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The Ultimate Guide to IPA Beers

Exploring Flavors, Styles, and History at Little Miami Brewing Company

Just imagine entering a vibrant brewery, the air filled with the aroma of hops and freshly brewed beer. You order yourself an IPA and the first sip hits you with a burst of diverse flavors. No wonder IPA beer (both traditional and dynamic) are a staple in the craft beer market, consistently captivating beer lovers with their bold and diverse taste profiles. 

In this guide, we’ll dive deeper into IPA beers, its history and styles, and the process of brewing IPA beers while also focusing on brewery tours offered at Little Miami Brewing Company. 

Read on to find out what makes our IPAs stand out in the bustling craft beer scene!

How Did IPA Beers Become the Icons of the Craft Beer World?

Let’s talk about the history of IPAs

IPA or India Pale Ale, traces its origins back to the late 18th century of England. Originally, it was hopped much more heavily and had a higher alcohol content than modern day beers to keep the beer fresh and free from spoiling on journeys to India. The enhanced hops helped to preserve beer and at the same time they provided the beersack with a bitter taste and a certain smell, which made them the very favorite of beer drinkers.

As the centuries have passed, the brewing methods changed, and so did the IPAs. Craft beer originated in the United States in the late twentieth century and had a huge role in the expansion and differentiation of IPAs all over the world. Brewers altered the type of hops & malts used for brewing beer, and the brewing process to come up with a variety of subcategories of IPA beer each with its own qualities.

IPA’s have a very important role in the Craft Beer Industry. They have been leading the trend when it comes to beer, focusing on the craft beers market. Their sharp tastes and compatibility make them special friends of brewers and lovers of beer. IPAs epitomize freedom and imagination in the brewing process, paving a way to differentiate them from mass-produced beers and spearheading the movement of craft beers.

Little Miami Brewing Company_Isoamyl Acetate in Beer

What Makes IPA Beer Styles So Unique?

Defining IPA can be challenging, so it’s essential to refer to the classification of beer styles to understand what IPA represents within this context.

There are two classic IPA Styles:

English IPA 

The style arose from England and brings to the table a balance of bitter, sweet and moderate alcoholic strength. It usually has a herbal and floral character drawn from the hops while the malt endows the beer with a mild sweetness. 

American IPA 

American IPAs are bitter and have a large hop character, with notes of citrus, pine, and flowers. They are usually bitterer than English counterparts and are-medially to highly hopped, they also have a relatively higher alcohol concentration. 

Then comes modern IPA Variants:

Double/Imperial IPA  

This is also a strong category of beer characterized by a high alcohol content, usually above seven percent, combined with assertive bitterness, strong aromas and tastes of hops. These beers are quite full and very flavorful, balanced by a strong malt backbone. 

Session IPA 

Providing all the quality characteristics of a regular IPA beer but with lower, ranging from 3 to 5% ABV, alcohol content, Session IPA is a must try. It calls for perfect extended drinking sessions without the uneasiness and heavy impact of higher alcohol beers.

New England IPA 

NEIPA or New England IPA develops itself with the haziness of a beer and an intense taste of many different fruits. It has a mild bitterness unlike the other IPAs and some describe it as creamy too. 

West Coast IPA 

West Coast IPAs are characterized to be clear, clean, and highly hopped. They contain a big hop character, which presents a tone of pine, resin, or citrus and have a dry hoppy ending. 

Experimental and Hybrid Styles 

The types of craft beers remain dynamic, resulting in the development of novel and fused IPA varieties. Some of these beers fuse aspects of more than one IPA version or else contain extra ingredients to create beers that are new and refreshing in terms of the common IPA styles. 

How Does Little Miami Brewing Company Craft Their Exceptional IPAs?

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The quality of the raw materials used by Little Miami Brewing Company plays a huge part in us standing out. Our IPA is brewed from a choice of hops, malts, yeast and water. We emphasize on the procurement of local and micro ingredients so that every beer has its own flavored profile. 

Our brewing process starts with choosing the right grains, which are then milled with hot water to create a mash to make fermentable sugars. It is then stirred and the hops are added to it at different times to produce the bittering, flavoring, and aroma of the beer. After  boiling, the wort is cooled and then conveyed to the fermentation vessel where yeast is incorporated to the wort for the conversion of the sugars into alcohol and carbon dioxide. The beer is then conditioned, filtered, and packaged – ready to be enjoyed!

The quality and consistency of each batch is very important  for us. We use cracking measures such as voluntary taster’s sessions, lab tests, and highly documented trace runs. Thus, the customers are guaranteed that every pint of IPA consumed by them complies with their expectations and gives an amazing taste. 

