The quintessential, the original, the iconic… The one called an ‘American IPA’. That’s what the beer style now occasionally called an Old School IPA is. And no, we are not forgetting the historical English IPA, but that’s not what modern brewers are referring to when they say Old School.
“But aren’t most IPA styles American anyway?”
Well, the short answer is ‘Yes’ my hop-loving amigo, they mostly all are. But when it comes to the current guidelines for beer judging we must dive a little bit deeper.
The original American IPA is a very high bitterness beer with a big malty base and, while these guidelines remain in place, close cousin “West Coast IPA” with so much overlap, people sometimes think they're the same! West Coasts tend to have a similar style of hops based on the resinous, pine-like and Citrus-forward notes from the US Pacific Northwest, but the malt is so much more light in colour and body.
The bitterness can be quite high in West Coast IPAs, but never harsh, while the Old School American IPAs (or sometimes called Old School WC IPAs) can go quite aggressive and be slightly harsh, taking us all the way back to the 2000-2010s when the so called ‘IBU Wars’ were happening. This is the time when breweries were really trying to make the most mouth-numbing bitter beers that they could! IBUs (or International Bitterness Units) are barely mentioned in the packaging of modern beers, while back in the day you would see it mentioned everywhere an IPA was tapped or bottled (yes bottled, not canned), and even though the human body can hardly perceive anything above 100 IBUs, people would claim some beers up to 120 or 150! Wild times.
Current trends are mostly divided between the West Coast IPA and the Hazy IPA, with West Coast sometimes being used as an overarching style for American, Cali, Pacific, Northwest, etc. Basically, anything that’s not Hazy. This Hop Quest box includes a beer by Garage Project and Pinta claiming to be an Old School IPA, and while it’s made with New Zealand and not US hops, the resinous and herbal notes over a malty and richer base hit the spot just like the old days. Ooooh baby!
