Tasting Notes: WAR IPA (White IPA)

The WAR IPA was something of an afterthought. I was anxious to re-brew Walk-off White. WAR IPA was intended to use the yeast I bought to brew the witbier, and also experiment brewing my own IPA. The hop selection was somewhat haphazard based on my desire to use up leftover hops from other recipes.

Decent bit of haze. Color not too dark.

The beer pours a hazy gold color. It is darker than Walk-Off White likely due in part to the additional malt used to boost the final gravity and alcohol content of the beer. I also consciously chose to use slightly darker malted wheat as opposed to having all of the wheat be flaked so I could contrast the two. The color was still exactly what I was going for. The beer has a thick, frothy white head with good retention.

Brew Day: WAR IPA (White IPA)

One of the most notable trends in craft beer is tasking previously malty styles and hopping the ever-loving-crap out of them. Deschutes with its Chainbreaker, and locally Harpoon with Long Thaw have released White IPAs that take the malt and yeast profile of a witbier with the hop profile of an American IPA. When I brewed the Walk-Off White, a traditional witbier, I was pushing the envelope a little bit with a tiny hop addition at the end of the boil. Here I am turning the traditional witbier on its head.

WAR IPA as in Wins Above Replacement, the baseball statistic. Mike Trout lead MLB in WAR in 2015. This beer and its brewer does not condone actual acts of war.

The Beer Judge Certification Program (BJCP) is in the process of updating its guidelines. Since the last version was released in 2008 there have been many new styles and sub-styles. Under the current guidelines the only IPA styles were English, American, and Imperial. Anybody who has been to a bottle shop the last few years know that those three styles aren't nearly broad enough. The BJCP published draft guidelines in 2014 adding numerous new styles, including every genre and sub-genre of IPA that I have seen. There aren't a ton of widely distributed White IPAs on the market or recipes out there. The draft guidelines for White IPA were my starting point.