Exploring Little Miami Brewing Company’s IPA Offerings

GRATEFUL
West Coast IPA ABV 6.0% IBU 65
A fruity IPA brewed with a famous San Francisco yeast strain and a massive amount of American hops (Cascade, Centennial, and and dry hopped with Mosaic) for a piney, citrusy hit of goodness.
GRATEFUL
West Coast IPA ABV 6.0% IBU 65
A fruity IPA brewed with a famous San Francisco yeast strain and a massive amount of American hops (Cascade, Centennial, and and dry hopped with Mosaic) for a piney, citrusy hit of goodness.

Grateful beer is the remarkable West Coast Style IPA of Little Miami Brewing Company. It has a quite moderate taste characteristic and has an alcohol by volume of 6%. While the final alcohol  concentration or ABV is 5% and the international bittering  units/IBU is 55. This beer uses citrus and pine hops while  lending a nice malt sweetness to the brew. Due to the smooth  finishing taste and the enthusiasm of the populace, Grateful has been liked by almost all of our customers. 

How Do You Taste and Pair IPAs Like a Pro?

Tasting IPA Beers

Drinking IPAs engages the senses, captivating the taste buds and emotions through their distinctive aroma, flavor, and texture. Begin with swirling the beer in a circular motion, sip a little amount of beer in your mouth and swirl it gently in the mouth to allow the beer to touch all corners of your mouth. Observe the flavor profile, IBU and aftertaste of the beer. Concentrate on the bitterness or the number of hops and also appreciate the color of the malt used. 

Every IPA can have numerous possible tastes, ranging from tropical, citrus, or even pine, resin, and floral ones. Some can be caramel or biscuit malt dominant while others can be hop dominant. It also facilitates the ability to pinpoint one’s preferences since these aspects improve the tasting experience. 

The combination of IPAs with particular food items might enhance the flavors even more. There is a tradition of Hoppy IPAs going well with spicy dishes because of how the flavor balances out the heat. Thanks to the dominant citrus taste, IPAs can complement dishes made from grilled meats and fishes  very well, while the maltier ones which can open up fuller tastes in dishes such as burgers and pizzas, for instance. Little Miami Brewing Company’s Tap Room provides several dishes that would be compatible with your beer.

 

When to visit  Little Miami Brewing Company?

We also host tours where clients get the opportunity to learn how the process of brewing is conducted. Tourism is allowed whereby customers are exposed to the history of the brewery, the brewing process, the brewing tools and of course, fresh beers. These tours are a good way through which one can learn more about craft beer and the process that is followed to make the beer. 

The OG Tap Room

The entire atmosphere of the Tap Room at Little Miami Brewing Company is relaxed and pleasant. The employees are exceptionally helpful and knowledgeable, and the concept itself offers good craft beers accompanied with mouthwatering and tasteful meals. This bar also contains live music, trivia nights and other special beer products.

Location and Hours 

Little Miami Brewing Company is conveniently located at:

208 Mill St. / PO Box 366 / Milford, OH 45150 

The Tap Room is open during the following hours: 

Monday to Wednesday: 11:00 AM – 10:00 PM

Thursday: 11:00 AM – 11:00 PM

Friday & Saturday: 11:00 AM – 12:00 AM

Sunday: 11:00 AM – 10:00 PM

For more information or to plan your visit, you can contact them at: 

Phone: (513) 713-1121 

Email: reserve@littlemiamibrewing.com 

Go to Little Miami Brewing Company and taste their awesome IPA and explore more on the craft beer culture. 

Visit Today!

Little Miami Brewing Company is one of the best brewing companies that deals with craft beer with a focus on IPAs. This guide has examined the historical background of IPAs, the differences between the existing IPA styles, the special production process of the Little Miami Brewery, and finally, the characteristics of the two famous IPA beers of the brewery house, Grateful and Pine drop . 

  •  We encourage you to go to Little Miami Brewing Company and try out the kind of IPA they have to offer. Whether the person is an experienced IPA drinker or has never tried a beer of that style before, the brewery contributes to the creation of a friendly setting to try out different beers. Take a brewery tour, relax in the Tap Room, and discover why Little Miami’s IPAs are celebrated by beer lovers far and wide

SOCIAL MEDIA LINK : https://www.instagram.com/littlemiamibrew/profilecard/?igsh=MTY0MmhmOHU2bWFkYQ== 

WEBSITE : https://www.littlemiamibrewing.com/ 

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