The Murder Of My Beloved IPA And The Rise Of The Great Pretender

[corbe]

The Murder Of My Beloved IPA And The Rise Of The Great Pretender
 
There was a golden age once -- lasted maybe two decades -- where you could walk into a bar in any good-sized city, order the local IPA, and be satisfied. Those days are gone.

January 10, 2020 By Christopher Bedford

Boston is a great American city. Flying in over the harbor’s mid-nineteenth century Fort Warren, the cliffs and ruins that inspired Shutter Island, and the half dozen lighthouses clinging to rocky Atlantic outcroppings, it might be the only flight I’ll choose the window seat.

My first lunch in the city is an easy call. A bread bowl of lobster bisque, a half dozen briny oysters, and a Harpoon IPA at Quincy Market’s Carpenter and the Walrus, half a mile from Paul Revere’s famed North Church.

A light golden brown, it is a crisp beer. Clean, refreshing, light on the mouth, its pine and grapefruit notes pair just as easily with a seafood lunch as with a cheese burger or a puff of tobacco. It’s one of a number of great IPAs I can find whenever I return home, including Opa Opa, started by two Greeks who felt like they’d gotten close enough to the American West to justify a cowboy-themed beer and steakhouse.

There was a golden age once — lasted maybe two decades — where you could walk into a bar in any good-sized city, order the local IPA, and be satisfied. The same held true for major airports. Even on an hour’s stopover, most terminals offered the beers their city was proudest of. They might be a little hoppy for your taste, or a little maltier than you’re used to; they might have a touch of sweetness you don’t care for, or you might discover a new favorite. No matter: If you ordered the local IPA, you’d be satisfied. They were all clearly IPAs — as ordered, as expected.

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https://thefederalist.com/2020/01/10/the-murder-of-my-beloved-ipa-and-the-rise-of-the-great-pretender/

[PeteS in CA]

Ummmmm ... I could ask my son later today to confirm this, but I'm pretty sure there are plenty of local craft IPAs in the San Diego area where he lives. There are numerous breweries in the immediate SF-Oakland area. Even in somewhat smaller major cities like Lincoln or Omaha one could find quite a few breweries.

[GrouchoTex]

I agree that most airports I've been in feature a local brewer who usually make some pretty damn good beer, at least in the recent past.
I am not a fan of IPA's as much as other types of beer.
A friend of mine who is more into brewing than I am, told me that the IPA craze hit because it was the easiest beer to make.
As the article says, just throw in extra hops and away you go.
IPA's seem to have an "unfinished" quality to me, and I think that is by design.
If you are shipping a beer from England to India in the 1800's, It better still be "brewing" or spoiled when it arrives.
More of a Porter, Stout, Bock, Brown Ale, kind of guy, myself.

[mountaineer]

Modern brewers have decided that any ale loaded with hops can wear the glorious crown, with red IPAs, black IPAs, and all other sorts of nonsense polluting America’s bar taps.

I tend to agree with this comment, at least. I used to like IPA, now some of the local craft IPAs found at restaurants are so loaded with fruit and other goofy flavors, they no longer resemble beer at all.