Serve in a tulip at 8-12 °C
What it tastes like
Imperial IPA, also called double IPA, is what happened when American brewers asked how far an IPA could go. More malt in the mash gives more alcohol, usually 8 to 10 per cent, and that alcohol needs far more hops to balance it. The result is a beer with intense aroma: grapefruit, mango, pine, resin, sometimes a dank, green note.
The skill is in keeping it drinkable. A good one is pale and surprisingly dry, because brewers use simple sugar for part of the malt and mash for fermentability so the body does not turn syrupy. The bitterness is high, but the alcohol warms and rounds it. A poor one is sticky, hot and harsh, like hop flavoured cough syrup.
Treat it as a sipping beer. Use a smaller glass, let it warm a little, and share the bottle. Freshness matters even more than with a standard IPA, because there is more hop aroma to lose.
Style profile
- Look
- Gold to deep gold, mostly clear, with a dense white head and heavy lacing.
- Aroma and flavour
- Intense citrus, tropical fruit, pine and resin hops, clean pale malt, a soft warmth from the alcohol.
- Mouthfeel
- Medium body, drier than the strength suggests, high bitterness, a warming finish.
- Ingredients
- Pale malt with little or no crystal malt, often some dextrose, large late and dry hop additions of American or southern hemisphere hops, clean ale yeast.
In India
A big, strong beer meets an Indian summer, and the beer loses unless it stays cold. Heat in transit turns a double IPA dull and sweet faster than almost any style. Few Indian breweries package one, and the high strength makes it a beer to share rather than a session pint. You are most likely to meet one as a brewpub special. Share it, and have water on the table.
At the Indian table
Food pairings contributed by Anuradha Rao
- Laal maasFierce Rajasthani chilli needs a beer this big, though expect the bitterness to push the heat.
- Paneer butter masalaRich, creamy gravy softens the bitterness and the hops cut the fat.
- Prawn ghee roastMangalorean ghee and spice stand up to the hops, and the sweetness of the prawns echoes the malt.
- Mango kulfiTropical hops and mango meet in the middle; the cold kulfi tames the alcohol.
Brewed in India
We could not verify a current Indian commercial double IPA. They appear as brewpub specials, so check your local tap list.
Want the long read? Double IPA