How many breweries lie about IPA'S?

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BeerisGOD

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what defines an IPA?
It seems lots of breweries are using this as a selling tool when in fact all they are, are Pale Ales.
Prob the reason ive given up buying even craft beers stating theyre IPA's when they have the most **** poor amount of hops.
 
Craft beer, **** poor amount of hops? The usual complaint is they are overhopped and unbalanced.

What is the difference between an IPA and a Pale Ale? Most beers shipped to India weren't called IPA.

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British breweries have been marketing `IPAs' for a long time that are basically hoppy pale ales. It's been going on so long that it's become a standard thing. It is just a name after all. And back in the glorious 60s a beer that was over 4% would be considered a strong ale. Normal bitter would be about 3.5% which would be considered total p**s today.
 
Vedett IPA :D, what a joke.
I’ve never actually had the one that claims to be IPA, but I was of the impression that Vedett and Vedett IPA were very different beers, but taking advantage of Vedett being Duvel’s luxury/trendy brand.
 
I usually go by the rule an IPA is around 5.5%+ and has more hops than a pale ale, which is also lower in ABV, but like all these things there is a big crossover range.

Totally agree though, every brewery and his dog is making "IPAs" and it's actually quite hard to find one which is good, let alone ground breaking. A few years ago beers like Punk, Gamma Ray etc. were cutting edge, but now that's a standard. They are still good beers but nothing special.

The trend for IPAs seems to be fisting as many hops into secondary as possible creating an unbalanced beer. Whilst I still enjoy IPAs, I have them a lot less and am more into stouts, porters and sours.
 
Now I know more about beer styles, I've realised most British beers marketed as IPAs are really just ordinary or special bitters at the hopper end of the ibu scale for that style. In Greene King's case, not even that hoppy.

American beers marketed as IPAs do seem to actually fit the style definition of an American IPA, generally speaking.

Edit: In fairness, modern British craft beer actually means IPA when they say it, too. It's the more "traditional" breweries that seem to think it's just a slightly hoppier bitter.
 
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The problem I often encouter is old IPA.
Its hard to get a good fresh IPA.

Like one that was bottled one or two months earlier.
Foreign, especially American, IPA's taste often like **** because they are old and been subjected to rough conditions during transport.
 
The problem with naming an IPA is it has changed over time. My take on it which may not be 100% accurate is before the 20th century it was a high ABV highly hopped beer and possibly not as pale as we think of it now, then because of WW1 & WW2 grain was taxed higher and I imagine less land was used to grow hops so it became like green king IPA and stayed like that for most of the 20th century until it has been recently reinvented back to a high ABV highly hopped beer but how much like it was in the 19th century i am sceptical.
 
I remember when the craft beers were first becoming popular over here, a friend of mine got stupidly drunk on the original Punk (or was it Goose Island, I cant remember?) because he’s only ever had Deuchars IPA and assumed these new beers were the same strength.

Thanks for posting that blog, I’ve been wanting to do a historical pale ale for a while so might give this one a go.
 
I still remember to this day that late evening I bought four pints of Greene King IPA at the college bar for £1. The same £1 was gained in a wager over whether or not I would ask a young lady whether she was wearing any knickers under her rather long jumper.
She was, BTW, and she smiled at me, whilst offering her own explanation for being slightly underdressed, all despite the rather odd question.

Some beers taste better than others, for no reason other than the circumstance.
 
Style labels always have been and always will be open to interpretation. I don't see the point in trying to keep rigid styles. The only way to know if a beer is good is to try it.

For me, the Belgians and French have the right idea. Their beers are all over the place.
 
I still remember to this day that late evening I bought four pints of Greene King IPA at the college bar for £1. The same £1 was gained in a wager over whether or not I would ask a young lady whether she was wearing any knickers under her rather long jumper.
She was, BTW, and she smiled at me, whilst offering her own explanation for being slightly underdressed, all despite the rather odd question.

Some beers taste better than others, for no reason other than the circumstance.

I can just imagine Slid in Leslie Philip mode; Sidling over to the young lady in question, Twiddling his ''tache, 'Ding dong my chick, do you have ...you know...any,erm...I'll just get back to my IPA' :laugh8:
 
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