India pale ale has to be one of the most perennial and cherished classic beer styles. Since its origins in the 18^th and 19^th century, when high alcohol and hop content were used as natural preservatives, coupled with additions of hop cones in the barrels to keep the ale fresh on the sailing ships supplying British Empire outposts, IPA has survived a plethora of beer fads and trends.

   An IPA should have some malt sweetness, and bags of hop character. A rule-of-thumb guide is that the alcohol level is commensurate with the bitterness. For example, a brew with 5.5 per cent alcohol by volume ideally should register around 55 International Bitterness Units.

   Craft brewers love to recreate, and sometimes renovate, the IPA style, and nowhere more keenly than in New Zealand. Happily, Cellarbrations at Carlisle brings in some fine examples for WA beer lovers.  

TUATORA IPA (5 PER CENT)

Billed as “an English tradition”, the IPA from Tuatara is fermented with an English yeast by brewers  pledged to “reclaim beer values”. The hops are strictly New Zealand-grown, however; noble varieties for aroma as well as bitterness. The result is a golden ale that comes at you full-on, earthy and blunt on the nose and as it passes over the teeth. The medium-long palate imparts robust hoppy fruit flavours and a fairly dry and bitter aftertaste. Even the greenish tinge to the brown glass bottle harks back to olden times. The 330ml size is the only disappointment.

THREE BOYS IPA (5.2 PER CENT)

The craft brewery in Christchurch likes sticking to style, using Fuggle hops in its English porter, for instance. Strangely, then, that the hops in this India pale ale are all New Zealand selections, including fresh flowers. But it doesn’t matter: with citrus and honey on a grassy base tickling the nostrils, a beguiling sweet dash of fruit up front and a sublime, drawn-out finale of peppery spice and bitterness with a hint of sharp lemon, this IPA makes its own mark. Each 500ml bottle proudly carries a batch number.

EPIC ARMAGEDDON (6.6 PER CENT)

Auckland’s Epic craft brewery uses 23 different hop varieties in its standard pale ale, so it’s reasonable to assume at least the same goes into the stronger, even more bitter India pale ale. There’s a sense, though, that it’s a trifle overdone. While the US-hop hallmark aroma is big and grapefruit tangy, there’s an orange note in honey sweetness on the roof of the mouth and naked alcohol affects the long, dry finish.   

RENNAISSANCE MPA (8.5 PER CENT)

Marlborough Pale Ale, named for the brew-pub’s home town, is a classy IPA to match just about any. After a lovely yeasty aroma evoking a barnyard at harvest time, there’s a taste-explosion of dark and summer fruits. Flavour carries on evolving to an oak-and-leather finish with a bitter flourish. Apparantly this larger-than-life impact is down to loads of NZ’s new Rakau hops, added in several stages of the boil with a final dollop for the fermenter.

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ALE TALE

COOPERS CLEAR (4.5 PER CENT)

This isn’t an ale tale, though it perhaps should be because it’s about Coopers, the South Australian family brewery with a reputation built on ales. No, this is a lager tale. Last year, Coopers brought out a green-bottle lager called 62: this week, it went a step further and launched Coopers Clear, which abandons the ale-in-dark-bottle standard altogether. Timing the launch of a hot-weather refresher for Australia Day is smart. Also, it reflects the nation’s changing beer scene. This lager is all about fashion – even to being branded unisex. Women as well as men apparently love their dry, low-carbohydrate beers.

 This one has a pleasant vegie aroma. It is packaged in un-Coopers-like clear glass, presumably to link with the brand name. Coopers Clear is marketed as refreshing, lighter in flavour with low bitterness, which is no surprise. Fans of Coopers excellent Sparkling Ale, Pale Ale, Mild and Strong Vintage ales and Stout may well be surprised. The local distributors reckon the rationale is to have a Coopers beer to pitch against the big-selling lagers in this category, and stress that the dryness is its best feature. Another strongpoint is the price, $38-$43 per carton of 24 long-neck, screw-cap bottles.

From Fresh, The West Australian, January 28

By Vic Crossland