HarveyMushman I know I said it in the op but it reminds me of hoppy craft beers where some of the heavily dry hopped east coast IPA can have a flavour and texture that almost completely masks what one might recognise as ‘beer’. Albeit adding hops has always been part of the process.
Apologies if I’m being a bit pedantic, but I am compelled by a force beyond my ken :-)
Hops have only been used in brewing for just over 1,000 years of beer’s 5,000 year history (recent research suggests that fermented grain alcohol may be well older than this and even a factor in the shift from hunter gatherer lifestyles to agricultural).
Hops were introduced to UK beer (ale) brewing by Dutch/Flemish settlers during the 15th century, there was significant resistance to this until the 16th century. Prior to hops, spices/herbs/honey would be added to beer. Even today there are beers where hops are added mostly as a preservative, rather than a flavour carrier, like lambic beers (which were more aggressively hopped in the past) with macerated fruit added, or candy sugar, as well as unblended versions (which taste more like Cox apples).
Berliner Weisse beer is ‘traditionally’ taken with fruit/woodruff flavoured syrups.
Oak barrels are also used to add flavour to beer (as with many alcoholic beverages - usually those bevearges cited in coffee notes - I’ve yet to see vodka as a coffee note), like Rodenbach, or Suffolk Strong ale.
Even some of the hopped beers of Flanders (Poperings Hommelbier), like the US IPAs you mention, can be vastly different in character to what we may have been used to in the UK.
So I agree that there are things out there that clash with our expectation, but that expectation is individual to us and the environment we were formed by. Let’s face it, light Nordic roasts are a pretty recent thing (even within the context of specialty coffee)…when we ‘make’ stuff, people innovate, some stuff gets accepted and considered ‘a norm’, other stuff…not so much. So when you are might be as relevant as where you are?
Sorry for the ramble.