IPAs are India Pale Ales. These beers are actually a piece of history (not in it's uber-hoppy American interpretation.) During British colonization of India, beer was transported by ships to the colonies. The brew itself was made a bit more fortified to survive the awful conditions on the ships that it would necessarily endure for months on end prior to its arrival. Fast forward to today: there are generally two types of India Pale Ales - American IPAs and British IPAs. In many cases, the British/European IPAs tend to follow the historical case. Scottish brewery BrewDog Brewing Co. recently made the decision to pursue a pure historical representation - a classic recipe put onboard a ship for three months prior to bottling. American IPAs, however, are usually nothing short of hop bombs. As of late, the Belgians, famous for their sweet and complex malt profile beers, have been attempting their own interpretation of the IPA, including La Chouffe's Houblon IPA Trippel (which actually uses all American hop varieties,) Piraat IPA Trippel, and Gouden Carolus Hopsinjoor. As you can see by the names, these are hybrid styles that combine traditional belgian ales (dubbel, tripel, etc.) with the hoppiness of an American IPA. Usually these aren't palate destroyers, but they are usually higher than 8% ABV like their strong belgian counterparts. For clarification, if the modifying word is before the style, it's an American or British IPA (eg. Double IPA.) However, if the modifying word is located after the style, it refers to the belgian hybrid interpretations (eg. IPA Dubble/Double.)
In the American IPA category, there are two further subdivisions: standard IPA and Double/Triple/Imperial IPA. The standard IPAs range from a little over 5% ABV to around 7% and normally have between 30-70 IBUs (IBUs being the standard "International Bitterness Unit" on which IPAs, and other beers as well, are usually judged.) DIPA/Imperials kick up the ABVs from 7% all the way up to 21% (in the case of Dogfish Head's 120 minute IPA) boasting IBUs all the way up to 250 (in the case of Founders' Devil Dancer Triple IPA.) A normal DIPA/Imperial IPA will be around 9-10% ABV and have about 100-130 IBUs. All this technical jargon, but what does it mean? It means that you're going to be experiencing a beer that's generally going to be more bitter than your average beer. Bitter isn't the most appropriate word for the flavor profile. West Coast IPAs tend to be very citric and floral with a very "sharp" edge whereas other regional IPAs tend to be more full-bodied beer that has a detectable degree of malt (called the "backbone" in this case.) This "sharpness" generally is manifest in an astringency on the back of your tongue that tends to linger (called the "Hop Signature" among industry nerds.) A good point of comparison would be between California's Stone Brewing Co. and their IPA (not Ruination, their normal IPA) and Portsmouth New Hampshire's Smuttynose Brewing Co. and their "Finest Kind" IPA. Stone's offering tends to be very citric and floral, whereas Smuttynose's brew has a nice earthy floral taste due to the malt and the yeast they use. Smuttynose's tends more towards affirming the PA in IPA than its left coast counterpart. Anyways you get the picture (odds are if you're reading this, you already know the difference.) A quick note, regular IPAs are generally considered to be a late spring/summer seasonal brew due to the refreshing nature of the citric/floral flavors (much in the same way as Gin.) Imperial/DIPAs however have become adopted into the winter seasonal rotations (which traditionally included Barleywines, Winter Warmers, Stouts, Old Ales, Bocks and Doppelbocks) due to their high ABV and more full and intense flavor profiles.
So, here's where the issue arises. Over the past four or five years, the American craft beer market has become nothing less than obsessed with these hop wallops (with apologies to Victory Brewing Co.) to the point where almost every craft brewery out there produces some variety of IPA. IPAs are also thought to be one of the primary styles to benefit from oak barrel/bourbon aging (eg. Southern Tier's Oak Aged UnEarthly, Founders Hand of Doom/Bourbon Aged Red's Rye PA, and Great Divide's forthcoming Oak Aged IPA) Is this just a fad, or is this a trend indicative of serious long-term attention? I'd like to present as many possible takes on the scenario as possible.
First, from a production standpoint, IPAs are among the most costly beers to provide. When evaluating pricing options on a per-barrel basis, no beer style demands more hops. Being the most costly ingredient in normal beers, hops can financially strain any brewery that's not careful. Almost everyone draws the comparison between hops and grapes in the case of wine. While it is the case that some styles use more hops than others (think of stouts... how many stouts can you think of with distinctly hop-forward flavor profiles? Aside from Smuttynose's Imperial Stout, I can't think of any,) it could be the case that this late market trend towards IPAs could actually affect what the consumer pays for all their beer styles. Look at it this way: a couple years ago, the world was hit with a somewhat serious hop shortage. Fletcher Street Brewing Co. in Alpena Michigan, our local craft operation, told us that they were forced to put their fantastic Paper Maker Pilsener on hiatus in favor of other beers such as their Maple Porter, Lumber Lager Red, Thunder Bay Bock, and Alpena Wheat Ale - all styles that don't traditionally have an abundance of hops. This 2007-2008 shortage was due to decreased production of hops due to non-ideal growing conditions, storms, etc. Imagine if the next global hop shortage was the result of the industry itself not able to have the carrying capacity to supply demand for uber-hoppy IPAs? Many small breweries might have to close their doors due to the inability to acquire a key ingredient for beer. An article in the Ithican, local newspaper to Ithica, New York, finds the prior hop shortage to have shot hop prices up as high as 400% in some cases. According to this same article, the Boston Beer Company (or, as a few of you may know it as "Sam Adams") was able to sell 20,000 lbs of unused hops to other small breweries to alleviate the pain caused by the shortage. It's unlikely that this case of brewery altruism would be able to continue if the supply of hops kept dropping every year and the price of hops, and consequently beer, keeps increasing.
