Welcome to Know Your Stuff, a podcast where we unbox trends in consumer culture, one topic at a time. In this episode, associate editor Tucker Bowe asks executive editor and beer expert Jack Seemer to discuss a significant trend in the beer world. Along the way, they touch on the differences between East Coast and West Coast IPAs, explore the rise of hazy IPAs, and discuss where the trend could be headed next.
This is Know Your Stuff, a Gear Patrol podcast where we unbox trends in consumer culture, one topic at a time.
In today's episode, associate editor Tucker Bowe asks executive editor and beer expert Jack Seemer to discuss a significant trend in the beer world. Along the way, they touch on the differences between East Coast and West Coast IPAs, explore the rise of hazy IPAs and discuss where the trend could be headed next.
Guest(s):
Background Reading and Referenced Articles
The podcast is produced by our Director of Video and Platforms, Mykim Dang.
For more information on Gear Patrol or Know Your Stuff, visit the Gear Patrol Podcast Hub and our about us page.
00;00;00;00 - 00;00;32;23
Mykim Dang
Welcome to Know Your Stuff, a podcast where we unbox trends in consumer culture, one topic at a time. In today's episode. Associate editor Tucker Bowe asks executive editor and beer expert Jack Seemer to talk through a significant trend in the beer world, specifically what happened to America's top beer style. The West Coast IPA. They touch on the differences between East Coast and West Coast IPAs, explore the rise of hazy IPAs, and discuss where the trend could be headed next.
00;00;32;25 - 00;01;01;14
Tucker Bowe
So, Jack, I'm familiar with IPAs, but I'm not exactly familiar with the difference between an East Coast IPA and a West Coast IPA. What is exactly the difference?
Jack Seemer
That's a good question. Most beer drinkers, would probably describe a West Coast IPA as one that's bitter, piney clear in its appearance versus an East Coast IPA, which is sweet, hazy, and maybe a little bit higher in alcohol.
00;01;01;16 - 00;01;21;20
Tucker Bowe
Next time I'm looking for a West Coast IPA, what should I look for? And are they when I'm looking for IPAs? I guess I've never thought about this, but are they advertised as or labeled as West Coast versus East Coast IBS?
Jack Seemer
It's funny. Every now and then I'll read a headline about the West Coast IPA mountain. Some sort of comeback.
00;01;21;20 - 00;01;49;15
Jack Seemer
But and I do think that there's, as I've mentioned, like a growing appetite for that. But the truth is that like the West Coast IPAs, it's fairly omnipresent. And I think many beers that would qualify as West Coast IPAs by all of the characteristics that we've gone over there, just call it American IPAs or just IPAs. So a good example would be Stone, their flagship house IPA.
00;01;49;18 - 00;02;14;14
Jack Seemer
It's been around forever. It's delicious. That's the West Coast IPA, but they don't market it as such. It's just an IPA. I think it's just important to remember that the West Coast IPA for a long time just was the IPA, right? It just was the American IPA and it's not like they've gone away by any means or like ever went away.
00;02;14;20 - 00;02;45;23
Jack Seemer
I think they fell out of the spotlight for sure. I bought a lot of beer over the years, and that entire time, classic so-called West Coast IPAs like this, like Stone IPA, like it's been around for all of it's been on the shelves. I've spent my fridge, it's still around. And I think that there's maybe just the pendulum is swinging in terms of beer drinkers palates and coming back to styles like that that are just a bit more approachable than than something that tastes like.
00;02;45;26 - 00;03;10;04
Tucker Bowe
So for someone who wants to get back to the roots of IPA and wants to have this kind of West Coast IPA is what kind of what would you recommend? You mentioned Stone there, but is there kind of some other kind of gourmet recommendations?
Jack Seemer
I think that's a great starting point. And you brought up Sierra Nevada. They have, I think, pale ale, if it was made by anybody else and called a West Coast IPA, would qualify for sure.
