For our September meeting, the FOEBAR homebrew competition will be India Pale Ales! This competition will take place at the homebrew meeting on the 10th of September.
We have chosen to make this a restricted style competition but in the widest possible sense. You can choose from all India Pale Ale styles as described by either BJCP or the Brewers Association (see the list below). Be aware that you will be judged against the style descriptions – but with so many to choose from it will be hard to not find an IPA that fits your preference.
Read the guide lines well and make sure your beer has the right colour, uses the right malts and hops, make sure you hit all the gravities, and the ABV is style appropriate. We will use the recently released BJCP beer style guidelines (BJCP 2021) and the Brewers Association guidelines (2023 Guidelines) to determine if a beer is a good example.
What is India Pale Ale?
I’m not falling into this trap and tell you that it’s the export beers shipped to India. India pale ale (IPA) is a hoppy beer style within the broader category of pale ale. It’s so broad that it would be best to just read the style guidelines 🙂
List with accepted entries (check BJCP 2021 for style details)
12C. English IPA
21A. American IPA
21B. Specialty IPA
– Belgian IPA
– Black IPA
– Brown IPA
– Red IPA
– Rye IPA
– White IPA
– Brut IPA
21C. Hazy IPA
22A. Double IPA
22B. American Strong Ale
Additional beer styles from the Brewers Association guidelines (2023 Guidelines)
Session India Pale Ale
West Coast-Style India Pale Ale
Juicy or Hazy Imperial or Double India Pale Ale
New Zealand-Style India Pale Ale
There are some limitations since IPA styles that fall outside of these categories are hard to judge, the experimental IPA category is so broad that it contains all styles from very pale to very dark, clear to hazy, not bitter to extremely bitter etc. So this means we have to sacrifice some styles like brett IPA, fruited IPA, cold IPA, and West Coast pilsner. As guidelines are updated continuously – I expect some of these to be included. I hope you find an IPA to your liking within these limitations..
Everyone can enter this competition; just show up with enough beer to enter. Aim bring at least 1,5L in any vessel you like, so we don’t need to resort to shot glasses 😉 As always, you don’t need to submit an entry to take part in the judging or attend the meeting.
Link to our competition rules:
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