Anyone else fed up with NEIPA?

[darlacat]

Anyone else feel fatigued by the saturation of NEIPA on the market at the moment? Aside from a handful of standout beers, the majority of beers in this style tend to be underhwelming, or downright bad: I've had many that have that horrible 'hop burn' character, or are unfinished products - even from big name and revered breweries (a friend once even had, quite literally, a can full of yeast sediment and trub). Even at its best, the style can be quite cloying and filling due to the mouthfeel and 'juice'/smoothie character - like thickened Rubicon at times. It seems to defeat the essence of beer to me - a social drink - and has now become the style most commonly associated with 'IPA'.

While the style has developed some interesting hop techniques and yeast choices, the beers are, overall, quite homogeneous - there really is little variety despite the overwhelming wealth of choice on the shelves. A lot of the demand also seems to be driven by Instagram and Untapped - the can art, implications of uniqueness, the photogeneity of opaque beer in fancy tumbler glassware (or 'vaseware'... ).

Anyone feel the same? Or am I simply wrong/missing out on the good stuff?

 

[Clint]

I dont drink enough of them really...I think a latest beer I've made is one by mistake...

 

[The Baron]

I know where you are coming from some bad examples are like drinking uncleared yeasty trub. A good example is not as easy to come by as they can hide so many bad brewing practices in a muddy beer apart from the enemy of NEIPA oxidisation. I much prefer a hazy IPA as the hops seem to come through better not having to fight the sludge
P.s I do like a good NEIPA though

 

[Linalmeemow]

Anyone else feel fatigued by the saturation of NEIPA on the market at the moment? Aside from a handful of standout beers, the majority of beers in this style tend to be underhwelming, or downright bad: I've had many that have that horrible 'hop burn' character, or are unfinished products - even from big name and revered breweries (a friend once even had, quite literally, a can full of yeast sediment and trub). Even at its best, the style can be quite cloying and filling due to the mouthfeel and 'juice'/smoothie character - like thickened Rubicon at times. It seems to defeat the essence of beer to me - a social drink - and has now become the style most commonly associated with 'IPA'.

While the style has developed some interesting hop techniques and yeast choices, the beers are, overall, quite homogeneous - there really is little variety despite the overwhelming wealth of choice on the shelves. A lot of the demand also seems to be driven by Instagram and Untapped - the can art, implications of uniqueness, the photogeneity of opaque beer in fancy tumbler glassware (or 'vaseware'... ).

Anyone feel the same? Or am I simply wrong/missing out on the good stuff?

No, I agree. If I wanted to drink something that looked and tasted like boozy fruit juice I'd buy fruit juice and cheap vodka. Don't get me wrong, there's a a place for the style but the proliferation at the expense of variety isn't good.
The "trendy" nature of craft beer is its most irritating aspect, in my opinion. That said, I minded a lot less when west coast IPAs were in vogue at the beginning of the craft beer explosion as I much preferred that style, and it seemed there were fewer terrible examples of the style around (at least at first!).

It'll be interesting to see how many modern beers stand the test of time. I'd hazard a guess that with very few exceptions none of them will be on the shelves in 10-20 years. I think NEIPA is reaching the limit of its popularity now though, bets on what'll be the next fad?

 

[MickDundee]

Too many brewers (both professional and amateur) treat haziness as a goal of the style rather than a side effect and that brings a lot of bad ones to the market.

The worst one I had was in an Innis and Gunn pub about a year ago, it was a guest beer from a well respected microbrewery (I cant remember which one) and it tasted like bad home brew. Thin, yeasty, tasted like it had been fermented too hot, hops were masked by the esters and yeastiness. Horrible!

 

[darlacat]

No, I agree. If I wanted to drink something that looked and tasted like boozy fruit juice I'd buy fruit juice and cheap vodka. Don't get me wrong, there's a a place for the style but the proliferation at the expense of variety isn't good.
The "trendy" nature of craft beer is its most irritating aspect, in my opinion. That said, I minded a lot less when west coast IPAs were in vogue at the beginning of the craft beer explosion as I much preferred that style, and it seemed there were fewer terrible examples of the style around (at least at first!).

It'll be interesting to see how many modern beers stand the test of time. I'd hazard a guess that with very few exceptions none of them will be on the shelves in 10-20 years. I think NEIPA is reaching the limit of its popularity now though, bets on what'll be the next fad?

I suppose west coast IPAs had a similar phase in which some breweries entered a ****-waving contest by increasing IBUs and trying to make the most aggressively-hopped beer. Overall though, west coast is a really important style - revolutionary as it prompted the 'craft' boom - and the best examples are up there with the best beers in the world. And it obviously tastes like beer, whereas NEIPA doesn't...

