New England and West Coast IPAs: Just the Facts

Having a contributor on each coast makes a New England – West Coast IPA Battle Royale an obvious choice. CJ and I took the long way around, choosing to tussle over sours and Belgians first. But this week, we are going to put up the IPA ticket. As it happens, our taste buds for this debate align with our geographical locations. Before we can get to our thoughts on the two styles, let’s take a look at what differentiates one from another.

IPAs haven’t been around quite as long as the other beers we’ve tacked in our debates. The style, attributed to England, developed over time. The brew received its moniker sometime in the early 19th century. With England riding high on colonialism, this brew made its way around the globe; however, India is the location that was tied to the beverage. 

Not because the beer was predominately brewed in India, rather, because it was brewed to be shipped to India. Anyone who’s been around a home brewing system in the summer can tell you it’s brutal standing anywhere near the kettle. I don’t want to think about doing that in India. And neither did the British. So, they threw in extra hops as a preservative, and off the barrels went. And voila, enter in a new style of beer.

IPAs eventually fell out of popularity and didn’t come back into common beer choices until the 1970s. Hopefully, you were sitting down when you read that. It’s hard to imagine IPAs not being popular myself. If you’re going into a packie these days, looking for any other beer style, you better be prepared to play a game of Where’s Waldo. It would actually be nice if they put mini red hats on the non-IPA beers they carry. Speed things up a bit.

Anyway, West Coast IPAs are the more established variant. In general, IPAs are all about the hops. WC IPAs take that to an entirely new level. You are not going to find balance with these beers. The malt profile is relegated to being part of the chorus line. WC IPAs tend to finish dry, allowing the hop domination to carry through the entire drink. These brews pack in all the tropical, citrus, and piney flavors hops can provide. Typically, drinkers will taste flavors like grapefruits, lemons, and peppery resin. 

But the use of hops is more than just those flavors. WC IPAs also take full advantage of the hops’ bittering characteristics. For this IPA style, a good amount of hops are put in during the hot stage of brewing. This pulls out the bitterness for the brew. Then another round of hops are put in later in the brewing process to infuse those flavors I was talking about earlier. West Coast IPAs are both flavorful and bitter.

Sierra Nevada, Stone, and Green Flash are often cited as the prime contributors to the WC IPA scene. All three of these breweries happen to be on the West Coast. That is not a prerequisite to dub your brew a WC IPA. Plenty of other breweries have cranked out their own version of the style.

New England IPAs are the newcomers to the craft beer scene. They received their official acceptance as a style in 2018. As we haven’t left the IPA domain, hops are still ruling the roost with these brews. Their presentation for the drinker does shift in this iteration of IPA. Juice Bomb just popped into your head, didn’t it? 

Well, you wouldn’t be wrong there. NE IPAs are frequently referred to as such. This moniker coming from both the flavor profile as well as the actual appearance. In terms of flavor, they are very citrusy, owing to the types of hops added and their late addition to the brewing process. By putting the hops in later, less of the hop bitterness makes it into the end product. 

When you pour a NE IPA into a glass, more often than not, it looks like you’re seven pouring your orange juice into a fancy glass to make yourself feel like the grown-ups. This haziness can come from a few sources. Most often, it is the brewer leaving the beverage unfiltered. Although wheat adjunct and hop residue can also contribute to the look.

Heddy Topper from Alchemist is ubiquitously hailed as the progenitor of the style. Treehouse and Trillium in Massachusetts frequently receive mentions for furthering the style’s presence in the craft beer market. I’ll save my feelings on those mentions for my article. Regardless of who started it, the style has flourished and is extremely popular.

I know I’ve been brief. I could have deep-dived a bit longer into the history of IPAs. I thought a taste would be better than a whole five-course meal, so to speak, since the big show is going to be our banter over the next two Thirsty Thursdays.

In the meantime, comment below on which brew you’ve had that exemplifies either style. Cheers, Nerd Girls!