The difference between Pale Ale and IPA

Devil is in the details on that, though. Numbers don't tell the whole story, you gotta read the descriptions as well. Tripel and Belgian Strong have about the same numbers, but I don't think anyone would say that Duvel and Westmalle Tripel are similar beers.

 

That’s reasonable, throw them into the pile see what floats. But I do think some of the problems are brewers discretion to a point, money, and entering competitions. Winning goes back to making money, as you mentioned the ingredients count, abv does not.

 

While true, you forgot one word, "American".

An American Pale Ale could be differentiated by strength and hopping rates as compared to an American IPA.

A Pennsylvania Pale Ale?

I would actually argue the words "New England" and "dry hopped" sell more than IPA these days.

For example, one of the most popular beers from Trillium is their Fort Point Pale Ale. But the versions that get even higher ratings are their "Double Dry Hopped" Fort Point and "Galaxy Dry Hopped" Fort Point versions.

 

Advertising and branding is part of the deal, it is about money as well.

 

The Difference between a PA and IPA is a single letter.

 

what yeast? what hops, and what hop schedule? my colloquy w/ MnAle has me thinking about brewing something a lot like that, with maybe WL-013, some Fuggles or EKG, maybe a little Centennial, with a single dry hop addition of EKG and Centennial. If I were still brewing for competition I would probably enter it as an English Pale Ale, even with the Centennials.

 

Somebody beat me to it. . .

 

I remember learning something called Miller test in college way back. It was a three-pronged test that could tell if something was obscene or not.

I think the same test could apply in this scenario with a different application. One prong being the ABV, and the other, the characteristic malt-hop balance. This answers the difference between PA and IPA most directly.

However the beer that started this thread, Zombie Dust, goes against the 'money in the IPA' argument as it exceeds the PA ABV threshold (barely) and is slightly hop centric with darker malt like a WC. This is more of a penumbral case where it really is up to the brewer. Also, its been around since 2000, before most of these fads so why change something that works.
This leads me to concluding that there's 'money in good beer'. Like ZD, Tree House doesn't really use a session IPA gimmick, and will just label things under 6% APA.

 

Zombie is good enough to stand alone regardless of the brewers discretion, I’d say the same with Pseudo Sue, and Dale’s PA also fits that designation. Maybe if you lump in Session ipa into the gimmick category you could use Abv or IBUs to try and delineate a bit. Same with Dry IPAs, another name for a low malt ipa thats a bit lower in ABV, I realize the use a different technique to brew these beers so vs they're not just shorting it on the malt to make it dry. Glad tgst not a thing anymore, that was a short stint on the popularity scale.

 

Slightly hop centric? Compare Zombie Dust to Sierra Nevada Pale. Personally I find Zombie Dust scathingly hoppy.

Kind of funny, in the BJCP styles guidelines for "Belgian Golden Strong Ale" it says this...

Style Comparison: Strongly resembles a Tripel, but may be even paler, lighter-bodied and even crisper and drier; the drier finish and lighter body also serves to make the assertive hopping and yeast character more prominent. Tends to use yeast that favor ester development (particularly pome fruit) over spiciness in the balance.


And to be fair, I posted the vital statistics for pale ale/IPA in the BJCP, but there's also a lot more regarding their guidelines.

Overall impression, aroma, appearance, flavor, and then they even give commercial examples.

 

I also found this under "Style Comparison" for an American Pale Ale...I like this description...

Style Comparison: Typically lighter in color, cleaner in fermentation by-products, and having less caramel flavors than English counterparts. There can be some overlap in color between American pale ale and American amber ale. The American pale ale will generally be cleaner, have a less caramelly malt profile, less body, and often more finishing hops. Less bitterness in the balance and alcohol strength than an American IPA. More balanced and drinkable, and less intensely hop-focused and bitter than session-strength American IPAs (aka Session IPAs).

 

Haha I can remember when mycology was filled with nonsense like this that tries to make usable something without basic rules. I still believe the day is coming when beer styles are made into something useful rather than something infinitely debatable.

 

Hmm?

Are those two aspects 100% mutually exclusive!?!

Cheers!

 

I miss having Summit available, their portfolio would probably keep me from buying any other label if I could find it locally -- again.

 

What did the change look like for mycology?

 

We went from cladistics, i.e. an inexact system which relied on characteristics of the mushroom/fruiting body, characteristics of the mycelium, and characteristics of the spore through visual analysis, to a genetics based system that uses the genomes of the organism to determine its proper scientific name, its close relatives, and to what family it belongs.

For beer I think a basic reworking of the entire system is needed, but I am not smart enough to figure a way to do it that would be as effective as genomic taxonomy. I think we could use the modern understanding that mycology brings to yeast naming as part of it, but for the rest it would be a major undertaking, but one I think will be accomplished.

 

100%? Well... likely not, especially when beer lovers get to discussing things.

But fact is the more exact, consistent, and easy to use is a system, the less debate will be necessary, or possible.

 

Ya I agree that a full rethink could be in order but its a daunting task. I imagine the closest you could get to a genomic classification would be some kind of complex of metrics (abv, IBU, SRM, og/fg, etc...) but even that seems like it'll be pretty confusing. Ultimately, I think that the complexity of consumable cultural artifacts like beer make them pretty resistant to the kind of precise taxonomy that quells debate.

 

Well it used to be called an ALE hahahaha!

 

Yes, I do. However, the OP was just asking the difference between and IPA and a Pale Ale, and I just gave me own opinion of what I thought of as confusing when I first started drinking craft beer. I also learned that a lot of people are loaded with sarcasm and attempts at being witty when they could just ask or answer a question like a mature adult. Also, the A in Pale Ale stands for what?