IPA RECIPES“I have learned that a bitter experience can make you stronger.”—Mel Gibson, actorEveryone knows that IPA means India Pale Ale, but the modern craft beer market has stretched that name well beyond its original roots. Most craft beers wearing the IPA label today bear little resemblance to historical English beers that were shipped to India, many aren’t pale, and some aren’t even ales. As the most popular craft beer category, the only thing ‘IPA’ has come to mean is a beer that has a very hop-forward aroma and flavor with moderately high to high bitterness levels.It’s best to not attempt to expand the IPA acronym; if we take it as a general name, all the modifiers (black IPA, session IPA, Belgian IPA, etc.) make much more sense. After all, why get so hung up on the name of beer styles when you could be just brewing and drinking them? If you tell a consumer that a beer is an IPA, they will have an expectation about the general balance and flavor profile of the beer, and will be able to understand how other adjectives change the implied target sensory description.
