GrandOiseau wrote: I doubt many folk go out of the way to drink GK IPA or to eulogise on what a great IPA it is.
I do not doubt it - I am quite certain of it.
This discussion reminds me of the tedious debates about whether craft beers are truly "real" ales, that caused me to abandon my CAMRA membership, which I had held almost since its inception 40 or so years ago. I am so beyond this snobbishness.
My local always has GK "IPA" and yet I always choose instead one of the "keg" non-real IPAs they have on draught. Which is a shame because they are significantly more expensive (although cheaper on a "alcohol per pound" basis).
And that is important to me not because I get drunk so much these days, but rather that my capacity for volume has declined, but my desire for a "buzz" has not. So drinking a 5% or 6% beer makes more sense than GK's diluted swill, regardless of how GK choose to market it. The irony is that I have no longer any need for a session beer now that I can no longer do a session anyway. The reality is that almost all UK beers could be considered session beers by global standards - even the much disparaged US Budweiser is 5%. Heck, Coors Light is 16% stronger than GK "IPA".
My personal view is that the UK forgot what a true IPA was, and it took the Americans to re-educate us about our own beer. No reason to feel bad about that - just enjoy what is the finest beer type out there, in my opinion of course.