In this panel discussion from our recent Brewery Accelerator, Jake Gardner of Westbound & Down, Marni Wahlquist of Odell, and Sean Buchan of Cerebral discuss their approaches to contemporary IPA—hazy, clear, and everything in-between.
Despite it’s lean malt frame and body-lightening adjuncts, cold IPA is well within the reach of homebrewers who like to employ partial-mashes and extracts.
In these excerpts from one of our most popular podcast episodes, a few of the best IPA brewers in the business talk about adjusting the mash for dryness, evolving their recipes to keep drinkers (and themselves) happy, defeating the hop creep, maximizing aroma, and more.
Justin Burdt and the team at Ghost Town in Oakland, California, share this homebrew-scale recipe for the double IPA that won back-to-back GABF gold medals in 2021 and 2022—and helped them earn Brewery of the Year honors in 2022.
From Ben Edmunds, brewmaster at Breakside in Portland, Oregon, comes this West Coast IPA powered by American and New Zealand hops.
From thiols and survivability to advanced hop products and specific varieties, Westbound & Down director of brewing operations Jake Gardner explains what they want from hops in their West Coast IPAs.
It’s all about freshness and the preservative powers of antioxidants. Here, Westbound & Down director of brewing operations Jake Gardner explains why they believe they’ve gotten longer-lasting, more aromatic IPAs by choosing hops picked earlier in the harvest.
Make it snappy! Westbound & Down director of brewing operations Jake Gardner explains how shooting for a relatively low finishing pH can help your West Coast–style IPAs taste better for longer.
Westbound & Down director of brewing operations Jake Gardner won’t tell you how to write your West Coast-style IPA recipe. But he will tell you how to make yours better—with more pronounced hop aroma and flavor that lasts longer in the package.
“This refreshingly crisp cold IPA takes inspiration from our friend and former Firestone Walker brewer Kevin Davey,” Sam Tierney says. “It can be brewed two ways: one with rice adjunct to lighten the body, or another with a lower-FAN, extra-pale German pilsner malt for similar effect.”