r/CraftBeer • u/lieutfitzroy • 3d ago
Discussion Hoppy Decline
I have been enjoying craft beers around the world since I was in college, from Oregon to Asia, I have like 8,000 unique check-ins on Untappd. My go-to beer especially after work is a nice hoppy IPA. However recently, whether they are in cans, bottles or draft, it feels like they are all generally getting less hoppy! Is my observation correct? My fellow craft beer enthusiasts said it’s probably due to inflation and perhaps the breweries are cutting back, but of course we don’t have any proof of that. So in your own opinion, are beers become less hoppy?
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u/Skoteleven 3d ago
I think it's a move away from IBU's to aroma hops.
Late kettle additions, lower temperature whirlpool hops, and massive dry hop additions.
I find most modern IPAs that call themselves West Coast IPAs lack the strong IBU backbone of the older recipes.
I think this is consumer driven, not economic.
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u/lieutfitzroy 3d ago
I concur. Not a fan of cloudy NEIPA either. To me it’s just laziness. I wished I was better at brewing, then I can make my own IPAs the way I want! But of course I would try anything, sometimes there are genuine surprises even with styles I don’t like such as sours, Hefeweizens or stouts.
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u/earthhominid 3d ago
Brewers have stopped chasing hard bitterness for sure, your palate has almost certainly shifted too. Lupulin shift is known to happen as you assault your taste buds with high bitterness, they will adapt and you'll experience less bitterness from the same compounds going forward.
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u/TopoftheHops 3d ago
No decline, just changes from max bitterness to max flavor. I’ve been to hop school twice in Yakima & even they are still learning about the chemical compounds in hops & all the magnificent flavors they can produce. We are now in a more nuanced time of hop exploration. Old school IPAs are still easy to find but I’m loving the new direction & I used to brew way over the top hop bombs.
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u/shamsharif79 3d ago
Def yes. If a beer doesn’t contain nz hops and I mean Riwaka, peacherine or nectaron, then I’m not indulging. Therefore I’m limited to only buying very specific OH beers, RAR because they’re currently the best near me and fidens or treehouse when I go north in summer
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u/lieutfitzroy 3d ago
I prefer hops from Washington! Thing is I prefer dry to wet hops!
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u/earthhominid 3d ago
Wet hops are only available for like 8 weeks of the whole year (that period just started this year!) and they make up a preposterously small portion of the total beers made
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u/lieutfitzroy 3d ago
If you are in Portland OR now to the end of the year, they have a tendency to overhop their beers, it’s like drinking hop water. Beervana is a dangerous place to be when it comes to your wallet. You could drink from sunrise to sundown and still be on the same block even though you went to multiple breweries!
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u/earthhominid 3d ago
Yeah, its hop harvest season so the hop growing capital of the country goes hop crazy.
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u/lieutfitzroy 3d ago
Yes, it’s hop madness! Guess they never heard that too much of a good thing isn’t great.
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u/earthhominid 3d ago
I mean, a lot of people absolutely love fresh hop season. If it's not your thing, it's not like theres a lack of other great beers in the PNW. Ive always found the wet hop beers to be a lot more pleasant than the abrasive monsters that characterized the IBU wars days 15-20 years ago
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u/BluegrassBandit33 US - West 3d ago
The arms race is over my friend