IPA is great! Hops are amazing! THE MORE ONE DRINKS THE BETTER (OR MORE BEARABLE) EVERYTHING BECOMES. But what’s all this chat about coasts? Did gangsta rappers really die in the great IBU wars of the late 2000s?
Modern IPA can be split into two distinct categories; West coast IPA & East coast IPA (or more commonly New England IPA). To put it bluntly - prohibition nearly ruined EVERYTHING and macro scale “breweries” just made the problem worse. Beer needed a wake up call. Pioneers like Sierra Nevada & Anchor started brewing beers with bitterness! Substance! Flavour!
West coast IPAs can be traced back to these early days of American craft brewing. An IPA with bitterness, malty character and hop flavour to boot! We’re talking bright citrus, pine, resin, caramel, maybe even a bit of burnt toast if you’re bloody lucky and a clean, lean finish. Doggystyle!
But what about the NEIPA? These sweet, hazy, tropical hop dreams can be traced back to a brewpub in Vermont in the early 2000s. Essentially the first New England came about with the desire to make a “beer that smelled a much like weed as possible”. They achieved by cramming hops in during active fermentation for aroma/science reasons paired with a British ale yeast with buckets of long, flavourful esters. Shots fired.