Calling all fans of the IPA: I recently acquired six IPAs in my MANLAND fridge, so I decided to do a “head-to-head" review of them. This is by NO means a complete sampling of all of the IPAs available – this review will focus on the following India Pale Ales: Red Hook Long Hammer IPA, Lagunitas IPA, Sam Adams Latitude 48 IPA, Full Sail IPA, Sierra Nevada IPA, and Russian River Pliny the Elder IPA.

What is an “IPA?” Due to the style’s higher ABV, some might think IPA means, “I’m Pissing Arrogance.” (This is not a session-style beer by any means.) The Beer Judge Certification Guidelines defines an American IPA as having a “prominent to intense hop aroma with a citrusy, floral, perfume-like, resinous, piney, and/or fruity character derived from American hops. Medium-high to very high hop bitterness, although the malt backbone will support the strong hop character and provide the best balance.” This review will focus on American, not English, style IPAs.

OUR SIX CONTENDERS

From left to right: Russian River Pliny the Elder, Lagunitas IPA, Full Sail IPA, Sierra Nevada Torpedo Extra IPA, Sam Adams Latitude 48 IPA and Red Hook Long Hammer IPA.

The history of the IPA is interesting. According to the historians at Sam Adams, the IPA “was first brewed in the 18th Century to satisfy the demand for beer by the British East India Company and British colonists in India. Pale ales, brewed with pale kilned malts, had become very popular in England at the time as an alternative to the traditional darker brown ales, porters, and stouts of the time. India Pale Ale was born when a version of a pale ale was made with increased hops (which, acted as a preservative) in order to make the long hot journey on ship around the Cape of Good Hope and make it to the traders’ and colonists’.” Most IPAs are in the 5 to 7.5% ABV range.

One cannot enjoy an IPA without understanding “IBUs.” (No, this isn’t a degree from the International Beer University …) An IBU is an “International Bitterness Unit, and it defines how bitter a beer can be on a scale of 1-100. I’ll skip the beaker geek talk about how IBUs are actually measured, but you as a connoisseur of good beer should know that in general, the higher the number, the more bitter a beer will taste. To give you an idea of where an average beer style scores on this scale, a typical Lager / Ale weighs in around the 15 to 30 range, whereas an IPA can start in the mid 40s and exceed 100+. So use IBUs to get a feel for how bitter a particular IPA might be.

Here’s my standard MANLAND IPA beer review disclaimer: I am not a huge fan of the IPA. When I do sample the style, I prefer it to be balanced between malt and hops. So consider this the layman’s review to a few good American IPAs. I’ve listed each beer according to IBU ranking.

Here we go …

BRAND: Red Hook Brewing, Woodinville, WA

NAME: Long Hammer IPA

ABV: 6.5%

IBUs: 44 of 100

Red Hook’s entry into the American IPA category is Long Hammer. It’s the lowest IBU rating of our roundup and Red Hook says Long Hammer takes the traditional IPA brewing process one step further by “dry hopping, or adding hops at the end of the brewing process with Cascade hops to give a wonderful hop aroma but not the overpowering hop taste.” As with most IPAs, Long Hammer goes well with spicy foods, as well as “grilled meats, seafood, Mexican, Indian, Thai or other spicy ethnic foods.”

Long Hammer has the lightest color of the bunch with a head that doesn’t last very long. There’s a light citrus flavor on the aroma and sip. This one is a bit weak compared to the rest of our American IPAs included here as it has a rather plain taste for an IPA. I, however, would actually drink more than one of these as it doesn’t seem to assault your taste buds with a vengeance. Might be a good intro IPA for those new to the style. SCORE: 3.5 of 5.

BRAND: Lagunitas Brewing, Petaluma, CA

NAME: IPA

ABV: 5.7%

IBUs: 45 of 100

Holy hops Batman! Lagunitas claims they use 43 different hops and 65 various malts to make its IPA. That’s a shitload o’ hops. “This redolent ale will likely float your boat, whatever planet you're on.” I first learned of this IPA from fellow MANLANDER Gooch in our Beer Pours Group.

Shitload o’ hops or not, it’s surprising that this IPA only clocks in at 45 IBUs. One would of course suspect a hop bomb here with that many hops in the recipe. The beer has a citrus / lemon aroma and leaves a soap-like ring from the frothy head. Sipping the beer reveals a lighter body than one would expect and a big, bold bitterness that lingers on the ol’ tongue. I enjoyed this one and could see it being kick ass with a big plate of hot wings. SCORE: 4.5 of 5.

