American IPA

Janet | Sept. 7, 2021, 3:03 p.m.

American IPA: Citral/Diacetyl, Upright, and/or Nelson Sauvin

Most commercial US breweries use a light bitter caramel malt to provide the bitterness you see in NEIPAs – probably too much as there seems to be no limit on hop use in a West Coast IPA. It's possible that I'm missing some good examples from these breweries that aren't represented here. Most US IPAs have a pretty steep reduction in alcohol, sometimes to the point where the beer becomes super drinkable but will knock you down a few points.

What gives NEIPAs their unique character is their use of very light body and low alcohol aftertaste (although it can come in through the nose). The body is typically close to medium, with a silky smooth finish that is almost bittersweet. When malt is added to the beer, an additional dry hop is added to bring out the aroma and flavor; often two separate hops are added depending on the style. Hop bitterness and flavor is pretty much the same in all US IPAs. That means you won't find West Coast IPAs with lots of hop bitterness or bitterness-prone hop flavors.

For the most part, US "hop heads" want to start drinking and be offended by hops. They want bitterness in their IPA, then they want the hops to fade out. For the most part, you'll get the low alcohol aftertaste and feel like you got hit in the face with a brick. The low body also creates a problem where they don't want to use bitterness as they don't want an IPA to be all bitterness and flavor.

I'm also not a fan of using DISTILLED WATER as a hop cut, as the bitterness usually overpowers the alcohol flavor. That, and since it needs to be really cold and low (below 44F), a DISTILLED WATER filtration system makes more sense in this scenario.

I'll have one or two side-by-side comparisons of hops in our reviews of this style, including the specific hops that are used in the style.

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