So finally it is here sitting in front of me, a bottle of American IPA that many consider to be the very definition of its genre.

Founders Centennial IPA is so typical of its style that it is used as a benchmark brew in the Beer Judge Certification Program used in all American-based beer judging.

In other words this is what the Americans themselves tell us a US IPA should look and taste like. So what is that exactly?

Well, according to the BJCP rulebook, a US IPA is defined as:

“A prominent to intense hop aroma with a citrusy, floral, perfume-like, resinous, piney, and/or fruity character derived from American hops.  Many versions are dry hopped and can have an additional grassy aroma, although this is not required.  Some clean malty sweetness may be found in the background, but should be at a lower level than in English examples.  Fruitiness, either from esters or hops, may also be detected in some versions, although a neutral fermentation character is also acceptable.  Some alcohol may be noted”.

Well we can certainly put a big fat tick next to intense hop aroma when it comes to Centennial. There’s heaps of bitter orange, floral pine (like one of those spray cans you use to cover up nasty smells in the toilet), some faint soap and a slug of booze.

Dry hopped? Tick. Additional grassy aroma? Tick.

Clean malty sweetness then? Well yes, there’s a lot of sticky malty sweetness up front, trying desperately to get to grips with this IPA’s 65 IBUs (International Bitterness Units). It’s a battle it loses, despite some help from the hops lending some peachy sweetness. So that’s another tick then.

Esters (the fruity, floral flavours that are a result of high fermentation temperatures and/or certain yeasts) are also present. Tick

And so to the final tasting point: some alcohol may be noted. Well it’s here that Centennial IPA falls out of line and flouts with the law. There’s far too much raw booze in this 7.2% ABV beer for me. There’s a distinct taste of lab grade alcohol which, when combined with a strange soapy vibe from the hops (like Yes washing up liquid) makes this beer cloyingly chemical.

So I’m giving it a tick here too but with a side note that although it didn’t break the rule concerning levels of noticeable alcohol it severely bent it.

When it comes to appearance Centennial follows the rulebook to the letter. It should display a colour that “ranges from medium gold to medium reddish copper; some versions can have an orange-ish tint”. In reality it does all that and more – glowing orange as though it runs on some hidden internal power source.  Massive tick!

Counting up the ticks it’s clear that Centennial is indeed the personification of a US IPA. Does that make it a great beer? No, I don’t think so. I was disturbed by the dry, stinging bitterness, the hot booze and the lack of fresh hop character I associate with beers of this style.

It’s a very competent beer but I think there are far better examples of a US IPA out there. In fact you don’t even have to leave Sweden to find one.

Centennial IPA

An American IPA from Founders Brewing Company in Michigan.

7.2% ABV

Systembolaget Article Number: 11742. 44.90 SEK (355ml bottle)

..or a hog in heaven, because if hops are your thing, you’ll feel like both.

Hog Heaven is a barley wine style beer from Avery Brewing, a respected US brewery that specialises in taking old world beer styles and giving them a huge American twist.

Barley wine, despite the misleading name, is actually a strong ale that became popular in England in the 19^th century. At that time England was often at war with the French and it was considered the duty of true patriots among the upper classes to drink beer rather than wine.

English barley wines tend to be elegant, rich, smooth, wine-like beers that can be stored for a quarter of a century or more.

American-style barley wines on the other hand are generally far, far more aggressively hopped  and higher in alcohol, with ABVs that can land anywhere from 8-15%.

Hog Heaven is packed with US Columbus hops, delivering a tongue-curling 104 IBUs. IBUs – International Bitterness Units – is a measurement that indicates just how bitter a beer is. Technically the scale goes from 1-100, after which the tongue reacts like a slug that’s had salt poured on it.

However modern brewers have worked out a way to ‘trick’ the palate by adding huge amounts of malt to make the beer sweet enough to balance out some of the bitterness.  Hog Heaven succeeds in doing just this, with rich vanilla toffee malts doing just enough to hold back the onslaught from the grapefruit, pine resin and quinine hops.

Rather than a hog this is more of a wild boar of a beer and can be a bit brutal for those of you not used to drinking US hop-bombs. However if you want to tame it a bit try pairing it with a medium strength blue cheese – a stunning combination!

Hog Heaven

A Barley wine style beer from Avery Brewing in the US

9.2% ABV

Article number:  11543

Stumbled across a revealing article from the US that explores a possible link between the sort of personality you have and the beers you drink.

Mindset Media, a US market research company specialising in psychographics, interviewed more than 2,600 people online during August and September and found specific personalities and mind-sets  favoured more than half a dozen branded US beer choices.

Among their findings they concluded that Bud drinkers are “sensible, grounded and practical. They are the polar opposite of daydreamers and don’t easily get carried away”. Getting carried away is precisely what a lot of them should be if you ask me…..

The report goes on to reason that US Budweiser drinkers are 42% more likely to drive a truck than the average person, 68% more likely to choose a credit card with flexible payment terms and 42% more likely to use breath-freshening strips every day (that would be all the Bud and pizza giving them halitosis).

Fascinating stuff, wouldn’t you agree?  But wait, there’s more.

US Heineken drinkers are labelled “self-assured” and “posers”, and “believe they are exceptional, achieving low scores on modesty and high scores on self-esteem”. Really? Is there something about Heineken I’ve missed?

People who chose Heineken as their favourite beer are 58% more likely to have American Express cards, 45% more likely to be early adopters of new mobile phones, and 29% more likely to drive sports cars.

Now here’s where it gets really interesting….

US drinkers that favoured craft beers were “more likely to spend time thinking about beer rather than work”. This rather ambiguous statement can be taken two ways – and shockingly both of them apply to me.

And the hits just keep coming. According to the report US craft beer drinkers “are 153% more likely to always buy organic, 52% more likely to be fans of the show ”The Office” and 36% more likely to be the ones to choose the movie they are going to see at the cinema”.

This confirms a suspicion I’ve had for some time now. When I drink I’m half yank.

Read the whole article here.

I’ve always been a fan of the Sierra Nevada brewery, not just for its excellent range of beers but for its commitment to brewing with 100% whole-cone hops and the fact it’s pretty much the greenest brewery on the planet.

Did you know for instance that Ken Grossman, the founder of SN, owns the most solar panels of any private individual in the world?

Staying eco-friendly while growing out of a garage to become the 6^th largest brewery in the USA is no mean feat, but SN has somehow managed to do it without comprimising on the quality of its beers.

Torpedo Extra IPA is no exception. This is the brewery’s first ever IPA and is named after a device called a hop torpedo developed at the brewery for use when dry hopping. The ‘Extra’ is the brewery’s own stab at positioning the beer slightly above a standard IPA but below a DIPA (Double IPA)

Torpedo pours a clear amber colour with a firm cream head. Despite heaps of Magnum, Crystal and Citra hops the nose is pleasantly restrained with the expected grapefruit and pine aromas from the US hops mixed with fresh herbs and black pepper.

Rich smooth malts give the beer a pleasantly full mouth feel before the bitter hops detonate on the tongue for a dry lingering finish.

Sierra Nevada Torpedo Extra IPA

A US-style IPA from Sierra Nevada

7.2% ABV

Article Number 11528