[Closed] IPA

Maharaja from West Berkshire Brewery.

Jaipur is lovely.

Tiny Rebel - Dutty is a nice session IPA. Cloudwater and Vocation do some nice IPA's too.

Most breweries do an IPA.
The two you have mentioned are considered US West Coast IPAs. Supposedly the head brewer at Brewdog worked at Thornbridge for a while and based their punk IPA recipe off of Jaipur. Though Punk IPA's recipe has changed quite a few times.

There are also New England IPAs (NEIPA) which are less bitter, cloudier and very fruit flavoured. You get traditional English IPAs as well, though they are generally less strong/bitter/hoppy than the US styles.

From the two you've said you liked I would suggest trying Lagunitas and Sierra Nevada Pale Ale - you should be able to get both of them in supermarkets for £2 or so

Vocation - life and death
Magic rock - saucery

Just two examples from the 2 packs for £9 at Tesco. Both fine examples of a stronger and a session ipa. A world of delicious discovery awaits you.

And as you like Jaipur, Thornbridge do some other great ipas such as halcyon, north bridge and green mountain.

Tesco have got a pretty good selection.
Salt and North Brewing Co. are two of the best.
Goose Island is available pretty much anywhere and is pretty good.

If you're going to order online take a look at Cloudwater and Allendale Brewery.
Both really good.

Magic Rock is the best brewery for hipster-y beer IMO, try Cannonball or High Wire. I believe they ride mountain bikes too 🙂

lemon thing

If you see Gose, or sour on a beer it sounds like you should avoid it. Personally I love a sour more than a traditional IPA.

With respect to fruit, it is possible to give a beer fruit flavours with hops alone, so are you against heavily hopped fruity beers, or just things that contain actual infusions?

I'd also suggest a good review of the 'Suspended in' series by Siren, but not if you aren't a fan of the fruit flavour from hops.

A world of delicious discovery awaits you.

That made me smile.

What is a sessions IPA? Do you mean session as in big drinking session?

so are you against heavily hopped fruity beers, or just things that contain actual infusions

Its the infusions i dont like.

If you can find any, Jaipur X.

Session tends to mean lower strength so you can drink more before falling over. But we're all too old and sensible for that... That magic rock one is 3.9% for example.

Infinity from Blue Monkey...doesn't taste as fruity as it sounds.

https://bluemonkeybrewery.com/product/infinity-ipa/

Not tried Jaipur but it seems to cover a lot of bases according to the bumf and reviews.

I’m a Black Country beer-drinker since the early 80s so was ‘raised’ on Bathams Bitter and Enville Ale. Favourite ale in latter years is ‘Oracle’ (Salopian, draught) with Bathams Bitter almost equal. I choose Bathams in the winter and Oracle in the summer. Will travel to seek out the latter as I only have Bathams available locally

I like an IPA but they seem lately to have diversified to such a degree that it’s become a winding road and a broad, confusing church. Sometimes resembling a hoppy bitter, sometimes a citrusy golden ale, yet still named ‘IPA’? Also the ABV of ‘IPA’ rises and falls with these trends . IPAs (session) used to be around 4% or lower but now see some being labeled between 5%, 6%?

Whatever it is, I don’t tend to like or even much enjoy most bottled or canned ales, preferring draught by far almost as it seems it’s a different drink to the canned and bottled stuffs which to my palate (mostly) taste like ‘tinny malty sugar’. But with pubs closed have found that the hoppy/citrusy of my ale cravings have been (slightly) saved in pumpless times by Fourpure ‘Easy Peeler’

Not outstanding (but certainly quaffable) with a strong orange/lime zest and some bitterness. I like a can with some food.

Same went for Shipyard but it seems to have changed/taken a dive of late to my tatse. Possibly a victim of it’s own supermarket success?

So instead I went back to

Of the two I’m leaning towards Easy Peeler. Will also give Jaipur a crack now it’s been raised. Can’t wait to get back to some cask ales next summer as the local green hop ales come in.

Oakham Citra above is delicious!

HPA from https://www.wyevalleybrewery.co.uk/our-beers/hpa/ is nice, as is Zywiec IPA (although I haven't found it in the uk YET).

I bought some Goose Island IPA from Aldi last night, I must remember to get it in the fridge so I can try it.

You get traditional English IPAs as well, though they are generally less strong/bitter/hoppy than the US styles.

Yup, they seem almost to be forgotten these days, but a good one is balanced and thirst quenching. I'm partial to a Worthington White Shield or Fuller's Bengal Lancer.

