The Chilly & The Crispy – What’s A Cold IPA?

It’s common in the craftbrewing industry for new trends to emerge from the creative brainwaves of brewers. One of the latest emerging trends however, has left people scratching their heads. Meet the Cold IPA.

Surprisingly, Cold IPAs have nothing to do with temperature- although who doesn’t like cracking open a cold one? Cold IPAs are a new spin on IPAs that work to give drinkers a crisper IPA without dipping too far into being a lager-style. Digging through various articles, and a few truly vicious Facebook comments, Cold IPAs can be distinguished by their details; similar to an NEIPA except for added adjuncts (rice, corn, etc) in the mash, fermented with lager yeasts at higher temperatures than traditionally done with lager yeasts, and dosed with dry hops at the tail end of fermentation for biotransformation.  The hops used are typical of hop packed IPAs rather than the noble hop varieties you’d expect in a regular lager.

Don’t go and mistake Cold IPAs for India Pale Lagers though. Whereas IPL’s depend on the lager yeast, moderate hops, and a crisp finish with straw-to-gold color, Cold IPAs aren’t afraid to unleash the hops and crank up the ABV with a crystal-clear clarity. To top off these chilly IPAs, look to adding new world hop varieties rather than the traditional old world hops you’d see in everyday lagers.  Keep them crispy, clean, and dry with a wallop of forward hops.

Recommended Ingredients for Cold IPAs

-We recommend the Fermentis SafLager™ line, which offers several lager yeasts for you to use in your Cold IPA recipe.

-IPA Hop classics like Cascade, Centennial, Comet, and Chinook can help elevate the hop-forwardness of your Cold IPA.

We look forward to seeing more Cold IPAs in the future!