around, and it bothers them.
Also, pumpkin spice doesn't have to be artificial. It's just the spices found in pumpkin pie. It's usually just cinnamon, clove, nutmeg and ginger.
It can be artificial, but it's like complaining that "apple" is a seasonal artificial flavor.

It's the middle of Oktoberfest season, and you went with IPAs for this meme?

Not to mention, there's literally pumpkin spice beer.
Well, they couldn't go with Helles because it's actually good.
Oktoberfest beers (Märzens) literally have carmel malts, they're the Starbucks of beers.

I'm German too, while I usually prefer southern german beer with a strong wheat, malt and yeast flavour I also occasionally like to explore other flavours like IPA or more exotic ones from different countries. I mean, drink what you like or don't drink at all (which might be better, health-wise). Gates open, come on in.

I am a basic ass white dude and this is accurate.

as the small brewery industry developed I went from "fuck IPAs" to "hit me in the face with another pinecone please" and I'm not sorry
- Oh man I love that piney taste
Second this.
I like drinking IPAs.
Fight me?

3 chouffes later everyone's having a good time ;)
- No... La Chouffe isn't anything special... Try something like Orval or Oude Geuze.

The best part is, I can have an IPA all year round!

I’ve never really considered hops to be an interesting flavor. It’s just… flat and bitter to me.

I truly don’t understand why so many people love IPAs, or try to sneak extreme hoppiness into other beer styles. (An IPA with fruit juice is not a saison! And a 70 IBU “kolsch” is a war crime!)

As a person who prefers the complex, bright and earthy flavors from grains and yeast, getting face-fucked at the end of every sip by a one-note weed pine cone is so disappointing.

one-note weed pine cone
Single greatest description of the taste of IPA I've ever read.
I truly don’t understand why so many people love IPAs
Flavor nuance. I don't like hopsy beer myself, but there's a LOT of different profiles out there. I've even found a few IPAs I liked.
As a person who prefers the complex, bright and earthy flavors from grains and yeast, getting face-fucked at the end of every sip by a one-note weed pine cone is so disappointing.
That I'll agree with. Not a lot of drinkers respect the mashbill anymore.
I am not an IPA fan for the same reasons. The problem are the Brewers thinking they can just add any old hop into the mix and expect it to taste good. Then you have the consumers freaking out over a 120 IBU DIPA even though, on average, the human pallet is unable to taste anything beyond 70 IBU with an average threshold of a out 4 IBU.
Don't get me wrong, I have had some great IPAs, but the places I've enjoyed them were places that knew what they were doing. Barely any bitterness and all the hop flavor and aromas.
I used to work as a brewer where the owner wouldn't let us make any recipes of our own. All the recipes that he made us use, regardless of the style of beer, had an unforgivable amount of hops to it. The stout? 80 IBU. Fuck you, Dave.
- I'm not a big beer drinker, but there are few things as disappointing as finding a bar that serves stout on tap, then discovering it's been all hopped up.
- Jesus.
  If you see Dave around, tell him I think his management style is as unpalatable as his beer.
I'm the opposite. I prefer a pale ale over an IPA, but recently I found hoppy larger and it is great. I find straight larger so tasteless most of the time.
Though if I am only drinking 1 or 2 beers for the night then I would choose a dark beer.
I don't have a refined palette, and I like fairly hoppy beers. It has to have a good flavor to it though. If it's made hoppy for the sake of IBUs, then it's probably bad. Like joke hot sauces are disgusting, but there are some that are delicious but really painful for me to eat, even one bite.
Older IPA hops like cascade are great but only slightly hop heavy with their classic hop flavors. The hops used more recently (I think citra and mosaic?) have great flavors when pushed to high IBUs.
Hops have amazing range. Fuggles smell like dirt. Lemondrop has a strong citrus smell.
About half of beer variety is from hops. Unless your talking about Belgians. Then it's all yeast.
- I really enjoy mosaic hops; the best IPA I've ever had used them. There's maaaaany awful IPAs, but when done well I think they're delicious.
- While making my earlier comment, I actually looked it up to see if maybe there was something unusual about my perception of hops, but didn’t want to overload folks with info. It seems that some people are more sensitive to bitter tastes, such as those in hops, and some folks can’t taste them at all. It’s like if the whole cilantro/soap thing were less a dichotomy, and more of a spectrum. (And I’m one of the people to whom cilantro tastes like soap.)
  That’s not to say I don’t recognize or value the contribution of hops to beer, but hops aren’t the primary driver of most beers flavor profile, nor should they be. In most beer styles, the bitterness of the hops are used to balance the sweetness of the malt so the beer doesn’t taste like syrup. This allows other flavors in the malt to come out, or flavors from the yeast to say hi.
  For me it’s a very fine line. I think I’m more sensitive than the average person.
  If the bitterness does more than balance, then it dominates all other flavors, including any flavors within the hops themselves. It’s just bitter, flat, and tastes like how bad weed smells.
  I don’t believe it’s a matter of unrefined taste. I can talk to you all day about floral notes of lightly roasted grains, the heavier flavors of darker roasted malts, or what kind of funk a yeasty beer has.
  But hops. Too much, and it’s just one flavor for me. I think the only time I’ve been able to enjoy a hop’s flavor was when I ate a fresh one on a brewery tour.

Everyone who doesn't get it needs to read this.

It can be quickly summarized to the line in the article, "marketers have an insatiable appetite for turning human enjoyment into target-based profit". Couple that with the fact that females tend to receive more ridicule for their consumption habits, and you've got this article.
Hasn't aged a day

OP just doesn't know good beer. (shrug)

Something I should mention: I do like IPAs (not only IPA but they are tasty) and can find all 3 of the style of shirt in this weird AI looking stock image in my closet.

