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How does a beer go from Pale Ale to DIPA?

MAS_Puros

Me as a wee one with my bottle of Abyss
Joined
Sep 27, 2007
Messages
1,485
Was kind of curious how a beer style changes just from barrel aging it?

I've seen this on a few beers but the one that I can pull off the top of my head is Great Divided Denver Pale Ale.
When aged in oak and you get 15th Anniversary Wood Aged DIPA...How does PA got to DIPA?
 
I am fairly positive you don't go from one to the other through aging. It is simply a different recipe than the standard pale ale. A DIPA is normally maltier and hoppier than a normal pale ale and normally have a higher ABV than your standard Pale Ale. Hope this info helps and somebody else please correct me if I have mispoken. ???
 
From what I've heard all you do is double up, or more in some cases, on the ingredients and you have a double or imperial version of what you started with. Makes sense since the ABV is about double a normal IPA/Stout/Porter/Whatever.
 
Yeah they're either referred to as Double or Imperial. DIPA = Double India Pale Ale
 
Imperial/Double anything can be created 2 different ways:

1) Use a larger grain bill which leads to a higher ABV

2) Only collect the first runnings, which also leads to a higher ABV.

Either way there are then more hops used to balance it out too.

Aging has nothing to do with it, I think the 15th anny is actually just their Hercules DIPA aged in oak barrels but I'm not sure.
 
Aging has nothing to do with it, I think the 15th anny is actually just their Hercules DIPA aged in oak barrels but I'm not sure.

Actually on the label it states that it's based on their Denver Pale Ale. I've had Hercules and wasn't impressed but the 15th is good stuff.
 
I think you're missing a step in there, Mikey, it actually looks more like:

Pale Ale > India Pale Ale > Double/Imperial India Pale Ale

IPAs were developed by the English to ensure their Pale Ales survived the trip from Britania to India during the UK's empire-building days. They did so by jacking up the hop content (and the malt accordingly), as hops act as a preservative in addition to a flavoring/bittering agent. Double/Imperial IPAs are recent manifestations of our hop-crazed "bigger is better" culture. The Imperial designation actually stems from Russian Imperial Stouts, which were stouts brewed for for the Czar of Russia and his Imperial Court during the winter months, and were typically much stronger than everyday stouts. Modern brewers have adopted the term "Imperial" to mean any style where the grain and/or hop bill has been jacked up, resulting in a beer that is markedly stronger (though not always necessarily double the strength) of a regular offering.

Now, how Great Divide takes their Pale Ale and makes it a DIPA is probably a question best left to the brewer, but my guess is they just increased their standard Pale Ale ingredients to the point that the ABV is within the range of DIPAs. They might have been able to do the same by just aging Hercules, but perhaps they didn't like the way the wood aging interacted with that particular recipe.
 
I think you're missing a step in there, Mikey, it actually looks more like:

Pale Ale > India Pale Ale > Double/Imperial India Pale Ale

IPAs were developed by the English to ensure their Pale Ales survived the trip from Britania to India during the UK's empire-building days. They did so by jacking up the hop content (and the malt accordingly), as hops act as a preservative in addition to a flavoring/bittering agent. Double/Imperial IPAs are recent manifestations of our hop-crazed "bigger is better" culture. The Imperial designation actually stems from Russian Imperial Stouts, which were stouts brewed for for the Czar of Russia and his Imperial Court during the winter months, and were typically much stronger than everyday stouts. Modern brewers have adopted the term "Imperial" to mean any style where the grain and/or hop bill has been jacked up, resulting in a beer that is markedly stronger (though not always necessarily double the strength) of a regular offering.

Now, how Great Divide takes their Pale Ale and makes it a DIPA is probably a question best left to the brewer, but my guess is they just increased their standard Pale Ale ingredients to the point that the ABV is within the range of DIPAs. They might have been able to do the same by just aging Hercules, but perhaps they didn't like the way the wood aging interacted with that particular recipe.

This makes sense! Though it sounds more like a marketing technique then anything.
 
This makes sense! Though it sounds more like a marketing technique then anything.
You very well may be right, but we're suckers for it, aren't we? This is one heck of a tasty beer. If you like woody IPAs and can get your hands on it, Southern Tier does an oak-aged Unearthly that I enjoy very much. My review is here:

http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/3818/47151/?ba=Phillyduke
 
This makes sense! Though it sounds more like a marketing technique then anything.
You very well may be right, but we're suckers for it, aren't we? This is one heck of a tasty beer. If you like woody IPAs and can get your hands on it, Southern Tier does an oak-aged Unearthly that I enjoy very much. My review is here:

http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/3818/47151/?ba=Phillyduke

I liked that Southern Tier a lot. I thought the Great Divide was pretty good as well.
 
Aging has nothing to do with it, I think the 15th anny is actually just their Hercules DIPA aged in oak barrels but I'm not sure.

Actually on the label it states that it's based on their Denver Pale Ale. I've had Hercules and wasn't impressed but the 15th is good stuff.

Maybe they just used the first runnings then? Not a big fan of oaked IPA/DIPA personally so I haven't really looked at it.
 
Aging has nothing to do with it, I think the 15th anny is actually just their Hercules DIPA aged in oak barrels but I'm not sure.

Actually on the label it states that it's based on their Denver Pale Ale. I've had Hercules and wasn't impressed but the 15th is good stuff.

Maybe they just used the first runnings then? Not a big fan of oaked IPA/DIPA personally so I haven't really looked at it.

I really didn't pick up a big oak aroma or flavor but that was really the first DIPA I had ever tried so I wasn't sure what to expect. I've been meaning to pick up another one and try it again. I'll probably do that this weekend.
 
This makes sense! Though it sounds more like a marketing technique then anything.
You very well may be right, but we're suckers for it, aren't we? This is one heck of a tasty beer. If you like woody IPAs and can get your hands on it, Southern Tier does an oak-aged Unearthly that I enjoy very much. My review is here:

http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/3818/47151/?ba=Phillyduke

I liked that Southern Tier a lot. I thought the Great Divide was pretty good as well.

That Southern Tier is pretty good but in a different way. If you could juice a forest then thats what it would taste like, not in a bad way at all!

Nonetheless they are both excellent IPA's. Well balanced and drinkable!
 
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