I'm not a fan of IPA's personally.
They just blew up because craft breweries started popping up left and right and the hipster shits that drive all the "buzz" in urban areas loved craft breweries because they were the little guy.
Personally I've always loved craft breweries because sometimes they try some crazy shit (and it's really good), I really like supporting small businesses, and because most "big beer" is just really bland.
Anyway, I know this because at one time I considered trying to launch a brewery. Always said, half kidding, but 100% truthfully, we needed "four horsemen" to run it - we needed a businessman with a background in the other 3 areas (me), a logistics and distribution expert (one of my best friends), a hospitality expert (we didn't have this person), and a beer nerd...the kind of person who gets a boner thinking about obtaining the perfect pH in a brew and talks to his yeast like it can hear him (we had someone who could be this person, but he's just not into brewing unfortunately).
So, because I researched this, I actually know the costs are substantial and (at least in NY state) basically there is almost one year where a place has to be fully built and operational, but not a drop of revenue is coming in, brewing can't legally start, and the entire business is just on hold waiting for permits to be approved, but the juice is pumping on whatever finance you've used to get this far. The cost of getting that far is 1.5 million in an affordable state, and a minimum of 3 million in NY State, and that assumes the smallest possible scale that can support a basic brewpub.
Because so many craft breweries started between 2005-2015 in particular, and many did try to ball on a budget, it stands to reason they'd favor IPAs. The fermentation process is much quicker, doesn't require as much refrigeration, and the cycle from brew day to monetization is that much quicker, allowing a beleaguered business that has just survived The Wait (TM) to monetize opening day faster. It also lowers the amount of storage tanks required, simplifies inventory planning, and much, much more.
The craft breweries were geniuses and marketed this to perfection as IPAs became the "trendy" beer - but the reality of the situation was this was just some of the easier styles for them to make. Historically, the construction of IPA's made it good for shipment without spoiling, this had advantages for craft breweries as well. The more IBUs (bitterness) in the beer, the less degradation in taste would be noticed if the beer stayed around for a while if a particular style wasn't as popular - helped reduce waste.
Nothing against the businesses for doing this - it was actually pretty freaking genius - but I've never really cared for the taste of IPAs and all the buzz didn't change it. I understand why they did it from a business perspective, but it's just not my thing.
Of course the hipsters who wrote all that prose in praise of craft beer didn't understand the business side of what was going on, but it helped launch the craft beer industry into prominence so I'm certainly not mad about it (I just never miss a chance to mock hipsters), but what's telling is what the most successful brewers ended up doing right after - they reinvested profits immediately and began diversifying their offers and expanding into other types of beer - including the more refrigeration, storage, and time intensive lagers - to appeal to a broader customer base. Those are my favorite craft breweries to support because there is ALWAYS something interesting and different, no matter what you're in the mood for.
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