Rotating hop IPAs - like 'em or hate 'em?

[Kealia]

Ok, hate is a strong word. But I, for one, like the idea.

There's a thread in the Beer Reviews section about Firestone's Luponic Distorition beer where those of us that have had it discuss the different releases. There was also an article today in DRAFT about this (linky).

The article sums up my feelings pretty well, and here are a few of them that hit home for me:

The craft beer drinker for the most part is super attention deficient, always looking for what’s new...They’re bored with what they’ve had before

Yep, that can be me.

...our fans are confident that they’ll get that same drinkability, weight, things they like about it and then they can enjoy the ‘new’ beer in terms of aromatics

Yep, hits the nail on the head!

There are also some good points about limited hop availability, how this goes against what brewers were taught about consistency, etc. that I found interesting.

I have a few recipes that I brew regularly, and there are times when I "go to the well" when buying sixers, but I do find myself having HADD (Hop Attention Deficit Disorder) more often than not.

You?

[BlackDuck]

I find myself buying Pale Ale's and IPA's with new strains of hops or ones that I am not familiar with. It's a great way to learn weather or not I want to try brewing with them or not.

As for my brewing, the last three IPA's (all of which are in my signature) are recipes that were brand new to me. All of them used hops and or fruit peels that I was either not familiar with or hadn't used much of. All three are not my favorite, but they are good. The next one up is my Session Simply Simarillo, now that one is full of the stuff I love. After three so-so batches, I need one that I know I love.

[mashani]

Considering that I never make exactly the same beer more then once per year, I would say I am in the like 'em camp.

[RickBeer]

I think it's a fad that will disappear in a year or two. Like any trend, craft beer drinking's growth will flatten out, this is the new bleeding edge, soon there will be a new one as the attention deficit crowd moves onto the next "new thing".

[Beer-lord]

That article has a lot of me in it as well. I like variety and options and am always willing to try something new but I'm getting that way with yeast a little bit as well now.

[Kealia]

I think it's a fad that will disappear in a year or two. Like any trend, craft beer drinking's growth will flatten out, this is the new bleeding edge, soon there will be a new one as the attention deficit crowd moves onto the next "new thing".

I disagree. IMO, given the continued growth of craft beer there is going to be continued progress in the development of new hop strains. AS such, they are going to need to be tested and brewers aren't likely to gamble huge batches of beer on untested hop strains.

I think this idea of rotating series is no different than a homebrewer doing SMaSH beers as a way to get exposed to new hops.

While I love my go-to beers, sometimes a little "strange" is needed

[dbrowning]

Sometimes a little "strange" is definitely needed

[MrBandGuy]

I don't mind them. We have a brewery that just opened up in Louisville who came out and said the rotating NE IPA series, using different hops, is going to be their hook. Balances the hop availability with the "limited time only" concept in their taproom to draw people in. Seems valid to me.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[FedoraDave]

This is kinda what I did with my Hopsperiment a year ago. It taught me a lot, and gave me ideas for both my existing recipes, and developing new ones.

As long as the beer is good (and as long as they don't completely and permanently deep-six the previous incarnations, if they were good), I can only see it as a good thing.

[RedBEERd]

Sometimes a little "strange" is definitely needed

Indeedy do!

Are we still talking bout beer?