Beavertown Neck Oil is superb

My local started serving Neck Oil and it was superb. Bought a can from Waitrose and it was unremarkable. Shame.

Brutal gear, I always have a wee giggle to myself when the beer snobs start going on about it. Rotten! 😆

HPA is nice from the pump. Always a go-to locally if nothing more interesting on. I call it a ‘safe bet’ as Wye Valley are nothing if not consistent.

However, had a bottle of HPA last night during low-key Solstice shenags and it was...bottled 😢. Is it just me or does most bottled/canned ale taste similarly disappointing? I sometimes love a cold bottle/can of half-decent continental lager (especially one with food, or even many of them if on the lash/partymode), yet ales seems to suffer much more from the process, losing their complex flavours and character and becoming instead fizzy, ‘tinlike’ and samey. I do know from experience that I like real ale (can’t be pasteurised) more than my beard (can be shaven) 🍺😎

For straight-down-the-middle, no messing, high quality IPA anything in a black can from Vocation, but particularly this.

Magic Rock is the best brewery for hipster-y beer sellout ****ers

Tiny Rebel is a great shout. TBH though there's so many decent IPAs these days you can't walk into any bottle shop or even supermarket without having to bash pallets of them out the way with a stick to get to the interesting stuff 🤣

Beavertown Neck Oil is was superb

My local started serving Neck Oil and it was superb. Bought a can from Waitrose and it was unremarkable. Shame.

Really not hard to find a decent indy beer, even at a supermarket. The aforementioned Vocation is a great example!

Are you lot still crying about Magic Rock? Doesn't it get old that a bloke with a vision and another who knows a bit about hops, barley, water and yeast build a business from a disused bit of space into something really quite special, to the point that an entity with a ton of cash wants a slice of the action?

Ignore the haters. Magic Rock is great - it's still brewed in Huddersfield by people who g-a-s.

Can I recommend a choice of breweries, all independent and all do an IPA which would be worth trying. Might take some work to find them but all will be excellent:

Omnipollo: https://omnipollo.com/pages/kaleidoscope

Mikkeller: https://mikkeller.com/

Left Handed Giant: https://lefthandedgiant.com/

Brew York: http://brewyork.co.uk/

Verdant: https://verdantbrewing.co/

Howling Hops: https://www.howlinghops.co.uk/

I do have some more based in Lewes but can't find the link at the mo.

Hoppy hunting.

I'm no IPA sage so I might get shot down for this, but I like Adnam's Ghost Ship from Tescos.

Doesn’t it get old that a bloke with a vision and another who knows a bit about hops, barley, water and yeast build a business from a disused bit of space into something really quite special

Magic Rock is great – it’s still brewed in Huddersfield by people who g-a-s.

Plenty of other options to support properly local... Lords is in Huddersfield, indy microbrewery, not had the pleasure personally yet but they have a solid rating on Untappd.

Good mix of stuff suggested.

Where do you plan to buy from? Online, supermarket, local beer shop?

There'll be little point recommending the smaller places if you are shopping in Tesco.

I came into the whole IPA thing via Punk IPA, then went through a stage of trying everything in Sainsburys, then a great local shop opened. I still just buy a mix of new stuff rather than having a favourite but there are certain breweries I seem to like (Tiny Rebel, Arbor, Wild Weather, Siren).

The US West Coast IPAs mentioned are good ideas - though they may be brewed over in Europe now, e.g. Lagunitas.

I'm based abroad with the US forces at the moment and in their supermarket the IPAs go from 7.9% up to 13%, so much for p##s weak American lite beer.

Asda sell 4 500ml bottle of Ringwood Circadian* for £6. Very, very good ale for the money.

*Lots of others available

It's a great journey to be starting out on. I went in via the same Pink IPA route. Similarly suspicious of overly fruity beers. However, I suggest you try Elvis Juice from Brewdog, grapefruity flavour just works in IPA.

Also from Brewdog I love a can of Hazy Jane, sooo refreshing.

Truth is there are so many options. Pop into a supermarket (Tesco are quite good, Morriston too, Sainsbury's fairly poor) buy a few and see what sticks. Most of all enjoy!

so much for p##s weak American lite beer.

Best described by a beer loving friend who moved to the US as an IPA arms race to see who could produce the strongest IPAs (largely the US these days).

I also had a 'fresh hopped' beer while in Seattle with him, I love a hoppy beer, but 2 days later I could still taste it, grim!

