fell down another internet rabbit hole, this time reading some beer blogs. found the following quote in a blog about neipa’s…
"Oregon’s Willamette Week released results of an IPA taste test featuring 73 India Pale Ales from within the city limits of Portland. Culture editor Martin Cizmar declared "The hop war is over, and the bitter side lost. The five best IPAs in the city come from brand-new breweries, and most of those have been influenced by Heady Topper, Julius, and Sculpin, beers that present hops as a reward rather than a challenge.”
I’ve been a hop head for lo these many years, and I’m certainly up to the challenge presented by extremely hopped bitterness, but I’ve found myself generally going for a saison, a sour, or one of the Belgians rather than an IPA. That is, until recently. I’ve been truly enjoying the pleasures of juicy, hazy hop flavors & aromas of the new neipa’s (not to mention some of the great can graphics). Ya gotta love the hoppy rewards!
When you find an article by Martin Cizmar, burn it before you get infected with his stupidity. Glad you found something you like, Mark. I have yet to find a NEIPA where I wasn’t put off by the mouthfeel and astringency.
I am not a fan of most IPA’s, but I appreciate the style and respect those who prefer it, including the Hazies, as they seem now to be called by some.
I agree that the excessive bitterness or hugely late hopped beers seems to be a challenge as much as or more so than as a reward for achieving an “edge of the envelope”, yet drinkable style, not terribly different than hotter and hotter peppers pushing the Scovill index for chicken wing challenges.
Give me “Beer tasting beer” (a phrase used by a friend to distinguish the lighter lagers and ales from the bigger beers and hop monsters) anyday as far as a preference.
I’m not necessarily talking about his opinion of NEIPA…pretty much anything he writes is trash. He was run out of Portland and is now bothering people in the LA area.
Denny, I’m not familiar with his writing but I did really like his turn of phrase about reward, not challenge. I came across it in a beer blog that referenced his piece with the quote.
Anyway, I knew you’d disagree (and almost put that in a shout-out to you in my original post), but this is one where we’ll just have to agree to disagree. Time will tell whether the style has legs or if it’ll fade away as did black IPA. Don’t know how things are out in Cascadia, but I rarely see black ipa on tap anymore, and also rarely entered in home-brew comps. But for now, I really like them, especially as a showcase for the newer hop styles (both from the NW and Pacific).
Black IPA is extremely rare here any more. Almost non existent. Like I said, I’m happy you found a beer style you like. Just because I don’t care for them doesn’t mean that anybody else shouldn’t like them.
I’m OK with drinking NEIPAs but I find that I actually miss the bitterness.
Overall they seem like an incredibly inefficient use of hops. I brewed one on request that had $30 of hops in a 5 gallon batch! It tasted good, but if it hadn’t been a birthday gift I wouldn’t have made it.
I took a pilgrimage to The Alchemist last summer. I wasn’t impressed. Too effing bitter. I don’t need to drink liquid hop pellets. I want an IPA that is enjoyable, not a throat punch.