00;03;10;07 - 00;03;31;10
Jack Seemer
They even Sierra Nevada, they have a beer called torpedo, which is they have their IPA and I think that's that would be like another great spot to start. But just curious, have you. Yeah, I was in the West Coast. It's one of those things I like. I think of IPAs I haven't next, like distinguish between a West Coast and East Coast IPA.
00;03;31;10 - 00;03;50;15
Tucker Bowe
And admittedly, I was talking to you off air and I was like, if you were to ask me like, what an IPA is like, the quintessential like IPA that comes to mind is like a Sierra Nevada. I know that's a pale ale and it's not a non kind of IPA, but yeah. So if you could like maybe clarify where I'm going wrong with that. And what's the difference between an IPA and an actual pale ale?
00;03;50;15 - 00;04;19;11
Jack Seemer
Totally. Yeah. The funny thing about Sierra Nevada Pale Ale is that if you were to describe a traditional West Coast IPA, you would describe something that probably looks and tastes a lot like Sierra Nevada as pale ale. So I think when Sierra Nevada introduced the pale ale, like in the 80s, I believe it was beer looked a lot different in America.
00;04;19;11 - 00;04;39;13
Tucker Bowe
What's the kind of so my general assumption was that, like hazy IPAs are also a little lower ABV. Is that true or not true, or does it vary on case? Because like when I was saying before about Sierra Nevada, I also drink a lot of kind of the hazy IPAs when it's one of my dad's favorite beers. And I think that's a fairly low kind of.
00;04;39;13 - 00;05;09;14
Jack Seemer
I think it's like A62 or something like that. I could be wrong, but but that seems like anything like above six, borderline seven and above is I shy away from because that's dangerous. Yeah, they do add up six I think six is about average because IPAs definitely can get upwards of 810 plus. there's a another sub style called the Imperial IPA, but I can sometimes take on characteristics of other IPA sub styles.
00;05;09;14 - 00;05;31;29
Jack Seemer
But yeah, 6% beers. I think it just comes down to it's up to the brewery and a lot of respects to define what it is that they're putting out. And the interesting thing about West Coast IPA is that now it's this defined style and it's recognized by the Brewers Association, which, you know, is the association that controls the definition of craft.
00;05;32;02 - 00;06;00;25
Tucker Bowe
So what's the general consensus of like among like people who are like beer nerds about hazy IPAs? Do they like, like it or are they big fans of it, or are they maybe against it because it's going against the established West Coast IPA?
Jack Seemer
They're still the most popular beer style. So, like I can say one thing about people's perception of the hazy IPA, but it is absolutely like by far and away the most relevant style in terms of sales for craft beer.
00;06;00;28 - 00;06;32;24
Jack Seemer
I think that there's like a growing appetite for beers that go against that. We're seeing a lot of craft lagers come into vogue. If I had to describe like the number one trend in in Beer right now, it might be low. AP super clean craft lagers like those are hugely popular. But yeah, so like with, with these, East Coast IPAs, these hazy IPAs, I remember when we were living in New York together and there's like this, like hype culture around them.
00;06;32;24 - 00;06;47;09
Tucker Bowe
I mean, you and I, one of our old colleagues, Henry Wood, I don't know how you guys found out about this information, but like, you guys would find out about our alias and you would get to a brewery at when it was still dark outside in the morning, and you would lie, wait in line for like, hours on end, and you come away with like a four pack or two, four packs. And what seemed so crazy to me. But but yeah, there's this like hype that is pretty new.
00;06;47;09 - 00;07;11;13
Jack Seemer
Right? Yeah. That definitely used to be the big trend in in craft beer over the last decade or so is limited edition one off IPAs. You had to go to the brewery to get them. You had to stand in line sometimes as early as five in the morning.