BRAND: Boston Brewing Co., Boston, MA

NAME: Latitude 48 IPA

ABV: 5.8%

IBUs: 48 of 100

Sammy Adams just released this brew as part of it’s Summer Styles sampler pack. I reviewed it recently here. Part of the Brewmaster Series, Latitude 48 is a blend of German, English and American hops for a “for a powerful citrus and earthy aroma. The hop character is balanced by a slight sweetness and full body from the malt blend.”

As a standalone IPA, Latitude 48 isn’t a bad beer. In a roundup format such as this, several unique qualities stood out. For starters, it has a much more “rust-like” color than the typical IPA. After the head dies, there’s a fruit-like sweetness that is almost molasses / strawberry like. Not what I would call a typical IPA blend at all. After sipping this one again, I was actually turned off enough to put this beer back down. I’m kinda hot/cold on this one right now. SCORE: (by itself) 4 of 5 (in this roundup) 2.5 of 5.

BRAND: Full Sail Brewing, Hood River, OR

NAME: IPA

ABV: 6%

IBUs: 60 of 100

Full Sail’s IPA blueprint is simple: the beer has a “full, malty body and there’s even a hint of fresh citrus to it. Perfect after your favorite water sport. Even if that happens to be the grueling drag-the-poolside-lounge-chair-into-the-sun event.”

This 60 IBU baby has great carbonation, which makes it easy to drink despite the higher IBUs. Its light copper colored body sits beneath the creamiest tasting head of the bunch. “Pungent” is a good way to describe it’s aroma – all the hairs in your nose stand on end. Full Sail’s IPA is a moderately bitter IPA with a grapefruit like taste. Not bad … but not my favorite. SCORE: 4 of 5.

BRAND: Sierra Nevada Brewing, Chico CA

NAME: Torpedo IPA

ABV: 7.2%

IBUs: 65 of 100

Sierra Nevada calls Torpedo an “Extra” IPA. It is approaching the higher end of the bitterness scale at 65. Torpedo is a “bold, assertive and full of flavor and aromas highlighting the complex citrus, pine and herbal character of whole-cone American hops.”

This one lives up to its billing. The super-pungent aroma of the hops is like sniffing a bitter grapefruit. Although it’s not the highest rated IBU beer here, Torpedo is the most bitter-tasting IPA in this review and the bitterness outweighs the malt sweetness by miles. It just lingers and lingers. This is the ear mark of this style that I really do not care for – that taste in your mouth that just permeates every crevice. Nonetheless, a true IPA connoisseur may find this one to his / her liking more than I. Damn … somebody get me a hot wing .. STAT! SCORE: 3.5 / 4 of 5.

BRAND: Russian River Brewing Co., Sonoma, CA

NAME: Pliny the Elder

ABV: 8%

IBUs: 100 of 100

Right off the bat one would draw a conclusion that this is going to be the most bitter, biting beer of our roundup. Hell, it maxes out the IBU scale and it is known as a “Double IPA” or DIPA. Pliny the Elder is renowned in the IPA community as one of the best of the best. My local store has been sold out of this beer for months. I bought one bottle recently and went back two days later and they were cleaned out again. Does it live up to the hype?

I tasted something different in just about every sip of this beer. It has a very complex blend of citrus, fruit, bitterness, sweet malt, and pine. There’s also a darkness to it that I could only describe as black-tea-like. A big aroma surrounds the glass of this beer – I poured mine into a pint glass, but I’m sure some of the beer fanatics would say it is better served in a snifter- or tulip-style glass. Whatever. Pliny the Elder is a fantastic beer and surprised me with its complex flavor that defies its 100 of 100 IBU ranking. Well done to the boys at Russian River! SCORE: 5 of 5 and a KICK ASS BEER AWARD.

SUMMING UP

As I stated in the intro, I’m not Mr. IPA. So I take a much more straightforward approach to these beers than those who really love them and can pick out the nuances. That said, the biggest surprise for me was that I liked the highest rated beer on the bitterness scale. Go figure. Could it be that I wanted to like Pliny the Elder the best because it’s so highly rated? I sure as hell hope not. It just seemed to have a lot of great flavors going on that the rest did not – almost like it was in 3D versus 2D.

Which beer would I drink again? Of course the Pliny, but I also think Lagunitas is enjoyable. Red Hook’s IPA would be a great session-style IPA. To each his own … go out and try a few of these IPAs are let me know what you think ….

CHEERS!

POURS

POUR VIDEO

Manlandsite.com Six American IPA Roundup Beer Pour in HD! from Manlandsite on Vimeo.

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