I was transported back to that time when I read that Mark was releasing a sequel, The New Craft Beer World . I imagined a version of myself, seven years younger or maybe, in a much sadder scenario, stuck in the same dead-end retail job in which I first encountered Craft Beer World and with Holsten Pils still my favourite beer. What would that beer world look like now, and how would it compare to 2013?
Beer styles is one obvious change, and the most significant omission from the 2013 edition is the New England IPA, simply because it didn’t exist at the time of writing. Hazy IPAs are now so ubiquitous that it’s easy to forget what a recent development they really are (although proto-NEIPA Heady Topper is included in the American Imperial IPA section.)
The descriptions of the other beers in the IPA chapters of the book seem pretty old-school today. The word “juicy” doesn’t feature once, and some of today’s most sought-after hop varieties are notable by their absence, too – although Citra features, it’s outnumbered by Cascade; none of the beers included use Mosaic, which was commercially available but far from commonplace in 2013.