for that matter look at the ibu recommended for a strong scottish ale. 17-35. one of the commercial examples is dirty bastard (which i love by the way), however its published ibu is 50 over 50% more than the max. so overlap is overlap and as long as i have an idea of what i am getting into.
APA and American “IPA” have evolved in the past 6-7 years to become one and the same. Or perhaps we should just assign shilling ratings to them to designate the low gravity ones from the high gravity, ala Scottish ales. Or how about X, XX, XXX, XXXX. Heck, we’ve already invented the Double IPA / Imperial IPA. Why not just rename them all to APA X, XX, XXX, XXXX. Hey, okay, I think I’ve got it!! Just call it an APA w/ X IBUs. In other words, just name the beer with the number of IBUs it’s got. Me: “You’ve got to try this 60 IBU APA.” Another guy: “Don’t be such a wuss. My 5000 IBU APA blows yours out of the sky!”
Don’t we already do this anyway? Except we call it IPA instead of APA.
Or I guess we could just go the route of MTV, where the M officially doesn’t stand for anything anymore. Kind of like Ulysses S Grant. What’s the S stand for? Exactly. IPA? Yeah, that’s just the name of the style. It doesn’t stand for anything, other than really hoppy ale.
Simpson. the story i am familiar with is the dudes at West point assumed he had a middle name customary to the time as his mother’s maiden name which was simpson. so they put an s down. didn’t actually have the middle name though. IIRC
Perfect example, and one of the reasons I’m not a big fan of Dale’s. Too malt forward. Too big. Not a Pale Ale. If I want to drink a pale ale I expect it to be sessionable. And All Day IPA is really a Pale Ale . I can drink one of those beers and I’m ready to move onto something else. Too thin for an IPA. Not sessionable to me. Not balanced.
By the sheer fact that I may be driving if I order a Pale Ale I expect it to be in the 5-6% range. Not 6-8%.
Not in my world, buster! 
If I’m not judging for or brewing for a competition, then just give me a ballpark idea of what to expect so I can pick a beer to drink. I expect that at any particular brewery the DIPA is hoppier than their IPA, which is hoppier than their APA, which is hoppier than their blonde. That’s enough for me, but extra details like IBUs, ABV, hops, grain bill, etc are appreciated. No need to be a nomenclature nazi, as long as your name gives me a reasonable expectation of what the beer is going to be.
Exactly! I just need to know what I’m drinking. If you call it an APA, I should’t need to know the ABV. Same with IPA or IIPA. I’ll know what I’m getting into. Call it a Pale Ale and it’s 7% ABV and I’m floating down in the canoe and I drink 4 I may not be able to drive when I get to the truck!
Or if I’m sitting in a pub with my wife and she says, “What should I get” and I pick out the Pale Ale and it’s really a 7% 80 IBU IPA then she’s stuck with something I didn’t intend her to have.
+1. The nomenclature gives an expectation of being in the ballpark. I too appreciate the OG and IBUs postings though - it gives a little clearer picture of what you’re actually getting. I think the absolute worst thing for the craft beer industry right now though is to take a bunch of excited beer novices who are trying to learn what to buy and go confusing them further by changing terms in midstream. I know there’s some overlap in pale ale and IPA styles, but people should be able to expect a definite difference when they pay $$.
Or we could call it by the name the Brits used for it more than 100 years ago, KK Ale, instead of making believe we invented something that no one has ever thought of before, so we get to name it.
interesting thread. i’ve enjoyed reading it so far.
regarding the subject at hand, i’m with erockrph up there.
Ok so from now on IPA ( pronounced: eye-pee-ay) is now a WORD used to describe a particular style of beer. It is not an acronym for ANYTHING! Unless it’s brewed in England.
I can assume you never had Greene King IPA. 3.6% ABV, 32-ish IBU, little hop flavor or aroma on cask.
What would you say if you ordered an IPA and got an ordinary bitter?
If the 32 ibu came from all late hops plus dry hops and had a big IPAish hop profile with enough malt to back it up but half the alcohol, I’d say gimme 3 more! Love me some session beer! Love IPA for the hops. Alcohol content doesn’t matter much. If I could have a 3.5% IPA that tastes like a 7% IPA I’d rather drink twice as many 3.5% beers.
it was an ordinary bitter to me, and the IBU were not from late hops, did not have a dry hop character. It was disappointing. Fuller’s Bengl lancer at 5.3% bottled was much more of a British IPA to my thinking.
I give in. No reason to call it IPA when it must be something else. Stipulations: I don’t want us to call it a “gold fish” any longer. They are obviously ORANGE! fish. They are not gold, nor or they made of gold! And don’t get me started on those goshdern CRACKERS! THOSE ARE NOT GOLDFISH NEITHER! They should be called CRACKERLOOKIN’ FISH! Who the F#ck do I call to change this!!!
The name “IPA” is too well engrained in popular culture now. What we need to do is change what the “I” means. Maybe Imperial Pale Ale would work and everyone can still say “Can I have an IPA?”
With this naming scheme Double IPA would still work, but IIPA would obviously be redundant not that its that popular to begin with, i doubt anyone would miss it.
What do you have against India?
Absolutely nothing.
HA. CRACKERLOOKIN’ FISH!!!
That’s funny! Similar to why do we call it a Parkway when we drive on them and a Driveway when we park on them. Why call them Apartments when they are all stuck together.