There’ll be little point recommending the smaller places if you are shopping in Tesco.

Shopping habits can change 😉

Our local micro-brewery just last year set up a canning room. And most of our local mini-markets (also Waitrose) and booze emporiums sell local beers.

it’s not great, the employees may still GAS but it means very little when the quality control & ability to innovate is taken out of their hands.

Assumes employees and owners have gone from full control to no control. Whilst I don't know how its run I expect a certain degree of autonomy over the brand and its products, and sure that may ultimately disappear.

There's a ton of breweries in Huddersfield area** but they don't all have a decent tap house / bar or make their beer so accessible. I'd walk away from Magic Rock from when the quality isn't there and the enthusiasm for visiting their premises has gone. You pays your money etc etc..

** Three Fiends, Small World, Mallinsons, Lazy Turtle, Milltown plus more.

Punk is just your starting point I reckon. Nice and dependable but not amazing.

Hazy Jane +1

Life And Death from Vocation is worth a look.

If you can find it, Doggie Style from Flying Dog is brilliant.

Purity Brewing's unfiltered Longhorn IPA is cool.

Green Devil from Oakham I prefer to Citra.

Hop 'Til You Drop and The Hop Stepper from Aldi are good in spite of their dodgy names. I'm partial to their Ghost Dance and Phantom Pale Ale too (the latter clearly a nod to Beavertown).

Sadly, unless you're in my neck of the woods or lucky online, you won't get to try what I think is the very best of this style of beer. Nene Valley Brewery do some great stuff - Big Bang Theory is fantastic, but my absolute favourite is Release The Chimps - possibly a bit overhopped and harsh for some but I love it.

Arbor Zero Zero ftw!

Williams Brothers' Brel Belgian IPA!

I've recently discovered Jagged Edge from Brewdog and it's lovely. I'll also second the recommendation for Wild Weather - I used to work very close to them, and the local Spoons usually had at least one of their beers. If you're buying online then the IPA box from Purity gets you a really nice collection of beers. I'm particularly keen on Saddle Black, their black IPA. Finally, I don't think I've ever had a beer from Wierd Beard that I didn't like.

Bookmarking this thread. As a long time cider drinker, recently bought some Punk IPA for a mate who was staying, and had a few cans left in the fridge which needed finishing.

Surprisingly pleasant! This could be a new hobby, sampling IPA's. I live just up the road from Ringwood Brewery so may pay a visit, and there's some other small scale local breweries I could try too.

But first Morrisons and a shopping list based on comments above...

I’m very new to this IPA trend

Welcome. Be warned, it won't be long before you're buying 400ml cans for £6 and getting abuse from your mates for being a snob 🙂

There's lots of decent stuff in the supermarkets these days from the likes of Magic Rock, Northern Monk and Vocation etc (although I've never been a fan of brewdog). For the really good (and sadly expensive) stuff though, look for Cloudwater, Verdant, Garage Beer Co, BBNo etc. The all do amazing Pale Ales, IPAs and DIPAs. The fruity cloudy ones are my favourites, the best recently probably being Garage Citra Escalator. Also have a look at the Sour IPAs such as Vault City Brewing SIPA V3.

Lagunitas in 355ml at 6.2% is cracking
Shipyard by Marston is also a great beer for the price
Ditto Proper Job
Had a few tins frin Lidl on sat and they were pretty good, wil look in the recycling bin nd report more later, brewing now american red ale.

^ I'm mates with the guys who started Vault City. The main brewer has moved on to set up another one called holy Goat - worth a look out for.

+1 on Flying Dog, their stuff is excellent. Sometimes in the supermarket, but generally in smaller shops.

Best IPA I've ever had was Bells Two Hearted, but not available in the UK - USA only.
I have to make my own if I want to drink it as I don't get over the water any more

SirenCraft Soundwave IPA is one of my favourites.
Gypsy Hill Hepcat IPA is another good one.
Tiny rebel - don't think I've ever had a bad beer from them.

I joined beer52 when lockdown started.
https://www.beer52.com/

Agreed on sirencraft soundwave - almost always have some in! Sirencraft do a load of other interesting beers too, often have good selection boxes going.

Vocation next on the sampling / selection list for the new year.

Luckily for me since starting this thread my facebook feed is now jam packed with ads for craft IPAs from all sorts of trendy micro breweries.

I buy far too much Joker IPA (Williams Bros), and a lot of their other stuff. Aldi seem to have a really good selection, even outside Scotland - but many other places up here sell it.

