A new IPA substyle – Bavarian IPA!?!

One of my favorite beers ever is New England Brewing Gold Stock, a 6.5% "mutant pale ale" brewed with Hallertau, Saaz, and Cascade. Despite the presence of the Cascade, I've always thought of it as a German IPA above all else.

 

I remember buying the first in the series; it was good but didn't make much of an impression either way, TBH.

 

There are many ways to make a "German" IPA, either you go with German malts, new German hops, using Noble hops from Germany or a combo of all three. Personally, my favorite has been using German malts with American hops. One of my favorite and one of the old-timers on the German craft scene has been Hanscraft's Backbone Splitter.

By using German malts with lots of caramelly flavors, like Münchner and Wiener malt, it gives the beer lts of malty, sweet caramel flavors that balance wonderfully with West Coast hops.

Personally, I like the older label better:

 

There were quite a few US-brewed ales in the pre-craft era that used German or other central European hop varieties - the Rheingold/Ortlieb/Schmidt's McSorley's Cream Ale used "imported Hallertaus", Haberle-Congress' Black BassRiver Ale and Sterling Ale used "Bavarian hops", Duquesne's Silver Top Ale was brewed with "hops from the Saaz district of Bohemia", Ohio's Miami Valley Brewing's London Bobby Ale was brewed with "Hallertau Hops - imported from the famous Hallertau Valley in Bavaria" - but no one would have considered them "German (style) ales".

For that matter, Guinness used to heavily advertise its use of "American hops" in US ads (some reports even suggested that their short-lived NYC brewery was built in part because of difficulty in getting US hops in the post-WWII years) but few would consider it an "American Stout".

 

That reminds me of Dan Aykroyd and his Bassomatic blender. Or the vaunted tuna colada served by daring bartenders everywhere....

 

Disregarding if this should be a style or not (it shouldn't IMO), I've been unfortunate enough to have tried quite a few German/Bavarian IPA's. I've been pretty unimpressed with the concept.
I'm convinced they're brewing IPA's based upon having had old/stale examples of the style. I've probably had 10-12 IPA's in/from Germany and all but a couple have tasted like they're 9-12 months old. That's in spite of their date ranges saying they're only a month or two old. I know the brewers over their know their stuff and I can personally vouch for a couple of them. I think it's what the public wants/expects. Anyway, the Hopfenstopfer beers are the only ones I've consistently really liked.

 

In the late 1890s, Bass sued the Christian Feigenspan Brewing Co., Newark, NJ for violating their "Red Triangle" trademark on their India Pale Ale labels. A few years later, a fake "Bass Ale" turned up in the market, labeled as being bottled in Newark.

Folks are free to jump to their own conclusions (Hey, it might have been a coincidence...).

 

I've always viewed the Kolsch style hybrid as a German IPA (a light one, but still...).

 

I’m all for experimenting with different hops, Mason Jar uses Mosaic in their Pils and why not? They’re not trying to pass it off as anything but what it is. If everyone did things identically the beer world would be a bit more predictable, and it doesn’t need to be.

 

I'm in search of this around the DC area. Has anyone seen it drop around the District yet?

 

Sorry, that has to be either the funniest or strangest thing I've read this year. A Kölsch is basically a lightly hopped, hybrid of Pils malts fermented with a local top-fermenting yeast at bottom-fermenting (read: lager) temperatures. Nothing about this style even remotely any any any resemblance to an IPA, except that craft beer hipsters have gone crazy for the style.

 

Sorry to hear that you've bad luck with drinking good German craft creations. There are lots of "German" IPAs that fit my above mentioned criteria. Camba Bavaria had one but I found it a little dull. You probably didn't know what to look for them. A lot of the craft brewers in Germany mix some German malts, too many to name, but a lot of brewers here either go in the direction of making IPAs that mimic an American style, á la West or East Coas, or mix local malts with various hops. It's kind of hit and miss or the one's aping American styles, but I've almost always liked the ones that mix German and American ingredients.