Hooray for IPA

Water, yeast, barley, hops. Get them together in the appropriate way and you have a tasty beverage called beer. Brewers use different varieties of all four ingredients to create every style of beer. Hops are used in beer to create bitterness to combat the sweetness of the barley and water once it has been mashed and boiled, also known as wort.

The hop plant is a flowering vine; its female cone flower produces lupulin which gives hops their aroma. It also gives beer its bitter flavor. Beer manufacturing uses 98% of the world’s hop production. Some common hop varieties in Europe include:  Fuggle, Willamette, Cascade, Columbia, Tettnanger, and Hallertauer. The major differences between them are when they mature, how susceptible they are to diseases, and how much they yield. The major American varieties are Early Cluster and Late Cluster, both of which are high yielding vines that are adapted to mechanical harvesting.

While brewers use hops in most beers, they play a significant role in Pale Ales and India Pale Ales or IPA’s.  IPA’s were first developed in Great Britain in the late 1700s. They were the first beer to be designed specifically for export, thus they were high in alcohol and heavily hopped. Hops have natural antibiotic and preserving properties to them so adding them to beer prevented it from spoiling while being transported. The alcohol by volume (ABV) of most modern IPA’s ranges from 5.5% to 7% while some of the first IPA’s had an ABV ranging from 7.5% to 8%.

General characteristics of IPA’s include flowery aromas, strong bitter flavors due to the hops, and sometimes a bit of a citrus flavor.

IPA’s are by far my favorite variety of beer, and I haven’t had too many different kinds. I like to think that my first IPA is the best IPA, that being the Duke of Wellington brewed by Granite City. It contains everything an IPA should: flowery aroma, plenty of bitterness, and a slight grapefruit finish. The bitterness of the Duke is achieved through adding hops to the wort at different times during the fermentation process. The brewers initially add the hops at the beginning of fermentation.

The beer is later dry hopped, which means pouring the hops into the beer while it reaches the end of fermentation. It can be quite the deceiving beer; I’ve overheard several people order it because words “pale ale” in the description make them think they are getting a light beer. The only light quality to the Duke is it’s light copper color. The initial flavor packs quite the punch. Along with the bitterness of the hops, the beer is a bit dry, which only makes me want more. I’ve heard it described many times as a “beer drinker’s beer.” So I urge you to stop in and give it a try. If it’s too much for you, mix it. Ask for and Admiral (1/4 Duke, 3/4 Northern Light), or create your own creative blend.

As I said, I don’t have much experience with IPA’s because I like the Duke so much, but Summit Brewery makes an IPA that is pretty tasty. Even a bit better than that, they also make an ESB (Extra Special Bitter) that is great. If you’re really interested in Summit, St. Paul is a few hours away, and tours at the brewery are free. Plus at the end you get to sample four of their beers.