Proper Job is a solid choice and is bottle conditioned from the supermarket for £1.50
As above, Oakham Citra is fantastic, the Green Dragon is another step up if you can source it.
Ghost Ship is worth a look too.
For traditional, Marstons Old Empire is a tasty example...

I would expect the quality of Marstons beer to drop off a cliff now they're owned by Carlsberg (if it hasn't already!)

+1 Wye Valley HPA. Got a mini keg in the garage for Christmas

https://www.wyevalleybrewery.co.uk/shop/mini-kegs/minihpa01-hpa-mini-keg.html

Marstons owned by Carlsberg

Lagunitas is owned by Heineken. All the big boys are getting in there.

Lagunitas is owned by Heineken. All the big boys are getting in there.

Pressure Drop, Verdant, DEYA, Pomona Island, Cloudwater and Northern Monk all do some brilliant American style IPAs. Some do relatively small weekly releases so worth signing up their mailing lists.

Good things brewing co enki is my current favourite. £4 a can though but it’s absolutely hoplicious

https://goodthingsbrewing.co/collections/our-cans/products/enki-4-5-pale?variant=33147611021389

You can disappear up your own arse very quickly with this subject. There is a big difference between a lot of IPAs. Some using more "traditional" hops that taste like a strong amber bitter and those that embrace all manner of fruits that at times can almost resemble an alcopop. I like those that use cascade, chinook or critra hops and are often described as American Pale Ale.

Brewdog are a bit controversial in how they go about things so, without starting the oft repeated row, I avoid them and choose companies i like. YMMV.

My personal fave is this. In fact it gets me going even thinking about it. Best served on draft obviously https://www.darkstarbrewing.co.uk/beers/apa

Pressure Drop, Verdant, DEYA, Pomona Island, Cloudwater and Northern Monk all do some brilliant American style IPAs.

**** yeah. Loving all that. Favourite this week is this from Verdant.

https://untappd.com/b/verdant-brewing-co-neal-gets-things-done/2183923

Though at about six quid a can, many round here would lose their shit over it. Life’s too short to drink bad (or even mediocre) beer.

Big difference between USA IPAs. I’m much more a fan of cloudy murky New England/North East style than West Coast or NZ style.

likley already recommended, but beavertown beers are nice. neck oil for every day duties at 4.3%, gamma ray at 5.4% american pale ale with a more toasted flavour, lupaloid at nearly 7% for a straight up IPA (and lovely) or nanobot at 2.8% for light refreshing not really drinking drinking

Thing of the past for the time being, but beer festivals were very popular round my neck of the woods, buy tokens and exchange them for pies and (half) pints if you want much of a chance of trying the many differnet verieties.

Once tried a welsh cider i'd never heard of and it tasted just like fresh apple joice, not like cider at all, until after 3 or 4 halfs I felt a bit squiffy...I then checked out the brand at the counter and it turned out it was like 11%...oops hahah.

I quite like beavertown neck oil and magic rock highwire grapefruit.
Jaipur is also lovely but a wee bit strong for a session.
Anarchy brew co,. do some good ones also.

Saltaire cascade is quite a nice session type beer.

I'm also partial to timmermans cherry beer and Baccous cherry beer whenever I see it on draft, it's pricey but bloodly delicious.

Thats the wonderfull thing about beers and more modern trendy craft beers - theres millions to choose from, some you won't like, some you'll love, and it's good fun finding out 🙂

Though at about six quid a can, many round here would lose their shit over it. Life’s too short to drink bad (or even mediocre) beer.

Don't get me started. I was recently told I'm a champagne socialist (wrong drink surely?) by someone from this forum who drinks red stripe and San Miguel.

https://untappd.com/b/verdant-brewing-co-neal-gets-things-done/2183923
/a>

Tor Beers in Tod has a lot of verdants and cloudwaters in right now. I'm off there tomorrow with a credit card and a large bag to stock up for xmas and NY. 🙂

Tor Beers in Tod has a lot of verdants and cloudwaters in right now. I’m off there tomorrow with a credit card and a large bag to stock up for xmas and NY. 🙂

Definitely. Great selection. I spend about £30 a week with Liz at Drink. Just tried the Lidl Steam Bar IPA and it’s fairly revolting. Their Argus import lager drinks better.

Cheers to good beer.

