Cold IPA: the lager-brewed IPA, explained

Cold IPA is an IPA built on a lager's skeleton

The name is misleading. Cold IPA is not served colder than other beers and it is not a lager with extra hops. It is an IPA made with lager yeast and a lager-like grain bill, then hopped hard.

Kevin Davey, brewer at Wayfinder Beer in Portland, Oregon, named and defined the style in 2018. He wanted a beer drier and cleaner than a West Coast IPA, with the easy drinking of a good Pilsner. Expect around 6 to 8% alcohol, a pale gold colour and bright, clear beer in the glass.

Rice is the secret India already knows

Brewers make Cold IPA with plain pale malt plus a large share of rice or maize, often 20% of the grain or more. These adjuncts add sugar the yeast can eat completely, with almost no body or flavour of their own. The result is a lighter, drier beer that lets the hops do the talking.

If that sounds familiar, it is. Rice has long been used in Indian lager brewing for exactly this reason: it keeps a beer light and crisp in the heat. Cold IPA takes the same trick and puts it to work for hops instead of refreshment alone.

Lager yeast, fermented warm

Lager yeast normally works cool, around 8 to 13 °C, over several weeks. Cold IPA brewers ferment it warmer, often around 18 °C. That sounds backwards, but it keeps the fermentation quick while the lager strain still gives a cleaner flavour than most ale yeasts. There is less fruitiness from the yeast, so the fruit you smell comes from the hops.

The beer finishes very dry. Brewers aim for the yeast to eat roughly 85% of the sugar, which is why a Cold IPA can feel lighter than its strength suggests. Treat that 7% with respect.

Brewers also dry hop Cold IPA heavily, adding hops to the beer after fermentation has started or finished. Because the base is so clean, there is nowhere for a dull or stale hop to hide, so the best examples come from brewers who keep their hops cold and use them fresh.

How it differs from the IPAs you know

• West Coast IPA: similar bitterness, but usually a little more malt body and a fruitier ale yeast. Cold IPA is crisper.
• Hazy or New England IPA: soft, juicy, cloudy and often low in bitterness. Cold IPA is the opposite: clear and firmly bitter, typically 50 to 70 IBU.
• India Pale Lager: a lager that has been hopped up, fermented cold and lagered for weeks. Cold IPA starts from the IPA side and keeps the lager yeast for cleanliness.
• Brut IPA: also bone dry, but made dry with an added enzyme and usually much less bitter.

What a good one tastes like

Pour it at 6 to 8 °C into a tulip or a straight Pilsner glass. You should see clear gold, around 2.5 to 5 SRM on the colour scale, with a tight white head.

On the nose, big hop aroma: citrus peel, pine, passion fruit or stone fruit depending on the hops. In the mouth, a clean, almost snappy body and a bitter finish that does not linger as sweetness. A sulphur note like a struck match, or a buttery slickness, points to a fermentation that was rushed. If it tastes sweet or heavy, it has missed the point of the style.

Freshness matters as much as with any hoppy beer. A Cold IPA that sat warm for a month on a shop shelf will lose the aroma that makes it worth ordering.

Where it fits at the table

The dry finish and firm bitterness cut through oil and fat, so think fried and grilled food. A Cold IPA works with Kerala-style fried fish, Amritsari fish, chicken 65 or a plate of onion pakoras on a wet evening. The 6 to 8% strength means one is a beer to sip with food, not a session pint.

Your first step: next time a taproom pours one, order it next to their West Coast IPA or their lager and taste the two side by side. The difference teaches you more than any description.