IPA (India Pale Ale) beer kits can be generalised by saying they have a higher alcohol content and more hops compared to a pale ale.
For traditional IPA beer kits, this results in a stronger malty flavour, combined with a stronger bitterness. This is balanced with the higher alcohol content.
For the craft beer IPA kits, this means a stronger flavour of the aromatics from the hops giving beers a citrus tropical fruit aroma. There is also a slight increase in the bitterness, but not much increase in the malytiness, which means the full flavours of the hops can be enjoyed.
IPA beer kits are generally a light golden colour and tend to be rich and strong which makes them very interesting to drink.
Browse our range of top quality India Pale Ale Beer kits to see which one takes your fancy. We have a selection of different types of IPA Beer kit, some of which need extra sugar or malt extract.
A little history on India Pale Ales - these beers were created many years ago during the time of the commonwealth. British Officers in India wanted English ale, but they found it difficult to brew it in India, so they would try and ship pale ale from England. Due to the long journey, the beer would go stale or turn to vinegar. The brewers in England knew hops were a preservative, and found that if they increased the amount of hops and the alcohol content, the beer would make the journey to India. At the beginning of the journey the beer was very very bitter due to the amount of hops added. But hop bitterness fades over time, so by the time it got to India, the IPA had mellowed in bitterness and was quite quaffable. So this is why now, a stronger beer with lots of hops added is known as an IPA.
Due to the craft beer realm, there are now many more types of IPA than just the good old traditional English IPA, including New England IPA, West Coast IPA, East Coast IPA, New Zealand IPA, Australian IPA, Session IPA (sessionable as it is easy to drink but around 5.5% not to be confused with an English session IPA which is low in alcohol at 3.5% ish), Black IPA, Double IPA, Triple IPA, Quadruple IPA, Double Dry Hopped IPA and even Belgian IPA.