There won't be (m)any lasting examples of the hazy/NEIPA style in the future, I don't think - especially since there aren't many 'named' beers that are repeated, like a Torpedo or a Jaipur. Each line has a different name/can art/variation in hops to present the illusion of uniqueness, which feeds into and off social media culture, in my opinion - partciularly Instagram, which perpetuates a 'look at what Ihave in my life that you will never have' image and mentality.

As for next fad, certain things that came along after/alongside the haze seem to have died off a bit - imperial and 'pastry' stouts (yuck*), kettle sours, adjunct/milkshake IPAs (yuck)... NEIPA seems to be staying a while.

*I once tried Ominipollo's Yellow Belly after hearing a lot of hype, and it was disgusting - possibly the worst beer I've ever had.

 

[Arrakus]

I’ve been through a lot NEIPAs in the last 18 months or so and have recently gone off them, it does seem that as the market for NEIPAs has broadened in terms of the number of breweries, the taste has declined....or maybe my tastebuds have become accustomed to the hop onslaught

 

[MmmmCitra]

Nope, I love 'em but it does pay to be selective I suppose.
If you don't like them just steer clear of them and go for a style you enjoy more............

 

[samale]

I suppose west coast IPAs had a similar phase in which some breweries entered a ****-waving contest by increasing IBUs and trying to make the most aggressively-hopped beer. Overall though, west coast is a really important style - revolutionary as it prompted the 'craft' boom - and the best examples are up there with the best beers in the world. And it obviously tastes like beer, whereas NEIPA doesn't...

There won't be (m)any lasting examples of the hazy/NEIPA style in the future, I don't think - especially since there aren't many 'named' beers that are repeated, like a Torpedo or a Jaipur. Each line has a different name/can art/variation in hops to present the illusion of uniqueness, which feeds into and off social media culture, in my opinion - partciularly Instagram, which perpetuates a 'look at what Ihave in my life that you will never have' image and mentality.

As for next fad, certain things that came along after/alongside the haze seem to have died off a bit - imperial and 'pastry' stouts (yuck*), kettle sours, adjunct/milkshake IPAs (yuck)... NEIPA seems to be staying a while.

*I once tried Ominipollo's Yellow Belly after hearing a lot of hype, and it was disgusting - possibly the worst beer I've ever had.

What do you not like about an imperial stout. I am with you on the peanut butter marshmallow blueberry pancake one's but a good imperial is a thing of beauty

 

[prog99]

What do you not like about an imperial stout. I am with you on the peanut butter marshmallow blueberry pancake one's but a good imperial is a thing of beauty

And imperial stout is hardly a fad!

 

[An Ankoù]

Never tried an NEIPA and never seen one on sale. Not sure it's the kind of thing I'd go for, but I'd least like to have tried at least one before making up my mind. I see Greg Hughes edition contains a significant portion of oats, is that right for the style?

 

[MickDundee]

Never tried an NEIPA and never seen one on sale. Not sure it's the kind of thing I'd go for, but I'd least like to have tried at least one before making up my mind. I see Greg Hughes edition contains a significant portion of oats, is that right for the style?

Yeah, it’s fairly common for oats and wheat make up 20%+ of the grain bill.

 

[samale]

And imperial stout is hardly a fad!

Who said it was.

 

[Linalmeemow]

Never tried an NEIPA and never seen one on sale. Not sure it's the kind of thing I'd go for, but I'd least like to have tried at least one before making up my mind. I see Greg Hughes edition contains a significant portion of oats, is that right for the style?

That's because you're not in the UK - I'd say the majority of craft IPAs you can get in the supermarkets are NEIPAs at the moment.

 

[Linalmeemow]

Who said it was.

@darlacat did, just a few posts ago.

 

[samale]

Didn't read the bit before
It's definitely not fad. Have a word with that Man

 

[The-Engineer-That-Brews]

[NEIPA] has now become the style most commonly associated with 'IPA'

This is true - I was a bit shocked the other day to order an IPA in a restaurant and be served something that looked like radioactive OJ !! (tasted OK, but don't think I'd repeat)

 

[MickDundee]

That's because you're not in the UK - I'd say the majority of craft IPAs you can get in the supermarkets are NEIPAs at the moment.

My local supermarkets (Sainsbury’s and Tesco) have about 4 NEIPAs each. APAs, WC IPAs and the like (Clwb Tropicana, Gamma Ray etc in Sainsbury’s) still dominate the shelves.

 

[pilgrimhudd]

Not my favourite style at all, can't understand the hype, I'd be happy if most of the (many) bad ones buggered off and left more space on shelves for something decent. Happy to have one now and then, but only one. Annoyingly probably my best homebrew attempt was my 2nd version of a NEIPA.

 

[darlacat]

What do you not like about an imperial stout. I am with you on the peanut butter marshmallow blueberry pancake one's but a good imperial is a thing of beauty

And imperial stout is hardly a fad!

Sorry, I meant imperial 'pastry' stout - trend towards big boozy stouts with dessert stuff in them, not all imperial stouts.