not my say to decide what should or should not be enjoyed, but IPA are the worst of beers and that is a fact
I know people who love them, but I can’t for the life of me understand the semi recent popularity of sours. I’ve tried several and all I taste is old sock
Sour beers are a thing you will try the first time and hate initially, then a few days later you will think that sour was pretty good. This also assumes you get a good sour, and not something that’s basically vinegar, which is harder than is should be.
We have a saying in the brewing community, “don’t yuck someone else’s yum.” Everyone has different tastes. Let them enjoy it even if you don’t. It’s not hurting anyone. And that goes beyond beer
The problem with IPA’s is not that people enjoy them or that brewers brew them and pubs stock them. The problem is that there’s so many of them, all purporting to be slightly different, that it’s pushing out other kinds of beer. The amount of times I have walked into a pub and there’s somewhere between three and seven IPA’s and I ask if they’ve got any stouts and the answer is, “We’ve got Guinness.”
Part of that is seasonal. You’re not going to get a stout in the summer, just like you’re not going to get an Oktoberfest in the spring or a Shandy in the winter. Like you said about IPAs, there are so many variations, they’ve become a year round beer. Other year round beers are things like lagers and ales. Comparing a seasonal style to a year round beer isn’t a fair comparison
If you can’t find a stout on tap in the winter, you’re going to the wrong breweries
Stouts are expensive to brew and take a long time, which is why you don’t see breweries make more of them. Also, they tend to brew what sells.
IPAs are fine it’s the chase for the hoppiest thing that is a waste. As Garret Oliver once said it’s like chefs trying to make the saltiest soup.