On the other hand, maybe none of this would come true. Perhaps either the trend towards brutally hoppy IPAs might subside somewhat, leaving only a handful of breweries to produce these "lacerative mothers" (with apologies to Stone Brewing Co.) After all, Rogue's I2PA from Oregon is a solid DIPA, but in the world of outstanding complex behemoths such as Avery's Maharaja, Dark Horse's Double Crooked Tree, Stone's Ruination, and Russian River's Pliny series, should they continue to pursue such a brew? This is both a commercial and a stylistic comment. Such a decision could be perceived as a cost cutting measure and be taken the wrong way by craft beer consumers, many of which are up in arms about Bud/Miller/Coors cost cutting tactics. At the same time, if the brewmaster decides he just doesn't want to brew that style anymore and has a way of communicating that, it will probably disappear quietly. Another factor that could turn the tide is local farmers and breweries that have made the decision to grow their own hops. On a recent trip to Sam Adams' Boston Brewery, we were seated outside at their private Bier garden complete with hop vines and all. Their representative stated their interest in growing hops they can use, such as the German Noble Hop Hallertau, popular with several Sam Adams brews including their flagship brew, the Boston Lager. Perhaps breweries will begin buying local hops from hop farmers. After all, given ideal soil/climate conditions, you can grow hops with seeds and information found on the internet.
Could it be that this trend towards Imperial/DIPAs is a form of egoism? This couldn't possibly be the case if Stone CEO Greg Koch isn't an idealist about his views on the beer industry. At the 2009 Craft Brewers Conference held here in Boston, MA, Koch delivered a 45 minute speech about the value of "camaraderie" and "collaboration" amongst craft brewers. He views the craft brewing industry not as individuals in competition, but all working towards the same goal - delivering better beer to the consumer (or, more importantly, to everyone.) However, in a world where Koch's company can produce their Ruination IPA year-round, is what he's saying more than just rhetoric? One glance at Stone's website would reveal it's honesty - they serve many different breweries' offerings at their World Bistro and hold "Beer U" meetings where all are welcome to become educated about beer styles extending far beyond the reaches of their Escondido-based walls. On the other hand, Terrapin Brewing Co in Athens Georgia has other ideas. They produced a beer called "Hop Shortage" which was meant to "give the finger to the hop gods" as said by head brewmaster Spike Buckowski and use a ton of the hard-to-come-by plants. Not only did they address the concerns of the hop shortage, they also used it to draw attention to themselves and set themselves apart. While I'm sure they're fine individuals, this really rubbed me the wrong way.
The final consideration rests on the consumers end. With the new figures (from the documentary Beer Wars) emerging about the sales of beers, one out of every two beers sold is the product of the Anheuser-Busch/InBev megacompany. Brooklyn Brewmaster Garrett Oliver estimates that craft brew fans only comprise at most 5-10% of the American public. That being said, most websites like BeerAdvocate and other editorial beer blogs usually are guilty of preaching to the choir in terms of reader demographics. If you don't know anything about beer, the brewing process, or the politics of beer, you're unlikely to try different kinds of beer, let alone craft beer. If the average no-beer-knowledge American walked into a liquor store with the intent of buying beer, they will almost always go for something they're familiar with. What happens if that same consumer has a flash of brilliance and decides to pick something random off the store shelves or has recommended to them by a store employee, say a 6 pack of Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA or Stone's IPA, and drink it? Well, unless they have a very refined and sturdy palate, it's unlikely they'll do anything except pour the beer down the drain or attempt to pawn it off on some unsuspecting friend who will likely have a similar reaction. This same consumer has learned their lesson about experimenting with craft beer and will retreat to the comfort zone of American industrial lagers. What I'm hinting at is that the recent trend towards IPAs might be hazardous to the same craft beer industry that is seeking the stake to drive through the heart of beer megacorporations. At the same time, perhaps I'm wrong? Living in Boston, almost every bar I go to has a Harpoon IPA tap handle. While not the best example of the style, it appears to be a fairly popular beer that has been able to win over a bit of the Bud Light/PBR crowd in the battle of the living room versus the dining room (the dining room being traditionally the spot where craft beer has unequivocally won.) These same people are willing to also take a chance on Allagash's White, their take on a Belgian Wheat Ale much like the famed Weinstephaner Hefe. Again, I know Boston is a fairly progressive city, which makes me even more hesitant. Still, to see the average Joe Redsox sit down to watch Big Papi attempt to crush a few out of the park and order a Harpoon IPA is something that makes me happy.
In the end, it's a question of staying power. Staying power belongs to those beers that are more than trends. The best example I can think of is the Russian Imperial Stout. Having existed since the court of Czarina/Empress Catherine the Great, these roasty devils continue to top the BeerAdvocate and RateBeer charts year after year. Their depth and complexity makes them a wonderful experience for a wide assortment of beer drinkers. Do I think that the IPA trend will continue along a similar path? Only time will tell, although it will probably not be as intense as the past year or two, but I think that Imperial/DIPAs will hold a legitimate place in craft brewing. While it might be detrimental to the industry in more ways than one to flood the market with these hop monsters, it's likely to level out a little bit. American IPAs are to hops what Bocks and Stouts are to Malt and what Belgian Ales are to Yeast - the quintessential example of an ingredient and how emphasizing that particular ingredient, while sometimes seeming improperly balanced, can make a very tasty beer.
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