But seasoned beer drinkers and fans of hops revel in the complexity, balanced, and pleasing bitterness of well-made West Coast IPAs. You might ruin someone’s day if you put a pint of these absolute palate destroyers in front of them and tell them to take a sip. West Coast IPAs are definitely not a beer for novice drinkers.
This Double IPA began the West Coast Trend picked up by the likes of Lagunitas, Bear Republic, Ballast Point, and others. He brewed a beer called The Blind Pig Inaugural Ale.
This was when American brewing icon Vinnie Cilurzo first opened Blind Pig Brewing Company in California (what would eventually become the wildly popular Russian River Brewing Company). While the American IPA was invented in 1975 by Anchor Brewing’s Fritz Maytag when he decided to brew his now beloved Liberty Ale using dry-hopped Cascade hops, the beer we know as the West Coast IPA was ostensibly invented in 1994. Popular West Coast IPA hops include Centennial, Chinook, Cascade, and others. They get this heightened hop aroma, flavour, and bitterness from having a larger number of hops added to the boil kettle. Named for the West Coast of America where San Diego breweries perfected this style, the West Coast IPA is well-known for its bright hoppy, piney aroma, citrus, tropical fruits, dank pine flavours, and high (sometimes aggressively so) bitterness. Image: Cottonbro\Pexels What is a West Coast IPA?Īnd when it comes to hoppy, piney beer, there’s no better example than this classic IPA style. We then collate the information together and measure the beers via overall flavour profile, reader ratings and commercial availability, meaning one-off special editions aren’t likely to top the list.
In addition to our own opinions, we take into account reviews via alcohol retailer Dan Murphys and the global beer rating community Untappd. Our list takes into account three major perspectives to determine the overall rating. While we’ve tasted every beer on this list, we’ve also turned to the wider public for their overall ratings. When it comes to picking a list of the best West Coast IPAs on the market, it goes without saying, that expertise is key. Now that you know how important hops are, it’s time we dive into the very best West Coast IPAs on the market. Without hops, you don’t have pale ales, IPAs, and you definitely don’t have West Coast IPAs. The first sip is resin, floral, spicy hops. The first smell you notice when nosing a great West Coast IPA is the piney, dank hops. We also realize, when taking in the aroma or sipping a West Coast IPA, just how important hops are. This is especially true when it comes to IPAs.Īnd, while we enjoy all IPAs, we really enjoy West Coast IPAs. In that case, you might as well just drink whisky instead, right? Whether hops impart citrus, floral, piney, resinous, dank, bitter flavours, or all of the above, these tiny, green ingredients are truly the heart and soul of great beer. Without hops, you simply have a sweet, yeasty, malty drink that tastes more like wort (the liquid from the mash tun) from the whisky-making process than beer. BentSpoke Brewing Company’s Crankshaft IPA was named Australia’s favourite craft beer in 2021 | Image: BentSpoke Brewing Co.
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