Beer Matters

Return of the West Coast IPA

BY JAMIE DOOM

OVER A DECADE AGO one of the biggest trends in craft beer history began taking shape in Vermont. Alchemist first and then Hill Farmstead later began making these flavor-forward, silky smooth New England-style or hazy IPAs. Other great Vermont breweries, like Lawson’s Finest Liquids and Fiddlehead Brewing, began experimenting with this style. These breweries gained a cult following, and avid beer geeks began making a pilgrimage to these small towns in Vermont to try these beers and often mule that beer to their homes and local breweries all over the United States.

Fast forward to five or six years ago when almost every craft brewery in America began making their own versions of these dense, thick, flocculate-rich IPAs. The craft drinking public was hooked. People who had forgone IPAs previously because of their bitter, often palatecrushing bite suddenly had something much more easier and smooth. The hazy IPA craze continued to spread like wildfire across the country and today almost every brewery you visit have some form of this delicious/accessible IPA on the wall. Today, the hazy IPA is king no matter where you go.

However, the craft beer drinking public is as nostalgic as it is fickle, so in reaction to this Hazy Boi craze we are once again seeing a correction and a market for my favorite style of beer, the West Coast IPA.

Craft beer in the United States really began taking off way back in 2010 because of the West Coast IPA. West

Coast IPA is a style loosely defined by its sharp bitterness, intense hop aromas, higher ABV and often more cannabisadjacent terms like “resins,” “dank” and “sticky.” These beers are often brewed with hops grown in the Pacific Northwest and many of them began with the letter “C”—Cascade, CTZ, Centennial, Citra, Columbus and Chinnok are hops often found of these beers. These hops have strong, pungent aromas that can positively make the back of your tongue tingle.

I fell in love with this style of beer when I drank my first Sierra Nevada Pale Ale more than 15 years ago, and I thought that beer was the most bitter thing I had ever tasted. Today, that beer is really smooth and easy to drink for me. And when I ran a couple of bottle shops in Raleigh eight years ago, I noticed that very few people loved an IPA the first time they ever tried it, especially one of these bitter IPAs from almost a decade ago.

The West Coast IPA is something that often must be patiently endured on the first try, contemplated, and then tried again. I don’t know exactly when the palate begins to acclimate and rewire itself, and the answer for many people is never, but this style of beer solidified my love and lifelong affair with craft beer.

Perusing the draft boards around the Sandhills I’ve noticed many of our own local breweries here have featured this style once again, many times just calling it an American IPA. Also, since I like lists, here are some of my favorite West Coast IPAs:

Green Flash Brewing West Coast

IPA, San Diego, California. They went out and trademarked the term, so they were pretty serious about what they were making. This beer is made with five different hops imparting layers of pine, floral and ripe citrus aromas.

Russian River Brewing Company Pliny the Elder, Santa Rosa, California.

Like all of these, drink this beer as fresh as possible. Made with Amarillo, Centennial, CTZ and Simcoe hops. The beer has floral, citrus and pine aromas.

Bear Republic Brewing Company

Racer 5 IPA, Healdsburg, California. This is the beer that made me fall in love with IPAs. Made with generous amounts of Columbus and Cascade hops, this fullbodied beer is more on the floral side than citrus side of the hop palate.

Stone Brewing Company Stone IPA,

San Diego, California. It’s simply named, but this flagship beer packs a punch that is great tasting with a super citrusy aroma with very little malt character. Magnum, Chinook, Centennial, Azacca, Calypso, Motueka, Ella and Vic Secret round out this massive and complex hop bill.

Victory Brewing Dirtwolf IPA,

Downington, Pennsylvania. Not all of the classic West Coast IPAs have to be from California, and this one is a huge favorite of mine. Even though Citra, Simcoe, Mosaic and Chinook hops are used, it is a little more earthy than many of the other beers on this list. Be careful! It’s coming in at 8.7%!

Bitter, piney IPAs are finally making a return, and I am all for it!

SP

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