California IPA. It’s a style we’ve brewed a lot of over the last year, with the beers proving popular with seasoned beer fans and newbies to the scene alike. There has understandably been some confusion over what this style is and how it should present. Including ‘California’ in a style name certainly evokes the idea that it’s a West Coast IPA, and indeed these beers originated from the West Coast of the USA. But in fact, the brewers championing this style chose to describe it with new vernacular in order to differentiate.
So we thought we’d introduce what it’s all about, but before we start, let’s just admit that it has nothing to do with California Country Park. Sorry, Finchampstead residents!
California IPA is a style introduced to us by Green Cheek Beer Co, with our first example being ‘Every Minute Matters’ back in February 2020. We’ve released many different riffs on the style since, and some other breweries in the UK are also now experimenting with the style.
The key characteristics would be a beer light in colour, with a clean malt bill (often just a lager malt) that allows an unabridged hop expression. Because of this, we’d expect a wider spectrum of possible flavours to come through in the style than in a classic West Coast IPA (read the full blog on our website for more on that!). They’re pretty heavily hopped, more so than a quintessential WCIPA, so a natural haze could be present (but won’t always be).
The real trademark for us, that we feel has carried through all our experimentation with the style thus far, and it has in common with a WCIPA, is a fantastic resinous bitterness. We find they’re often quite smooth in terms of mouthfeel, bordering on soft to some drinkers. They’re designed to be fun beers to drink and a great base for experimentation, as we’ll explore here, and not restricted in some of the ways a WCIPA would be.
To give some examples of how you can approach the California IPA, we currently have 3 unique interpretations out in the wild. Silver Strand offers waves of fresh, clean bitterness weaving in and out of punchy pineapple and guava notes from hop contingent of El Dorado, Mosaic and Cascade. It’s direct and refreshing. Crystal Cove takes a different approach (dare we say it – a little West Coast inspired), with more colour coming through in the hearty malts and just a touch more sweetness than usual, playing against beautiful orange notes from vibrant Amarillo and Mandarina Bavaria hops.
Neo Normal is something different again. This was originally created to show off the qualities of Talus. We’ve found that the crisp base and candid bitterness is a perfect complement to the hop, with pithy pink grapefruit for days.
For the rest of the blog, and to see where these beers are available, check out sirencraftbrew.com/cali
