A culture clash

Two American IPAs today, from different sides of the admittedly broad genre. I thought it would be fun to try them side-by-side, since they were there.

The modernist wing is represented by Ska's Tropical The Hazy. If the name sounds wrong, it might help to know this is a tropical variant on their The Hazy IPA, one I reviewed, and didn't particularly like, last summer. We're not told on the rough-and-ready labelled can what it is that makes it tropical, though I note going in how different it looks compared to the original, being a friendlier, warmer orange rather than stark yellow. There's a clear fruit aroma: mandarin and apricot, so not really tropical, but suggesting lots of mouth-watering juice. The flavour is less subtle. No suggestions here, but a big and sticky cordial sweetness; perfume and Fruit Salad chews. While very artificial tasting, it's not unpleasant. That could be because it's quite atypical for a hazy IPA, being clean, for one thing, and lacking grit, garlic and caraway. There's even a little hop bitterness; a green pinch at the finish. Rather than a serious take on New England IPA, this is more a novelty fruit beer, and as such it's fine. It doesn't go overboard on the syrup and is easy but satisfying to drink. It's an IPA with a delightfully cheery disposition.

But enough of that. The counterpoint is Sierra Nevada's Dankful, a "resinous West Coast IPA" brewed with Columbus, Chinook, Mosaic, Ekuanot, Nelson Sauvin, Zappa, Idaho 7 and whatever you're having yourself. It's 7.4% ABV, a mostly-clear amber colour and does indeed smell very pine-like, if not especially dank. So it goes with the flavour: a big ol' smack of floor cleaner and wood sap, without the more aromatic grassy feel that I count as "dank". It is pretty good, though, and does offer a fun contrast to the beer I drank just before it. No soft fruit here but plenty of hard and punchy bitterness, with enough oiliness to make it linger for ages on the tongue. There's a very retro feel, harking back to the days when brewers compared their willy sizes using IBU numbers. If you miss those days, Sierra Nevada has you covered. I'm actually reminded a little of Sierra's old old IPA, discontinued around 2007 and replaced by Torpedo. It's certainly not what's understood as West Coast IPA these days and offers more retro action than I bargained for. And sure why not?

I went into this expecting typical examples of the beers' sub-styles and came out pleased by how off-kilter they both were. We may be saturated in IPA these days but those three letters still have the power to surprise.