Spring Break
Weekly Brew: Beer, meet taste buds
Tom Goodwin
Issue date: 11/2/09 Section: Focus
When it comes to beer, and especially craft beer, there is one style that very nearly polarizes the people who drink it. Some will go on and on about the flavors and nuances, while others will simply spit it out and say "no thank you." That style is the good old American India Pale Ale.
It really isn't that old at all; considering it's the baby of the American beer movement, it's just about as old as we are. Sierra Nevada got its start back in the early 1980's, and its flagship pale ale set the new standard for hops in beer. Throw in a few other rebels like Stone, Dogfish Head and pretty much every small brewpub in existence and things begin to take shape.
The American IPA is a bastardized interpretation of the English IPA; we tend to do things like that, just embrace it! Anyway, I'm sure many of you have heard the legend of the IPA and how it was made bigger and hoppier to survive the long journey to India aboard trading ships. While not exactly true, that's a story for a different article. The bigger and hoppier part is the take home message.
The hops are really the defining point of these beers. With English IPAs, the hops and aroma are very floral smelling, almost like actual flowers. They are moderately bitter- but not excessively. With American IPAs, the hop taste and aroma are very nearly all citrus and pine (one of the very cool things about these hops varieties is that most were born and bred in this country by a couple of colleges in Washington and Oregon). American IPAs range from moderately to excessively bitter.
Besides the liberal use of hops, there is another important quality that sets these beers apart: the aroma. A good IPA needs to have hop aroma, and the best brewers will dry hop their beers (steeping hops in the aging beer) before packaging, which can produce wonderful hop smells. Unfortunately, no one has figured out how to bottle beer with hops in it, but we can always hope. This gives brewpubs an advantage, because they can actually just steep their hops with the beer as it is being served. Hop aroma is the first quality to fade with time, so fresh from the tap really is better!
It really isn't that old at all; considering it's the baby of the American beer movement, it's just about as old as we are. Sierra Nevada got its start back in the early 1980's, and its flagship pale ale set the new standard for hops in beer. Throw in a few other rebels like Stone, Dogfish Head and pretty much every small brewpub in existence and things begin to take shape.
The American IPA is a bastardized interpretation of the English IPA; we tend to do things like that, just embrace it! Anyway, I'm sure many of you have heard the legend of the IPA and how it was made bigger and hoppier to survive the long journey to India aboard trading ships. While not exactly true, that's a story for a different article. The bigger and hoppier part is the take home message.
The hops are really the defining point of these beers. With English IPAs, the hops and aroma are very floral smelling, almost like actual flowers. They are moderately bitter- but not excessively. With American IPAs, the hop taste and aroma are very nearly all citrus and pine (one of the very cool things about these hops varieties is that most were born and bred in this country by a couple of colleges in Washington and Oregon). American IPAs range from moderately to excessively bitter.
Besides the liberal use of hops, there is another important quality that sets these beers apart: the aroma. A good IPA needs to have hop aroma, and the best brewers will dry hop their beers (steeping hops in the aging beer) before packaging, which can produce wonderful hop smells. Unfortunately, no one has figured out how to bottle beer with hops in it, but we can always hope. This gives brewpubs an advantage, because they can actually just steep their hops with the beer as it is being served. Hop aroma is the first quality to fade with time, so fresh from the tap really is better!
Viewing Comments 1 - 1 of 1
jeffthecheff
jeff
posted 11/09/09 @ 10:54 AM EST
The smell of hops is a beautiful thing. As I've tried so many IPA's, I've recently became more critical of them, and find that most of them are not that good. (Continued…)
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