{"id":1451,"date":"2015-01-30T19:57:53","date_gmt":"2015-01-30T19:57:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beer-syndicate.com\/blog\/?p=1451"},"modified":"2016-12-14T15:55:52","modified_gmt":"2016-12-14T15:55:52","slug":"craft-beer-means-ipa-round-one","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/beersyndicate.com\/blog\/craft-beer-means-ipa-round-one\/","title":{"rendered":"Craft Beer Means IPA: ROUND ONE"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"CRAFT<\/a><\/p>\n

Among the craft beer community, there is a worry that the more that Americans obsess with IPA and its many mutations (DIPA, IPL, Rye IPA, Red IPA, White IPA, Black IPA, Session IPA, etc.), the more the term “IPA” is evolving into just another term for “craft beer”.<\/span><\/p>\n

You might have sensed signs of this bubbling up here and there over the last few years.\u00a0 Here are a few possible related misconceptions you may have encountered in passing:<\/span><\/p>\n

1. If you say you like craft beer, that must mean that you love<\/em><\/span>\u00a0IPA, and\/or your favorite style of beer is IPA.<\/span><\/p>\n

2. Craft breweries must brew IPA or make it their flagship beer in order to be successful.<\/span><\/p>\n

3. If you have craft beer on tap, it must include IPA to attract customers.<\/span><\/p>\n

4. Loving IPA means that you truly understand craft beer and can be accepted as part of the craft beer culture.<\/span><\/p>\n

5. The U.S. has a reputation for being in-your-face <\/em>and extreme, and IPA, the Red Bull of beer, embodies that American attitude. In other words, IPA is<\/em> \u2018Merica.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"'Merican<\/a><\/p>\n

Of course if<\/em> \u201cIPA\u201d is just another term for \u201ccraft beer\u201d, you might see how some of above statements would make more sense.<\/span><\/p>\n

But how did this idea come about and is there any truth to it?\u00a0 And so what if \u201cIPA\u201d is just another term for \u201ccraft beer\u201d?\u00a0 Is there really any harm to it?<\/span><\/p>\n

IPA, IPA, & MORE IPA<\/strong><\/p>\n

Without a doubt, IPA in all of its various incarnations has been and currently is very trendy, at least in the U.S.<\/span><\/p>\n

With approximately 8,522 examples of American IPA currently listed on BeerAdvocate, the data suggest that IPAs are the most commonly produced style of beer by breweries.\u00a0 For comparison, the next closest commonly brewed style of beer by number of examples is another hoppy style, American Pale Ale with approximately 5,883 examples, followed by American Amber\/ Red Ale with 3,596 examples.<\/span><\/p>\n

While it\u2019s true that the American light lager\u00a0style<\/em> of beer is the most widely mass-produced beer on the planet by volume, IPAs still represent the most popular style of \u201ccraft beer\u201d brewed by the greatest number of breweries, most of which are in the U.S. \u00a0This trend could be seen at the Great American Beer Festival (the world\u2019s largest beer competition) where since 2001, American IPA has been the single most-entered category of beer.<\/span><\/p>\n

And with certain well-known hop-centric breweries like Green Flash, Lagunitas, Stone and Sierra Nevada expanding and opening up brewing operations on the east coast presumably in order to offer the freshest hop-tastic experience to the consumer, the volume<\/em> of IPA being brewed is also increasing, thereby increasing the chances that \u201ccraft beer\u201d will be even more strongly associated with \u201cIPA\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

Not to mention, with Stone Brewing Co. scheduled to open a new brewery in Berlin, Germany\u00a0and\u00a0producing many of their hop-forward brews for which they\u2019re known, much of Europe will\u00a0soon\u00a0have an opportunity to associate \u201cAmerican craft beer\u201d with IPA, or aggressively hopped beer of some type.<\/span><\/p>\n

Did I mention that there\u2019s even an official IPA Day (August 7)?\u00a0 Give it a few years and maybe IPA will buy-out the 4th<\/sup> of July.<\/span><\/p>\n