I spend about £30 a week with Liz at Drink

I spend about the same in Tor Beers. I figure I'd spend that in a pub in Manc after work without even thinking about it so now Jake at Tor gets it instead. 🙂

I'm probably a heathen as I prefer keg beer to cask.
Magic rock is particualry troublesome as after a few I forget the difference and they usualy have high wire on both keg and cask, so sometimes end up buying the wrong one hahah!

Boc Bàn from Ardgour Ales Very tasty and reasonably strong
https://www.ardgourales.scot/

Another vote for DEYA beers. I missed them off my earlier list.

Also, worth finding a decent Freehouse to drink at/follow on the twitters etc as they will have a broader range of suggestions. May I suggest The Southampton Arm, Kentish Town (in that there London). Only serve independent breweries and run by knowledgable staff.

On the budget front.....

Lidl - green gecko (slightly sweet)
Lidl - Hatherwood American Craft IPA - my fave at the mo.
Tesco/Home Bargains - Shipyard - enjoy Wetherspoons from home.
Aldi - 1097. Not a IPA but fairly modern flavoured (longish/lowish/slackish). Low%, very cheap, very session.

Plenty of great west coast IPAs mentioned already surprised no one's suggested Brewdog Vs Cloudwater little dangerous as it drinks like it's in the 5% range when it's 6.8% think it's £2.50 in Sainsbury's at the moment.

Morrisons stock a few by Northern Monk - all of which are delicious. Order of the faith is great.

A couple local to me are also good; Buxton Brewery (Lupulus X range) and Red Willow (Shameless).

Laldi have a nice Belgian Blonde at the moment called St Pierre I think it's around 6.2% and nigh on 800ml...which is nice.

I've just trolley-raided the beer aisle in Morrisons and thrown some of these suggestion in. Already was a fan of Northern monk and Vocation.  My beer fridge is stacked and the reserve beer bookcase is groaning under the weight of 'spares'.

Roll on Xmas eve.

Special mention for Black Iris Little Nipper. Amazing for its strength at 3.8%.

At the other end of the spectrum, Cloudwater Thanks Again For Your Support is possibly the best beer I've had all year. Only being sold through independent retailers.

Looks like a trip to Morrisons is on for me too. If I can slope off from the family for a moment.

Northern Monk and Vocation are brewers I'm partial to, look forward to investigating further.

That Brewdog v Cloudwater is good. Hop Stepper and the other one from Aldi are okay. Aldi do one in a green can (forget the name) which is quite good, a bit of traditional-esque ipa in there along with the new worldy stuff. The grapefruit IPA in Aldi is great as well, if you can find it..

Signed up to the Beer52 Xmas offer (case of 10 mixed for £5.95 postage) and got 10 Polish beers (mainly IPAs and a couple of stouts). Not too bad all told, including one that was a wheat IPA which was stunning. Part of the deal is that you sign up to the monthly case. I'll give it one and see, as you can cancel at any time.

Cloudwater definitely in the top tier of the UK beer scene! Our local craft beer place is still doing deliveries, had a couple of pints of (last years! aged by the tap room 😃) One Slice To Yule Them All which is now incredibly smooth @ 11%! Obviously not an IPA though 🤣

Ghost Ship is worth a look too.

I like it but Mrs dB turns her nose up and asks if I want another pint of ghost shit - sadly looks like my favourite pub where I drank it is shutting up shop for good because of covid.

Haven't seen any fullers golden pride anywhere recently but looks like waitrose stock it 👍

Christmas can start now. 🙂

Trying some Goose Island, Goose IPA today... It's pretty good, similar to Brewdog Punk I would say.

What's the Overtone stuff like? I know of them through a pal, but he is paid to promote them so not so objective

Haven't tried the Overtones yet but the last ones I got a while back were good. Maybe not up there with the Cloudwaters and Verdants but that's just my preference. Cloudwater and Verdant seem to have a knack for producing fruity tropical flavoured IPAs whiich is my major weakness.

I helped left handed giant and northern monk when they were crowd funding and also bought some brewdog shares. In a blindfolded test I wouldn't have a clue what I was drinking.

Ella is one of my favourite hops, high alpha acid content and lodas of oils that once bio transformation is complete smell like apricots.
Great selection, they do get abit weaponised though, more is better. More hops, more alcohol, more haze more, more more.
End result is still the same, you just arrive there sooner

On recommendation of this thread I just tried a Vocation Life & Death.... Very nice definitely be having that one again

What’s the Overtone stuff like?

The Ella-mentary was extremely good. Up there with the others (which I've had before) if you like fruity stuff. Far too drinkable to be honest for something that's 7% 🙂