Are "session IPAs" improving?

According to BA, American IPA, which this beer is categorized as, has an ABV of 5.5% to 7.5%. Below is from beeradvocate.com:

American IPA
.
Description:
The American IPA is a different soul from the reincarnated IPA style. More flavorful than the withering English IPA, color can range from very pale golden to reddish amber. Hops are typically American with a big herbal and / or citric character, bitterness is high as well. Moderate to medium bodied with a balancing malt backbone.

Average alcohol by volume (abv) range: 5.5-7.5%

I don't care what they call the beer. BA has this categorized as an American IPA. See above. If a brewer calls a beer a Texas Wheat beer and it is categorized as American Wheat, and the beer is black as a stout but has wheat ingredients, would I be out of line to point out the obvious discrepancy?

Again, it is categorized as an American IPA on this website.

Greene King is an English IPA, not American IPA. EIPA have abv as low as 4%, thereby fitting into the EIPA category (almost).

 

1) You've been around long enough (since 2005) to know that Beer Advocate's style definitions are no more authoritative than anyone else's, especially when you view beers through the lens of time.

2) In recent years "IPA" has become an adjective to identify and market any hop-forward beer, therefore applying a rigid "American IPA" style is inappropriate. See also, black IPA, red IPA, white IPA, wheat IPA, rye IPA, and session IPA. (I personally, dislike that IPA has become an adjective, but it is what it is.)

 

I agree that there is no real authority in style definitions, but there has to be some criteria to which needs to be adhered, or we are dealing with chaos! I believe the Red, White, Black variants of IPA are in the vicinity of 6% abv, and are probably Red, white, black in color. It just irks me that tossing "session", which inherently portrays lower alcohol, in front of a style with inherently higher alcohol values (I know the whole "Beer from England to India was strong in hops and alcohol to last the voyage" is debatable, but is still integral in the history of the style), is considered a new style. Are we going to have "Session Tripels" and "Session Strong Ales" next. Why cant we call it a "Session Hop Ale" or something of that ilk? I know I sound like some style purist, but we are getting crazy with some of this stuff.

 

Carton Boat beer. Drink it, love it, then drink it again.

 

I really enjoyed Go To, Daytime and All Day. Look forward to trying Bitter American and Easy Jack in the near future. Who cares how they're classified if they taste good.

 

I'd say yes, but the problem with this site and ratings is that these are being compared to and scored again standard IPAs 6% - 7.5% range opposed to those in it's own class.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but that's what I've been seeing on here.

I thought fresh Go To & Easy Jack on tap were superb and delivered in spades for what they are.

 

The same thing that seperates alot of beers from the pack - limited availability.

 

I agree with this from the perspective of discussing beer, at sites like this for example. However, marketing will be marketing. The best authority may be the Beer Judge Certification Program's (BJCP) style guidelines (link is to a page where you can download their 2014 draft update). In that document, it lists ABV of 5.5-7.5% for American IPA, but more importantly to this discussion, it includes a category called "Specialty IPA". Quoting from the guidelines:

Specialty IPA isn’t a distinct style, but is more appropriately thought of as a competition entry category. Beers entered as this style are not experimental beers; they are a collection of currently distinct styles that may or may not have any market longevity. This category also allows for expansion, so potential future IPA variants (St. Patrick’s Day Green IPA, Romulan Blue IPA, Zima Clear IPA, etc.) have a place to be entered without redoing the style guidelines. The only common element is that they have the balance and overall impression of an IPA (typically, an American IPA) but with some minor tweak.

The term ‘IPA’ is used as a singular descriptor of a type of hoppy, bitter beer. It is not meant to be spelled out as ‘India Pale Ale’ when used in the context of a Specialty IPA. None of these beers ever historically went to India, and many aren’t pale. But the craft beer market knows what to expect in balance when a beer is described as an ‘IPA’ – so the modifiers used to differentiate them are based on that concept alone.​

This category also includes strength classifications as follows:

Session – ABV: 3.0 – 5.0%
Standard – ABV: 5.0 – 7.5%
Double – ABV: 7.5 – 9.5%​

If I were god of the guidelines, I would put the division between "session" and "standard" at 4.5% instead of 5%. But, I'm not, so...

 

IMHO "session IPA" is an oxymoron. I believe the old school description of IPAs was that they were brewed with additional hops and a higher alcohol percentage to survive the long sea voyage. For all of you that moan and groan about the bastardazation of styles, "session IPA" should be #1 on the long list of incoherent styles. As much as I dislike the word, "light IPA" is more descriptive and beer-litically correct.

 

I have tried nearly 20 of this style, and the one I had at Other Half on Saturday is the first one that had enough taste to keep me interested. I was beginning to wonder if it was not possible to make the style taste well enough to enjoy?

 

Nooooooooooooooo!

 

It might be worth pointing out that even if the apocryphal tale about the creation of the IPA is true, the ABV of the English IPA category can be as low as 5% according to the BJCP Guidelines, or even 4% according to this site. So, this notion that a 5% IPA is some kind of abomination is not correct.

 

So the BJCP Guidelines were around in colonial times?

 

Founders All Day got it right years ago.

But I'll try any session IPA I can get my hands on.

Carton Boat Beer is my current favorite.

Though I'm finding some newer Session IPAs to be a bit thin. Ramp up those hops!

 

SN 4way twelve pack had a session IPA called "Nooner" and I bought a second twelve just to get three more of them.

 

This, times a million.

 

Exactly what I was going to say. I don't even think of Boat as a session brew.

I was at Joe Canals Friday night grabbing some boat. And these 3 guys were standing in front of a stack of Goose Island perpetual, talking amoungst themselves how they, "didn't understand session IPAs, may as well drink O'Douls." (I know )

I was a hair away from telling them to try Boat, then one of them said something about, "the main reason to drink IPAs is to get drunk!"

So I saved my breath and figured more for me then. Lol...

 

Founders All Day IPA & Smuttynose Bouncy House don't have to improve one bit in my book.

 

Yes, American Pale Ales have been improving steadily for at least the past decade.

 

I think there getting better...recently had 2 Roads Lil Heaven and Carton's Boat Beer. Thought they were both tasty.