[hopfenundmalz]

Age for 18 months, and then dry hop.

Ant Hayes
Tonbridge, Kent

WOAH?!

This is an English IPA, not an Americna hop bomb.  I have one aging.  Give it a try.  Ant knows his stuff here.

[bluesman]

Early records idicate a Brittish IPA variety of beer named October beer, a pale well-hopped brew popular among the landed classes, brewed domestically; once brewed it was intended to cellar two years.

[vista]

That's what I figured...I wasn't disagreeing...just...well...WOAH...

i had heard of EIPAs aging, but never 18 months, let alone 2 years....time to buy another carboy.

[denny]

This is an English IPA, not an Americna hop bomb.  I have one aging.  Give it a try.  Ant knows his stuff here.

Indeed!  An Ant, it's great to have you here!

[skyler]

There are two styles called EIPA: the kind of beer that BJCP describes, and the kind you actually see in most pubs in England. I heartily prefer the latter.

Most beers I've had called "IPA" in England were straw to light amber in color (4-8 SRM, or thereabouts), 3-6% ABV (typically about 4.5%), light-medium bodied, floral, and smoothly-bittered. This is not what the BJCP guidelines indicate, and so I consider the BCJP wrong with regards to this style - or at least they tend to describe American-made English-style IPAs or "English Export IPAs," rather than beers called "IPA" in England. That being said, I recently brewed a beer along these lines: 4.6% ABV, pale in color (7 SRM), floral and balanced towards the hops. I just tapped it, and it's great. I say you don't really "need" English hops, just as long as you stay away from the really piney/citrusy American hops. Nugget/Willamette was a good combo for me (I even threw in a pinch of Cascade, and I don't think it made it taste any less authentic). I think a FWH addition, a 5 min addition, a flameout addition, and a light dry-hop addition is what you need (and you could probably keep out the FWH addition). I used S-04 in this last one, but I'm sure most English yeasts would be fine. I Burtonized my water, which I think is a good rule of thumb. Shoot for dry to medium-bodied (hint: not more than 10% crystal). I would give it long enough to clear, then cold crash, if you can (English beers really ought to be brilliantly clear, even if dry-hopped). Clarity is another place where choosing the right yeast can save you some time. S-04, 1098, or 1099 would be my first choices.

[gordonstrong]

That being said, I recently brewed a beer along these lines: 4.6% ABV, pale in color (7 SRM), floral and balanced towards the hops.

So how is that different than an English pale ale?

[bluesman]

Most beers I've had called "IPA" in England were straw to light amber in color (4-8 SRM, or thereabouts), 3-6% ABV (typically about 4.5%), light-medium bodied, floral, and smoothly-bittered.

Which examples are you referring to?

[The Professor]

Burtonise the liquor.
Floor malted Maris Otter pale malt only (low colour if you want to be authentic).
No other malts.
Perhaps a little sugar in the grist - up to 10%.
English hops  - I suggest Kent Goldings - lots of them, but keep it balanced. (OG 1.070, 50 IBUs - or thereabouts)
English ale yeast that ferments dry - Nottingham is pretty reliable
Age for 18 months, and then dry hop.

Yes! 
That's the way to go, and pretty much how I've done it for years.  I don't think I've ever aged it for 18 months...usually more like 12.
But  it's worth the wait, and that wait is  a good excuse to brew it regularly.

[anthayes]

That being said, I recently brewed a beer along these lines: 4.6% ABV, pale in color (7 SRM), floral and balanced towards the hops.

So how is that different than an English pale ale?

It fits CAMRA's definition of a Golden Ale better I think:

"Golden ales are pale amber, gold, yellow or straw coloured with powerful aroma hop, low to strong bitterness, light to medium body and a strong hop character, often with citrus fruit tastes creating a refreshing character. There should be little or no malt character or diacetyl (toffee/butterscotch).

Original gravity: less than 1053
Typical alcohol by volume: less than 5.3%
Final gravity 1006 – 1012
Bitterness 20 - 45 EBU"

There is a group of English beers, which their brewers call IPAs, which fit better into CAMRA's Golden Ale style description, I think. Examples are Greene King IPA and Deuchers IPA.

Ant Hayes
Tonbridge, Kent

[jeffy]

Bitterness 20 - 45 EBU"

What's EBU?  English bittering unit?  Estimated bittering unit? Eastkentgolding bittering unit?

[jeffy]

WIKI says, "European Bittering Unit, should be the same as IBU"
If it's the same, why are there two names?

[dak0415]

Because they're British and part of the EU.  That's why they mash in degrees Celsius and use EBC for colour.

[skyler]

So how is that different than an English pale ale?

Beers dubbed, "IPA" that I came across in London were typically lighter in color than the other bitters available on cask (presumably the caramel coloring agent was simply kept out), and they contained significantly more hop flavor and aroma. I thought of them as "floral bitters." It was really not a huge leap away from other English bitters, and so I actually used the style guidelines for Best Bitter (keeping to the paler, hoppier end of the style), when I wanted to brew this beer recently.

When I was living in England (2004), I hadn't really started appreciating very bitter beers, but I was pretty enthralled with those IPAs that I found in London. Unfortunately, I do not remember the names of these beers (I wasn't a homebrewer at the time), but I remember Greene King (3.6% ABV) as being by far the most common "IPA" I found. If you notice there are plenty of IPA's exported to the US in bottles and they tend to be around 5% ABV, but the bottled "export" versions of most English ales are about 1% ABV stronger than the standard cask ale equivalent. I think of 5.5% ABV as the highest amount of alcohol that would be within the realm of a typical English IPA. The entire time I was in England, including subsequent trips, I never saw a beer on cask that was over 6% ABV - I realize they exist, but they have got to be pretty atypical, because I've looked and never found one.

[jeffy]

Because they're British and part of the EU.  That's why they mash in degrees Celsius and use EBC for colour.

Those would be examples of measurements that are different from most "English" measurements.  Celsius vs. Fahrenheit, EBC vs. Degrees Lovibond.  From what I read, EBU's and IBU's are the same, which is why I asked why there would be two names.  If an IBU of 35 is the same as an EBU of 35, why call it by a different name just because you're overseas?

[tschmidlin]

Because they're British and part of the EU.  That's why they mash in degrees Celsius and use EBC for colour.

Those would be examples of measurements that are different from most "English" measurements.  Celsius vs. Fahrenheit, EBC vs. Degrees Lovibond.  From what I read, EBU's and IBU's are the same, which is why I asked why there would be two names.  If an IBU of 35 is the same as an EBU of 35, why call it by a different name just because you're overseas?

From wikipedia:
"However, the exact process of determining EBU and IBU values differs slightly, which may in theory result with slightly smaller values for EBU than IBU."

But that's just wikipedia