So we have some reason to believe that IPA is popular at least in the U.S.\u00a0 And if IPA is popular and in demand, it would make sense for a brewery to brew it and a bar to have it on tap.\u00a0 It even makes sense that IPA is associated with America (U.S.).<\/span><\/p>\n

But how could it be that someone might make the leap in logic that \u201cIPA\u201d is what people mean when they say \u201ccraft beer\u201d?<\/span><\/p>\n

A BITTER CATEGORY-MISTAKE<\/strong><\/p>\n

Thought experiment time.<\/span><\/p>\n

Imagine that there\u2019s a person in the U.S., let\u2019s call him Joe<\/em>, and Joe has only drank or has only been exposed to light lager— think Budweiser, Miller, or Coors (BMC).\u00a0 Joe doesn’t know that what he\u2019s been drinking up to this point is called \u201clight lager\u201d, and he is not aware that there are any other types of beer other that BMC, or beers that are very similar like Schlitz, Pabst, Michelob, Keystone, Labatt, Molson, Milwaukee\u2019s Best, Yuengling, etc.<\/span><\/p>\n

Because Joe does not know that BMC are making the same style<\/em> of beer (American light lager), Joe only knows to call what he\u2019s been drinking \u201cbeer\u201d and that there are different brands that make a very similar product.\u00a0 So from Joe\u2019s point of view, beer (light lager) is what beer tastes like, and anything that is not like light lager therefore does not taste like \u201cbeer\u201d and, by extension, is not beer.<\/span><\/p>\n

Now imagine Joe walks into a restaurant or bar and asks what beer is available on tap.\u00a0 The bartender’s response goes something like this: \u201cWell, we have domestic beer like Bud, Bud Light, and also craft beer like IPA.\u201d\u00a0 Given the popularity of IPA in the U.S., there is a good chance IPA would be on draft.\u00a0 Joe orders the IPA, takes a sip, and begins to create a new mental category for beer: regular beer<\/em> and craft beer<\/em>, or craft beer<\/em> and not craft beer<\/em>.\u00a0 \u201cCraft beer\u201d is bitter and strongly flavored, while regular<\/em> or \u201cnot craft beer\u201d is light, watery and fizzy.<\/span><\/p>\n

Now picture this phenomenon occurring so much so that \u201cIPA\u201d becomes synonymous with \u201ccraft beer\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

If it\u2019s difficult to imagine such a person as Joe existing in the U.S. given the recent increase in the variety of beer, imagine such a person in another part of the world where craft beer is not readily accessible and a similar situation taking place.<\/span><\/p>\n

The point is this: as people, we tend to categorize in order to better understand the world.\u00a0 In the case in question, something has gone wrong because when a person should recognize that \u201cIPA\u201d is just one style of \u201ccraft beer\u201d, they instead understand \u201cIPA\u201d to mean \u201ccraft beer\u201d.\u00a0 This type of phenomenon is what philosophers refer to as a \u201ccategory-mistake\u201d, and happens more than we might think.<\/span><\/p>\n

As a personal example, the first time I sampled someone\u2019s homebrewed beer many years ago, I made the mistake of thinking that \u201chomebrew\u201d was a category or style<\/em> of beer on par with light lager or stout.\u00a0 At that time, I was only familiar with light beer<\/em> and dark beer<\/em>, and therefore these were the only two categories which existed in my mind to understand the world of beer.<\/span><\/p>\n

Once I tried a homebrew, I created a new mental category of beer so now there were three types of beer: dark beer, light beer, and homebrew.\u00a0\u00a0 By the way, the homebrew I sampled was an example of a Strong Scotch Ale (a malty Scottish style of beer), so whenever I had a malty beer for a while after that, I would say that it tasted like homebrew.<\/span><\/p>\n

