Are Ultra Hopped Beers Just a Fad?

[Amidared]

I understand the tolerance aspect I mean well, I'm 62 this year and am hardly a newcomer to beer but after doing some reading online on the subject since I posted this thread it seems its not all together a rare phenomenon. Taste is obviously subjective and as I've said I love my hoppy beers but the actual effects on the body of large amounts of hops is what I'm interested in. there are actually quite a few discussions I found, mainly on the US forums discussing the possible downside of this trend of heavily hopped beers and many questions being asked regarding how different aspects such as alpha acid levels, dry hopping etc can affect the drinker. I've been a smoker since the mid sixties and I dont remember anyone saying much to me about the dangers of smoking while they were taking my pocket money off me selling me single fags. I guess I'm just the suspicious type and I dont suppose it helps having worked in the substance misuse sector for so many years. We're all different so I suppose I'll carry on with the research and brew to my findings and taste.

 

[Clint]

I think it's natural progression and giving people choice..I suppose you could liken it to curry/indian/hot food..I've lost count of the "hot" curry sauces/pastes/powders I initially bought to satisfy my craving for extra hot food that could only be got by special request at some Indian takeaway places..so I grew my own chillies which fit the bill! Now you can get quite hot stuff in supermarkets as well as a limited choice of hoppy beers..I think the craft beer revolution has made ale popular again and appealing to an otherwise unobtainable market..younger people and women.

Cheers

Clint

 

[Amidared]

I think it's natural progression and giving people choice..I suppose you could liken it to curry/indian/hot food..I've lost count of the "hot" curry sauces/pastes/powders I initially bought to satisfy my craving for extra hot food that could only be got by special request at some Indian takeaway places..so I grew my own chillies which fit the bill! Now you can get quite hot stuff in supermarkets as well as a limited choice of hoppy beers..I think the craft beer revolution has made ale popular again and appealing to an otherwise unobtainable market..younger people and women.

Cheers

Clint

The hot curry is a good analogy. Like many I started liking hotter curries but reached a point where some were simply too hot and spicy and I couldn't taste anything else and started to get headaches and the 'Delhi Belly'. A Moroccan friend once showed me a tiny red pepper which burned so much even simply by placing it on the mouth that I didn't eat anything he cooked he described as mildly hot.

 

[Bodleigh Head]

Sorry but I have to disagree, American hops are far superior to me,its a whole new world of flavour that British hops cannot get close to, although Jester is the current fav from theae shores

All a question of taste isn't it ? I love the citrus you get from American hops but find them overpowering over an evening. I have done my fair share of brewing with New World hops, have tried the new commercial hoppy wonder brews ... but in the end I prefer something a little more discreet, balanced. Maybe I am just old school ? Give me EKG any day.

Have you tried brewing with German hops or even the new French Aramis, when harnessed correctly, the flavours can be gorgeous ? The flavour profile is the complete opposite to that of AIPA's ... everything is about balance, which to my mind is much harder to achieve. Just my point of view, nothing more, as I said earlier, it's all about taste ... some people like bananas, never ceases to amaze me, I hate the things.

 

[Bodleigh Head]

I have Ron Pattinson's book on Vintage Brewing and love it, there are some really decent and quirky recipes in there. I might well try an IPA again seeing as I love them so much but will definately approach the recipe from a slightly different angle and do as you suggest with a longish conditioning period.

Glad you like Ron's book ... it was a real eye opener for me. I brewed an old style IPA in November ... I don't reckon it will be ready until March at the earliest ... the difficult bit is waiting. But the waiting is the key ... all of that aggressive hoppiness mellows into something wonderful.
He gives quite complete instructions for making invert sugar at the beginning of the book ... I have experimented with this and the results can be stunning too ... beyond this point there be dragons. :thumb:

 

[Personal91]

I wrote a short piece on IPA for my blog. Just some of my musings and concerns about the IPA trend.I'm only plugging it because it's relevant. Admins are welcome to remove if it's not allowed.

http://www.grizzlybrews.co.uk/articles/bro-do-you-even-ipa/

Good review and well done with the Russian imperial stout