Soooooo...

if it isnt brewed in a monestary in belgium whats even the point #notlikeotherguys

But Abbey beers are the shit though.

Rage bait.

Yeah that's not how ipas work.

That’s pretty true. People are so passionate about having an ipa

Beer is great
- But have you had
- You know what's better?
  Free beer!
- Except (in my own subjective opinion) if it's too hoppy and IPA is the kangaroo of beers.
I fucking love me a good IPA

If they weren't so overplayed it wouldn't be so bad, but every microbrew has like 3 IPAs, 2 dry-hopped pilsners, and a seasonal novelty that if you're lucky is something noticably different like a wheat beer or a porter.

I like hoppy beers (one of the beet beers I've had was one that had sort of a coconut/citrus flavor from the hops) but agreed. Too many small breweries add hops to mask the flavor of their shitty beer.
I brew my own and I basically the same spread. Ipa is just the base beer and everything else is a change of pace.
- I brew my own as well, but I think I only brewed an IPA once or twice (I got black IPA once by accidentally being too liberal with my hop additions). Never saw the need for it since I can just head to my local beer store, throw a stone and hit an IPA.

Food has a cultural component tied to its manufacture and identification. And IPAs are food that probably shouldn't exist and which only does as a byproduct of market capitalism. They're the Lacanian 'object a' - an empty, manufactured falseness. We don't desire the thing itself, but the thing whose absence it symbolizes. What you're really consuming when you drink an IPA is its innate mechanical predictability.

(Thanks to the thread last week arguing about pumpkin spice lattes for giving me a new copypasta to use about anything I personally dislike.)

My new fave
ChatGPT, write me something edgy involving transcendentalism and IPA

drinking anything other than vodka

How can you call yourself a true communist?

For real. All other liquors are bourgeoise decadence.
All you need is the smoothly burning taste of Slavic tap water to have a good time.
- Exactly. You want hard ciders? Just get some fruit juice and pour vodka in it.
  You want wine? Get some grape juice and pour vodka in it.
  You want beer? Just dissolve some stale bread in vodka. It has less sugar. Healthier for you.

cant get much else craft beer wise where i live.

i like a porter ale but theres only like one shop that does one.

Stouts are nice but guinness is overplayed. Brewdog have released a stout that seems to be doing well though, but i like variety

I have no idea what any of those words mean

IPAs aren't really seasonal? I always associate fall with Marzen style lagers for Oktoberfest, and big winter warmers like barleywine and sweet stouts.

Yeah, but I don't drink 16 pumpkin spice lattes in one sitting.

You ok, friend?
- No, but ask me again after 16 Ninkasi Prismatics and the answer might change.

...International Phonetic Alphabets?

Linguists are such basic removed

To be honest, as a French from Lille (which means I have access to a whole lot of beers) the very first time I drank an American Pale Ale it tasted like a lighter, more subtle IPA.

Haw!

Are you a wrestler? Because you just did an excellent half Nelson 😉

synthesis: pumpkin ale

Death to America

I have good news comrade

IPA stands for....

Insert pecker anally
Internally Prolapsed Anus
Inebriated Pale Anglos
Isopropyl alcohol (don't drink it)
- To add, IPA is a style, it does not indicate location of origin of the beer. These are not of the style Pale Ale that were brewed in India.
Insipid Piss Analogue
Introspective penile assessment
I made ye. Wake up.

If you like IPAs, that's fine. If you're buying someone, like me, a beer at karaoke, trust me when I say that I want the cheap Modelo or Milwaukee's Best on tap. Don't buy me an IPA that costs twice as much, but I won't drink it cause it tastes bad.

Oh, ew! Why would it cost more than a dollar more than Pabst? You're not in the Northwest are you? I assure you there are fantastic ones that are palatable to any palate and don't cost a fortune
- Imperial Beach, so south west. I've tried so many IPAs. They're all way too hoppy. I'm simple. Gimme a Budweiser or similar.

A new craft brewery opens, the beer list is 3 IPAs, a double hopped IPA, a triple, and a bowl of hops spritzed with bitrex.

In that they are both delicious? I guess that tracks, yeah

Oh, is that what they are? I thought they were just bottled cat piss...

Pumpkin IPAs are where it's at!

Shipyard Pumpkin ale is better than a latte and almost as good as a yummy NEIPA.

Yes OP you are very unique and smart.

Breweries just don't want to invest the time and effort it takes to brew good porters, baltics, stouts and barkeywines anymore. Where are the dubbels and triples and red ales? Scotch ale, ever heard of it? What happened to the variety? Laziness and cost cutting. Nothing but bitter piss as far as the eye can see. I quit drinking over a year ago, but sometimes I think I'd like a beer, till I look at the wall of IPAs that passes for a beer isle. Then the urge is gone.

The craft beer isle has all sorts of options at my grocery store. About half are IPAs but there's plenty of other options. Maybe you need to try a different store.
I haven't had any opportunity to try a barleywine that wasn't my wash going into a still, so you're right on that one. That said, there's fairly limited profiles to a lot of those types of beers.
IPAs do have a lot of variety, and all you have to do to change it up is use different hops. I don't love IPAs, and I hate that they're all I see in beer aisles, but I also don't shop beer very much so whatever :)
I can take you to my local beer store in suburban Pittsburgh and show you each style you listed, alongside fruit sours, goses, and a pretty incredible variety of ciders. Pittsburgh is a hard drinking town, but I don't think our craft beer scene is leaps and bounds ahead of other similarly-sized cities. What that tells me is that the beer you (used to) want is there if you look and that you're more bitter than the 2x NEIPA that you're railing against.