We hope to be able to teach you something new about your favorite pours and encourage you to try new ones with this series exploring different beer styles. Cheers!
Style Spotlight
American IPA
Overall Taste: A decidedly hoppy and bitter, moderately strong, pale American ale. The balance is hop-forward, with a clean fermentation profile, dryish finish, and clean, supporting malt allowing a creative range of hop character to shine through.
ABV: 5.5%-7.5%
Details: The first modern American craft beer adaptation of this traditional English style is generally believed to be Anchor Liberty Ale, first brewed in 1975 and using whole Cascade hops.
An American IPA is generally stronger and more highly hopped than an American Pale Ale. Compared to English IPA, it will have less caramel, bread, and toast malt flavors.
Matchmaking
This is a good option for people who like IPAs or are looking to explore hop flavors.
Beyond the beer
Featured Beer: Cigar City Jai Alai
Details: An intense bouquet of tangerine and candied orange peel entices the nose while flavors of clementines, Valencia orange, and subtle caramel provide a counterpoint to an assertive bitterness and rich malt character. Bold hop flavor and aroma from six different hop varietals are front and center in this flavorful American IPA.
The six hops used are Amarillo, Simcoe, Cascade, Motueka, Centennial, & CTZ
Founded in Tampa, Florida by Joey Redner in 2007, Cigar City has gone on to win bronze, silver, and gold medals at the Great American Beer Festival, and numerous awards at the Best Florida Beer Competition and the US Beer Tasting Championships.
Food Pairing: This beer pairs perfectly with the Scorpian Burger at City Works and Old Town Pour House.
Habanero pepper jack, pickled jalapeños, five pepper jam, arugula, vine-ripened tomato, scorpion pepper aioli.
Quoting the experts…
“Collaborations almost always help us improve technique. There is so much to learn, more on the process side than the recipe side, that we always walk away from collaborations feeling like we have a better more educated brewery staff. You can always learn something new and usually when we collaborate we learn a lot of new things.” – Joey Redner, Cigar City founder
Fizz Quiz
The Pursuit of Hoppiness
Q: How do brewers control bitterness and hop flavors during the brewing process? (keep scrolling to check your answer)
A: In the trade, hops come in two basic classes, bittering and aroma hops, with a few hops also marketed as dual-purpose. Bittering hops are added near the beginning of the boil, to allow the bittering alpha acids to isomerize, and aroma hops are typically added during the final 30 minutes of the boil.
Looking for other beer styles? Check out our blogs on the Belgian Golden Strong Ale and Gose.