What’s the Deal with IPA?
Justin from Justin’s Brew Review asks the question for this month’s Session. What is it that makes IPAs so appealing? Is it because it is a stark contrast to the fizzy yellow water that we once called beer (before we were taught that beer could have flavor)?
WTF is up with this?
I wasn’t sure how I was going to approach this one. I mean I do love IPAs, and I am a fan of the double IPA. Heck, hops are a beautiful thing. And then I ran into this…
If you can’t read that, it is a toaster being sold for 79.99. Seriously, a toaster being sold for 80 bucks. I don’t know what you expect a toaster to do, but for me I expect a toaster to… um… toast bread. You can pick one up in many places for about 10 bucks and they will toast bread just fine. So for the love of all that is hoppy, who in their right mind would buy a toaster for 80 bucks?
Kinda makes you wonder about the difference between fizzy yellow water and a hop bomb that will blow out your taste buds. Both of em will get you drunk. They each have it within them to do their basic function. But why would you choose an IPA over something else? I know it doesn’t seem like we are moving forward on this one.
But here is the thing. That IPA hop bomb is going to do a bit more than just toast some bread. It has features that you won’t find in the basic model. Flavor being a huge improvement over the basic model. Sure the IPA isn’t for everyone. But for some that little bit extra gives them something more.
Do we need an 80 dollar toaster? Not really, but maybe you want something more than just a couple pieces of toasted bread. Do you need an IPA? There are plenty of flavor beers to choose from. But sometimes you want something that will blow your mind.
Time for a pint…
10th Day Brewing 
Interesting comparison between an IPA beer and an $80 toaster. In the end it gets down to what is important to us and our taste buds. However, I would venture to say that the price difference would not be quite as dramatic… 😀
You would think so, but there are people that will buy a case of mass produced beer and question others who will buy a six pack of hand crafted beer for the same price.
Hmm…. If the price difference is as dramatic as the toaster example, I am afraid the price tag would win over the ‘blow your mind’ IPA. 🙂
This is an interesting marketing thing. All things being equal the price isn’t important. Economies of scale will bring prices down, making them irrelevant.
When other mitigating factors (ie flavor) come into play, price isn’t as much of an issue. People will buy what they want.
Sign me up for the mind-blowing toast… dropped a $10 toaster on floor once and it did not live to toast again. I bet the Cusinart would.
I have a cuisinart food processor that I have had for over 18 years and it still works great. They build their stuff to last.