What is an IPA?

I know this seems like a silly question, but I ask this seriously. I had a beer over the weekend. No one here has likely ever heard of it as it is hyper local, but it was Pale-O IPA for mnorth Country brewery. They describe it as a traditionally made IPA. I have to say that it was very nice, tasty, caramel notes. Nicely balanced, and interestingly not at all overly hopped. Blind- I would never pick it out as an ‘IPA’ and I am not sure what I might have thought it was. The style was really different.

I remember drinking an IPA at a new chain brewery about 20 years ago, and it was an Indian Pale Ale, a style I knew nothing about at that time. The beer was pulled, and served at basically room temp. It was very good, and I remember never really finding a beer in that style again. Was the beer I had this weekend similar in style? Perhaps, but it was a long time ago.

Regardless, I am confused and would love to learn from the experts here.

Every brewery makes their ipa a little different. If you lined up a few from so cal, NorCal, Midwest, east coast, you’d find a lot of different styles

Charlie- this was not an East Coast West Coast type of thing. I had my first west coast style last year when a couple of ncie BB members sent me a couple of Pliny the elders and a few other things. I really liked those beers a lot. However, this ‘traditional’ IPA was completely differeent from anything west coast or east coast that I have tried. It seemed like a totally different style to me.

I had asked a similar question earlier this year…

Edited to add: Summit Brewing in Saint Paul has always brewed an India Pale Ale (going many years back). They now brew a beer called Saga, which they market as an IPA, and the “original” India Pale Ale is now labeled a “True Brit IPA,” which may be more in line with your comment about a pulled draft.

The style has become so ubiquitous that it also gets diluted/bastardized in the interpretation.

Bass or, better yet, Fuller’s is a good example of a traditional IPA. What they make here is like Foghat covering Muddy Waters, VERY different and everything goes to ELEVEN!

Bass is an amber ale.

brad- just in the first few posts of that thread, I got some good insights. Yes, the definition of IPA has changed over the last 20 years. You and I are old farts enough to have seen that apparently. I will read that thread more closely when I have some time tonight.

Re Bass:

http://www.cherokeedistributing.com/products-page/alcoholic/bass-ipa/


Similar to the original Bass Pale Ale dating to 1777, Bass India Pale Ale offers a high-quality, slightly hoppy flavor that makes it a beer lover’s favorite. -

What is a Syrah?

I read through the old thread completely, and it is interesting to see how the definition has changed over the years. I have a friend who loves IPA but only drinks IPA. If I gave him the pale-o, he would not like it at all, I am sure. And while it was a shock initially to drink this beer that was called an IPA but tasted nothing like I thought it was ‘supposed’ to taste, it was quite good- I’d have it again in a heartbeat.
My feelings obviously are the more styles of beer, the better.

Binny’s in Chicago had a beer event last week. Lots of craft beers. At a couple of tables, they poured what some were calling an IPA, which did not taste anything like I expected. Not to say the beers were bad, but just not what I was expecting. So I guess the range and definition of IPA is wide and diverse.

(BTW, it was a GREAT event. Tons of beers. Over 70 tables of mostly craft beers. I went straight to one table, then I stepped back. I realized with that many there, I needed to cherry pick.)

It actually is a West Coast - East Coast thing Bob. IPA’s are a British creation dating back to the 19th century, when they found that the beer that they were shipping to their troops in the Middle East was going bad in barrel before it would reach the troops. Hence the extra hopping.

So most British breweries offered a Pale Ale and an Indian Pale Ale. Now the Brits rarely hopped their beers much over 35-40 IBUs, so they were still balanced with a more pronounced malt presence.

Of course the West Coast took this style as their own and started produced super charged, hopped up IPAs like no one had ever seen before. As the Craft Beer explosion hit in the early 90s, American breweries on the West Coast (drifting inland as the movement progressed) made this style their own, and most new start up Breweries followed the lead.

On the East Coast, the craft breweries that came out in the 80s,90s were still heavily influenced by the British and German styles of beer, so they produced a much more traditional style of beer. Their Ales were decidedly British in style, as were the Lagers German influenced.

As things progressed, breweries tried to perfect a house style of IPA, and today we find IPAs that are roasty, toasty and full of malt flavors, to the 100+ IBU Hop bombs that rip your tongue right out of your throat. Kind of like California Chardonnay.

If it all sounds confusing, that’s where we are with the US craft beer scene. I was just in Spain and France and saw nothing but new craft breweries emulating the US styles of beer; big IPAs, big Imperial Stouts etc.

I’m consulting for a new start up brewery here in the 'Twin Cities, and I have convinced them to release a high hopped IPA styled beer and just label it Pale Ale for their first release.

65-75 IBUs on a Pale Ale is ridiculous, but today’s craft beer scene parallels the American wine scene (the bigger the better) and the bigger the beer, the more popular it becomes. And IPA’s own the market right now. We represent a California brewery that released 12 different IPAs throughout the year, and every single one sells out fast.

Are IPA’s the next Burgundy?

Here in Chicago, IPA’s are everywhere. Many bars I got to, 50-75% of the draft list are IPA’s now…and they all taste different!

Yes. Especially the west coast ones

I certainly remember IPAs from the 80s tasting a lot different and there are still plenty of those around on the East Coast and in Europe. This summer I finally tried some IPAs in Europe that were West Coast inspired and some of them were superb.
On a completely different note. The new trend is, of course, to drink these beers young. That is completely different from the way they were originally intended to be drunk as Thomas explains.

Thomas-

thanks for your thoughts, and a comment/question…

If we want to consider this current version of IPA to be the ‘modern’ one, well the first one I ever say was Victory Hop Devil. And of course that is a local beer, and we are about as far as you can get from the West Coast. Everyone I know who loves IPA’s now got their start from Hop Devil 15-20 years ago.
Do you think this was a function of geography, or were they among the first?

That original Summit IPA made me think for many years that I did not like IPAs. It’s a totally different product.

I was talking to a friend about Summit. We are both 25 years from our first taste, and palates can change; but we both think their regular EPA is not as flavorful, well balanced, or aromatic as it was back in the 80s.

Thoughts?