00;07;11;13 - 00;07;34;28
Jack Seemer
And I think a lot of that still happens. Distribution has improved every single year with craft beer. I think Covid changed a lot where brewers had to. The brewers that started in the 20 tens and distributed primarily through through the brewery, had to find ways to put their beer in front of customers that weren't necessarily coming to them.
00;07;34;28 - 00;08;02;26
Jack Seemer
So I think that's definitely changed a lot. But yeah, I remember I remember spending many weekends going to to breweries and in and around New York and seeking out limited edition, beers that would get announced the day before day of on Instagram. And there being like a real community for that are those kind of limited releases like they can't be exclusive to like these like hazy IPAs, right?
00;08;02;26 - 00;08;26;23
Jack Seemer
Are they said like more common with them? I think that this, the IPA in general, like lends itself to a lot of different expressions are really defined in many ways by by their hops. Right? So the, the hop profile and brewers can take recipes and change the hop profile and call it a completely different beer. But no, it's definitely not exclusive.
00;08;26;25 - 00;08;51;13
Jack Seemer
Limited edition releases are not exclusive to IPAs. What's next is our trend of what's going to be popular in the next few years. I guess my answer is a bit of a non-answer, and that I think that there's frankly like room for all of it. I've been reading a lot about brewers pushing as much variety as possible into the market and and trying to just give drinkers as many options as possible.
00;08;51;13 - 00;09;19;22
Jack Seemer
But I think the current beer drinker, while everybody has their preferences and like their go to beers, people want variety in their fridge. You know, they're not going to just buy the same beer for 45 years and never venture off of that. That classic style West Coast IPAs, as, official defined category well, will make their way to store shelves.
00;09;19;25 - 00;09;52;07
Jack Seemer
And the latter way, I think East Coast IPAs will continue to be relevant and marketed as hazy. we also have the explosion and rise of nonalcoholic IPAs, which are all of the rage right now, and a lot of traditional classic craft brewers are trying to jump on that bandwagon. Sierra Nevada is one example. They're doubling down recently that they're introducing two new nonalcoholic offerings next year and trying to release them in Variety Pack.
00;09;52;07 - 00;10;13;04
Jack Seemer
So yeah, I think I don't know what the status quo will be in terms of the go to IPA style, but I would bet that there's going to just be a lot of variety and a lot of options. And, I don't know if it's I don't know if one style in particular will win the battle because I don't know if there is a battle. So I guess that's my answer for it, is that there's probably room on the shelf for a little bit of everything.
00;10;13;07 - 00;10;32;02
Tucker Bowe
How do you like keep up with the latest beer news? Just like you, just like on Instagram or Reddit, or how do you stay in the know for someone who, like, maybe wants to kind of dip their toes in learning more about this and try to act cooler than they have or not?
00;10;32;02 - 00;10;55;29
Jack Seemer
Speaking from experience, give me some advice. I know a lot of people just from standing in line on Saturday mornings have found themselves like in the industry forums for sure. Reddit Beer Advocate are great resources. There are industry publications like Brew Bound that cover what's going on in beer on a deeper level. But we also write a fair amount of content around beer. I consider Gear Patrol another good resource for learning about it, and an entry point for sure,
00;10;55;29 - 00;11;20;20
Tucker Bowe
Bringing everyone back to Gear Patrol I like it. Cool. Thanks Jack for giving me this kind of education. And next time I sit down with someone and I have, you know, a Sierra Nevada hazy, I can recount them on how much of an East Coast IPA this is and how I'm like, hip to the trend of RPGs.
00;11;20;23 - 00;11;40;23
Mykim Dang
That's it for this episode of Know Your Stuff. Thanks for listening. This week's episode was produced and hosted by me Mykim Dang. Special thanks to Jay Travis Smith, Jack Seemer, and Tucker Bowe. If you like what you heard, help us spread the word by leaving a review on your podcast platform of choice, or be sure to share it.
00;11;40;25 - 00;11;51;16
Mykim Dang
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