NAGELBETT - Cold Black IPA

You thought you'd seen every possible variant of IPA over the past decade and then along comes "Cold IPA". The term "Cold IPA" was first coined by a brewer called Kevin Davey who used this to describe a style of beer he was making at Wayfinder brewery in Portland and the concept behind the style is to take West Coast style and make it even drier with a bitter, cleaner finish so that the drinker is ready for another refreshing sip. Read his own words here.

Examples of this new style are pale with some adjunct additions and a dry finish. Black IPA seemed like a good candidate to apply a similar approach to. I'm not a huge fan of heavy BIPAs that verge on stout in body. So I was aiming to get enough of the dark malt character but not so much that it would get in the way of the hop flavour. I wanted it to be that bit cleaner, drier and balanced so that both sides of the beer would be present at an appropriate level.

The goal was clear in my mind so when developing the recipe, I took a fairly standard approach to the malt bill for a BIPA. This is not a hopped-up lager in line with the cold IPA philosophy. The focus is clearly on the hops. We used Simcoe, Hallertau Blanc and Chinook kettle, whirlpool and dry-hop in typical west coast IPA addition.

We need to put some descriptor on the label that allows people to know what to expect when they pick this up. So what style is it? I couldn't think of another commercial example of something like this to lean on for a description. We eventually settled on using 'COLD BIPA'. I think the term gives a nod to our influences when envisioning this beer. Cold IPA + Black IPA = Cold BIPA

I'm really happy with how this beer turned out for us and if you get a chance to try it I hope you'll enjoy it too. 

Cheers!