American IPAs and American IPA: what is the difference?

I regularly have customers in the shop who have been sent by a family member, or who are looking for a nice indulgent beer for themselves. The question that often follows is something along the lines of:

“I’m looking for an IPA.”

That sounds pretty clear at first glance. Until I tell them that we have about four meters of shelf space dedicated to IPAs in the shop.

When I then point someone towards those meters full of cans and bottles, I often see the same look: okay… but which one should I have?

And I actually understand that very well. Because IPA is no longer just one type of beer. The world of IPAs has become enormously diverse. From crisp, bitter, and resinous to soft, hazy, and almost tropically fruity. And we haven’t even mentioned Session IPA, Double IPA, Triple IPA, West Coast IPA, New England IPA, Cold IPA, and everything else brewers have come up with in the meantime.

Beer is confusing. I tell customers that regularly, too.

With other alcoholic beverages, there are often fairly clear rules about why something is named the way it is. Take wine. If a single grape variety, for example Chardonnay, is on the label in Europe, then at least 85% of the wine must actually be made from that grape.

With beer, it doesn’t always work that logically.

A Dubbel and a Tripel, for example, are two different Belgian beer styles. Without any prior knowledge, you might expect from the names that a Tripel simply contains one and a half times as much of something as a Dubbel. That is not the case.

And it gets even better.

Because we also have a Double IPA and a Triple IPA. Do those have anything to do with a Belgian Dubbel or Tripel?

No. Nothing at all.

The terms simply originated in different periods and in different places and eventually each acquired their own meaning.

That is why I am starting this column: What is the difference?

In it, I will regularly dive into beer styles, terms, and names that we have come to take for granted in the beer world, but which are not at all self-evident to someone who doesn't deal with them daily.

And for the first edition, we’ll start with a good one:

American IPA’s and American IPA’s

Or, to make it a bit clearer in English:

American IPA versus IPA from America.

Because an American IPA can be an American IPA.

But an American IPA doesn’t have to be an American IPA at all.

And these days, an American IPA doesn’t even have to come from America.

Confusing? That is exactly why this column exists.

What is an American IPA?

American IPA says something about the type of IPA you are drinking. It is a beer style that originated in the United States and builds on the original English India Pale Ale.

According to the American Beer Judge Certification Program, better known as the BJCP, an American IPA is a hop-forward, relatively dry, and bitter beer. The style is traditionally strongly associated with American and other so-called New World hops.

Think of flavors and aromas such as citrus, pine and resin, tropical fruit, and stone fruit.

By the way, that does not mean that an American IPA must strictly be brewed with American hops. Current guidelines explicitly leave room for any hop variety. The word American here therefore primarily says something about the origin and the character of the beer style, and not about the country where the beer is actually brewed.

In short, you can recognize a classic American IPA by a fairly dry character, a distinct bitterness, and above all, plenty of hops.

A well-known example is Goose Island IPA from Chicago. The beer has been brewed since 1990 and has now become a classic within the style. Citrus, grapefruit, some piney notes, and a firm but balanced bitterness: exactly the kind of flavors that many people associate with a classic American IPA.

For Dutch beer drinkers, Goose Island is also interesting because it is one of the American IPAs that became relatively widely available here. Especially when specialty beer and IPA began to become popular with a much wider audience in the mid-2010s, many people were introduced to that distinct American IPA flavor through beers like this.

When someone says to me:

“I’m just looking for one of those IPAs.”

then that person is surprisingly often referring to exactly this type of beer. Bitter, dry, hoppy, and with clear citrus-like flavors.

But nowadays, that is just one branch of a fairly large IPA family tree.

And what is an "American IPA" (in Dutch: "Amerikaanse IPA")?

"Amerikaanse IPA’s" are a much broader category. By that, we simply mean IPAs brewed in the United States.

And that can include all sorts of things.

The original India Pale Ale has its roots in England, but the United States has played a huge role in the development of the modern IPA as we know it today.

Over the past few decades, American craft brewers have been experimenting extensively with IPA. With new hop varieties, larger quantities of hops, different brewing techniques, varying alcohol percentages, more or less bitterness, and a completely different mouthfeel.

From this, all kinds of variants have emerged that are now brewed all over the world.

One of the best-known examples is the New England IPA, usually abbreviated to NEIPA. This style originated in the northeastern United States and is almost the opposite of what many people used to understand by an IPA: hazy, soft, and enormously fruity, with much less emphasis on sharp bitterness.

The Double IPA, or DIPA, also became big within the American craft beer culture. More alcohol, more hops, and often more flavor as well. Nowadays, some brewers go even further with the Triple IPA, or TIPA.

And of course, it doesn’t stop there.

West Coast IPA, Hazy IPA, Session IPA, Black IPA, Cold IPA: American brewers have left a significant mark on how broad the term IPA has become today.

All these styles are now also excellently brewed in the Netherlands, Belgium, England, Poland, Scandinavia, and basically anywhere a modern craft beer culture has emerged. Yet for many beer lovers, the United States remains an important point of reference when it comes to modern IPA.

And then, of course, we come to taste. That is a matter of opinion.

Personally, I find that good American IPAs often have just that little bit more depth and intensity than their European counterparts. That absolutely does not mean they are automatically better. Fantastic IPAs are now being made in Europe. But with a number of good American breweries, you encounter a certain complexity in hop aroma and flavor that is difficult to equal.

That may have to do with experience, with the availability and freshness of certain hop varieties, with brewing technique, or simply with the tradition that has been built there over time.

So: American IPA or American-brewed IPA?

This brings us back to the original question.

An American IPA is a beer style. A usually fairly dry, hoppy, and distinctly bitter IPA that stems from the American interpretation of the original India Pale Ale.

An "Amerikaanse IPA" (IPA from America) only tells you that the IPA was brewed in the United States.

That IPA from America can be a classic American IPA, but just as well a NEIPA, Double IPA, Triple IPA, West Coast IPA, or one of many other variants.

Conversely, a brewer in Rotterdam can perfectly well brew an American IPA.

So:

An American IPA doesn’t have to come from America.

And:

An IPA from America doesn't have to be an American IPA.

When someone walks into the shop and says:

“I’m looking for an American IPA.”

my next question is therefore usually:

“Do you mean an IPA from America, or are you looking for that classic dry and bitter American IPA style?”

Beer is sometimes confusing.
But perhaps that is precisely one of the things that makes it so interesting.