How IPA Conquered the World

...as explained by The Economist:

The beer that craft brewers like making the most is IPA. Artisan beermakers in America adopted old recipes from Britain for their IPAs but gradually began to adapt the brews to their own tastes. The heavy use of hops allows them to show off their skills in blending different flavours. Some parts of America, like Britain, have an excellent climate for growing top-quality hops. The bold flavours and high alcohol content create a beer that has a distinct style and bold taste, yet can come in many shades. The passion for hops in American craft beers has taken on the characteristics of an arms race, as brewers try to outdo each other in hoppiness.

If no brewer in America can pass up the opportunity to make an IPA, the same is true elsewhere. As the craft beer revolution has spread beyond America, so has the taste for IPA. Britain is undergoing a brewing revival alongside a foodie revolution, based on local produce and artisanal methods. Much the same is happening in other rich countries around the world, where breweries are springing up to serve up craft beers. Indeed, IPA has come full circle. Many British craft brewers are using new IPA recipes imported from America for their brews but again adapting them for local palates. IPA may not yet have displaced lager as the global tipple, but it is at least battling for bar space with mainstream beers.

None of this is particularly new or enlightening, except for the fact that to Economist readers it might just be both.  For it is a truly global magazine and while the USA is awash in IPA, they style is still just catching on in other parts of the world.  It is almost completely nonexistent in Brazil for example and in the UK, the new upstart brewers who are going all-in on hops like Dark Star, Thornbridge and the global marketing phenomenon that is Brew Dog, face resistance from the traditional craft brewers that have been doing milds and bitters for centuries.  My favorite part o fthe UK craft beer scene is the slow coming together of these two forces in craft beer as breweries like Fuller experiment withe more hops while breweries like Dark Star try and perfect the perfect bitter.