45 minutes ago, liuzhou said:
Not so different. Of course America uses American hops, so it's a (slight) variation. It doesn't mean America invented it.
49 minutes ago, eugenep said:I always assumed the IPA was beer named after the British one (for marketing purposes) and the two are different - with American hops being the distinctive and defining character profile of the IPA
Ok, if we're going to get technical: There is an American IPA style and it doesn't necessarily have to use "American" hops - but they typically do. British IPA, back in the days when it was shipped round the horn in wooden barrels and taking months with no refrigeration, was aggressively hopped at the brewery, knowing that by the time it made it to India the hops would have mellowed significantly - resulting in a taste that was like the regular pale ale from home. In modern times we don't have to worry about that, but American brewers started using recipes similar to the old ones, but drinking the beer fresh. Originally British hops were used in an attempt to recreate the British style, but the beer was very hoppy. But people liked it that way, eventually leading to experimentation with domestic hop varieties, and for some of us, even more aggressive hopping. Hence the aggressive hop profile of modern IPAs.