The mistake I made was not realizing that \u201chomebrew\u201d was not a style<\/em> of beer, but that homebrew, like home cooking, simply means a beer of any<\/em> style, be it light lager, stout, etc., that is made at home.\u00a0 The other problem was that I didn\u2019t realize there were any other styles<\/em> of beer except dark and light beer.\u00a0 This might sound silly to modern day craft beer fans who are familiar with the different styles of beer, but if someone is not introduced to how beer is formally categorized, most notably the BJCP Style Guidelines<\/a><\/span>, then one begins to create their own framework in their mind.<\/span><\/p>\n

IN DEFENSE OF JOE<\/strong><\/p>\n

If you feel like there was something missing from the account above of how the term \u201ccraft beer\u201d could mistakenly be equivocated with \u201cIPA\u201d, there was.<\/span><\/p>\n

It stands to reason that Joe\u00a0would have a capacity to incorporate different varieties of beer into his mental framework from the fact that there are different brands, namely Bud, Miller, and Coors, and he might even be able point out subtle\u00a0flavor nuances\u00a0between the brands.<\/span><\/p>\n

In addition,\u00a0if Joe had been drinking beer in the U.S. sometime after 1972, there would be an increased likelihood of him becoming aware that there was a standard American lager like Miller Genuine Draft, and then a lighter version called Miller Lite.\u00a0 [Miller introduced Miller Lite in 1973, Coors Light was created in 1978, and Bud Light came out in 1982.]\u00a0 So not only would Joe potentially have categories for the different brands, he may also have categories for \u201cregular beer\u201d and \u201clight beer\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

But this alone would not necessarily prevent Joe from equivocating “IPA” with “craft beer”.<\/span><\/p>\n

Even so,\u00a0is it really reasonable to believe that a person like Joe\u00a0exists in the U.S. nowadays?\u00a0<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

I don\u2019t think so.<\/span><\/p>\n

In order to break down the argument that Joe has no idea that “craft beer” is equivalent to\u00a0“IPA”, we would just need to show that chances are that Joe has encountered at least two different styles of beer produced by any craft brewery.<\/span><\/p>\n

If Joe has been out and about in the last 20 years in the U.S., there’s a strong likelihood that he’s come into contact with other forms of \u201ccraft beer\u201d than merely\u00a0IPA.\u00a0 For example, if Joe has walked down the beer aisle of the grocery store in the last decade or so, he’s probably noticed a wider selection of beer on the shelves than just BMC or other light lager, even if he doesn’t know the term \u201ccraft beer\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

But is it reasonable to think that Joe hasn’t heard of the term \u201ccraft beer\u201d or \u201cIPA\u201d, given their popularity?\u00a0 Not really. In fact, he\u2019s probably come across a sign in the supermarket or\u00a0liquor store that read\u00a0\u201ccraft beer\u201d with a variety of single bottles of different brands and styles to choose from.<\/span><\/p>\n

And with the boom of craft beer came an increase in craft breweries.\u00a0 If Joe has ever visited a craft brewery in the last 20 years, he would have most likely been introduced to a variety of craft beer, not just IPA.<\/span><\/p>\n

The fear that the term \u201ccraft beer\u201d currently means or will come to mean IPA is not likely given the current variety within the craft beer market.\u00a0 While it is true that the less someone is exposed to different styles of beer, the fewer categories of beer she may have in her mind, this does not mean that people will automatically take craft beer to mean IPA.\u00a0 Even if in the future all craft breweries brewed only IPA (which seems unlikely, but then again, who thought the Prohibition would ever happen), as long as people remember or have knowledge of other styles of beer, craft beer would not come to mean IPA.<\/span><\/p>\n

But remember, the worry that \u201cIPA\u201d is evolving to mean \u201ccraft beer\u201d isn’t being generated by people like Joe; it\u2019s being generated by obsessed, hop-crazed, craft beer fans who have an unquenchable thirst for the IBU-laden brew.\u00a0 And in this case, perhaps a worry is justified and warrants some attention.<\/span><\/p>\n

Alas, all of this writing has made me thirsty something fierce.\u00a0 Luckily, I know just what would hit the spot: a super hoppy,\u00a0full-flavored\u00a0bottle of…\u00a0craft beer<\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Cheers!<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

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