Do you ever walk into your local off license and completely avoid the craft beer section. Is this because you’ve never tried a craft beer, or you tried one and didn’t like the taste? The world of craft beer can be confusing and overwhelming at times. With so many options and selections, businesses using terms you’ve never heard of on their cans/bottles we can understand that it must be overwhelming. Craft beer can involve a lot of trial and error to figure out the flavours you like. In this blog I want to break down and help you understand one section of craft beer, the most common …. IPA. Although IPA is the first thing majority of people think of when you mention craft beer there is so much more to the world of craft.
IPA stands for Indian Pale Ale and was developed during the British Colonisation of India. The British soldiers in India wanted to drink British beer but found that by the time the beer had been transported to India it had gone bad. The beer manufactures solution was to make beer with a slightly higher alcohol percentage, this ensured that the beer lasted longer but maintained that taste. To this day IPA tend to have a higher alcohol percent in comparison to you mainstream beers.
Since the colonisation IPA globally has diversified and different types of IPA is now available. NEIPA or New England IPA is a cloudy style IPA that has a similar appearance to Orange juice. It can also be called Hazy or Juicy IPA due to its appearance and taste. They tend to have intense, tropical fruit centric, hop aroma and flavour. West Coast IPA in general can be considered slightly more bitter with flavours of bitterness, and citrus and piney notes and flavours. DIPA or Double IPA can also be referred to as Imperial IPA is essentially a strong IPA. The regular IPA is amplified using more malt and hops. Finally there are Session IPA, often considered the Summer IPA due to its lower alcohol percentage and their light fruity flavours.
This is a only a beginners guide to IPAs for those out there confused at all these different types. We hope to provide further more detailed information of each type of IPA in the future especially as we brew each type ourselves. But for now get your hands on a Martello Tower IPA!
