While the juicy, hazy East Coast IPA has dominated the market in recent years, the classic West Coast IPA has now slowly but surely made a comeback. For a long time, this was the dominant beer style on the market, and today some even call it "old man's IPA."
The style is characterized by a good proportion of caramel in the malt base, powerful bitterness, and strong flavors of grapefruit and pine (typical flavors of classic American hops). Originally, the beer should be haze-free, but heavily dry-hopped varieties may tolerate some haze.
Malt selection for brewing West Coast IPA
There are many ways to Rome, but here, a significant caramel character should be present. The base malt can happily be regular pale ale. It's also possible to replace parts of the base malt with Munich malt to bring out color and caramel character, but it's often combined with caramel malt (caramalt, crystal, and similar). The caramel shouldn't be too dominant; it's still a pale ale. In terms of color, a West Coast can lean entirely towards amber. As a rule, it should also be relatively dry, and it's not uncommon to add some sugar, which both increases alcohol and gives the beer a drier character. Experiment and see what you like.
Yeast
The yeast should not be prominent in this style, so it's best to choose a neutral yeast that provides crisp and clean fermentation and flocculates well, resulting in a clear beer. Here, US-05 or WLP001 are the best choices, providing the characteristics we want in a West Coast IPA. There are several variants such as WLP051 or M66, and these can certainly be used if you want a bit more fruity character from the yeast. Dry British yeast strains like WLP007 or S-04 will also work well, giving a bit more fruitiness, drier beer, and with enough time, a crystal-clear beer.
Hops
Hops are the most important component in a West Coast IPA, and there is plenty of room to play and experiment with different combinations. Traditionally, a West Coast IPA should feature classic American hop varieties like Citra, Cascade, Centennial, Columbus (most American hops starting with C will fit here), but there's no single right answer. Essentially, a style-correct West Coast IPA should have strong citrus flavors, often grapefruit, but also resin/pine, floral notes, and tropical fruit. The bitterness should be pronounced, often reaching 100+ IBU in the strongest examples. Of course, it's crucial that the flavors are well-balanced against each other.
Easy to brew
Classic West Coast IPA is a beer style that is relatively easy to brew and is also suitable for beginners. Due to the powerful hop aroma and bitterness, any minor flaws can be camouflaged to some extent. The most important key to IPA, however, is to avoid oxygen as much as possible. Although the East Coast style is significantly more susceptible to oxygen due to heavy dry hopping, you will still notice oxidation in West Coast IPAs. Feel free to read more about beer oxidation and how to avoid it in our article on the subject.
Regarding the fermentation process, we aim for a clean fermentation with minimal yeast character. Most suitable yeast types will leave a certain amount of fruit esters, and in a West Coast IPA, these will complement the hop character. In most cases, fermenting at a stable 18-22 degrees Celsius will be a safe choice. Avoid large temperature fluctuations.
Although this is a heavily hop-driven beer style that is quite drinkable when perfectly fresh, a West Coast IPA will still benefit from a few weeks of maturation before it reaches its absolute best. This maturation period will mellow the intense bitterness, clarify the beer, and simply allow the flavors to blend and soften around the edges.
Below you will see some of our most popular beer kits and fresh wort kits in this category.
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