Educate me: IPL vs Pilsner

one is a pilsner and one isn't.

 

IPL's are hoppier?

 

Would you be happy if we just called a pilsner a 'traditional' IPL?

 

A Pilsner is a classic Czech beer style originating in Plzen in the 1800s. It is characterized by a light color, moderate to high carbonation and noble hop character. IPL is not really a thing.

 

Hoppy lagers are not pilsners, and pilsners are not always hoppy. Pilsners are always lagers though.

The distinction is marketing in the US. Consumers are demanding hoppy beers, and in an effort to brew lager styles that match market trends, brewers are making lagers with too many hops. Lagers, especially pilsners, are meant to showcase the subtleties of light, bready malts and slight hop flavors. Pilsners, especially Czech style, are traditionally very bitter from the hops and showcase slight spicy flavors from noble hops, but are not citrus hop bombs more common to the US craft scene.

For a solid example of traditional pilsners, I'd recommend the easy to find Pilsner Urquell and SN Summerfest. You'll notice the PU is very bitter and bready while the SN has a higher, but not stylistically inappropriate, level of hoppiness.

Edit- Get PU from a can of you buy it.

 

What was a classic czech style beer called before it was called a Pilsner? At some point, a style was coined.
People are so hung up on this, that anytime a "new style" is coined, they say "its not a real thing".

NONE of the styles were a "real thing" until they WERE a real thing.

 

ipl is just another marketing gimmick aimed at the hop craze.

 

The distinction is not so black and white. Case in point, Jack's Abby Kiwi Rising- a double IPL listed on here as an Imperial Pilsner.

 

I could be wrong, but I belive IPLs tend to utilize american hops to make it resemble an ipa in bitterness and fruity charateristics (citrus/grapefruit/mango etc) and pilsners tend to use european hops which are more herbal/flower i guess. If you can get your hands on jacks abbey hoponious union then get it and give it a side by side with something like prima pils, and you'll instantly see the difference.

 

Here's an idea: Drink what you like, whatever it is called.

 

Pilsner = Pilsner
IPL = IPA

 

I recall this style first showing up at Ballast Point's Home Brew Mart about 4-5 years ago. At that time it was only available for tasters & growler fills. That was before the first wave of IPL's hit the market. Maybe Fathom was one of the very first? It would make sense- and India Pale Lager is essentially a West Coast (specifically SoCal) style hoppy lager with a pumped up ABV.

 

What is the difference then between marketing gimmicks and styles?

 

Many of you would be equally upset if, instead of coining a new term (IPL), it was just listed as a pilsner, and you found yourself disappointed in said beer because it was way too hoppy for your liking, and you wish you would have been "warned" about what you were getting yourself into...

 

not much these days apparently.

 

Pilsners are usually broken down into German pilsners and Czech (Bohemian) pilsners. Germans are usually characterized with a more hop spice to it, and is more crisp. Bohemian pils are softer and more of a malt profile.

For further reference, the BJCP guidelines are my go to source.

 

way too much time/energy spent on words & what they are supposed to mean to a subjective bunch of alcohol induced enthusiasts. otispdriftwood hit the nail on the head.

 

Yeah, this is almost exactly what I was going to post. Very succinct summary. But I'm going to dispense with concision for a moment.


Pilsner, generally speaking, is a filtered all-malt bottom-fermented beer in the golden-straw range of colors typically hopped with some combination of European-grown Hallertau, Saaz, Tettnanger, and Spalt hop varieties, and malted with a substantial quantity of pilsner malt. Alcohol content between 4.4% and 5% alcohol, IBU between 25 and 40.

Beers called IPL, generally speaking, are just bottom-fermented American IPAs. That's it. So they will be considerably hoppier than pilsners, have American or New Zealand hops, and there's a good chance they won't contain any pilsner malt at all.