Hoppy makes me happy – Celebrate IPA

Since someone declared this National IPA Day (#IPAday), it seemed like a perfect time to take a look at a few of West Virginia’s premier contemporary examples of the style.

While West Virginia brewers have been producing various IPA-style beers for many years, IPA has really come into its own in recent years. It’s several of the newer breweries in the state that are taking the lead in advancing IPA to new heights. 

Hop heads around these parts largely credit Stumptown Ales in Davis with showing the world that West Virginia could produce nationally competitive, contemporary versions of this hop delivery device. And now it’s spreading to other new WV breweries.

West Virginia growing hoppy – IPA rules

While Stumptown is still the king, plenty of princes would love to take away the West Virginia IPA crown. Recent efforts by the newer breweries —Weathered Ground, Short Story, Bad Shepherd, and The Peddler — have been stellar.

Today, we take a look at some of the best examples of contemporary IPA in West Virginia.

Stumptown Ales

Stumptown’s IPA book is second to none in the state. In 2015, owner/brewer Jonathan Robeson took the style and made it the trademark of his new brewery. Since that time, beer drinkers have not been able to get enough. Stumptown’s IPA excellence has fueled several brewery expansions, including the most recent plans to move to a much larger production brewing facility.

Based on the strength and success of its IPA lineup, Brilliant Stream named Stumptown its WV Brewery of the Year in 2017. The IPA producer is also firmly entrenched as West Virginia’s highest rated brewery on Untappd. Its Big Boy Pants Triple IPA, Holy Moses Double IPA, Holy Citra Double IPA, Holy Galaxy Double IPA, and Multiple Hopgasms Imperial IPA all received excellent ratings of 4.0 or higher.

Holy Citra! – This beautiful double IPA from Stumptown Ales is the one that really put the brewery on the IPA map. With its very juicy, citrusy signature it excels in the East Coast style. Lots of hop flavor but with low bitterness. Bursting with mango, papaya and pineapple. Great overall balance. 8% ABV

Multiple Hopgasms – This double IPA is quite possibly Stumptown’s best effort to produce an in-your-face dank, juice bomb with low bitterness. Dry hopped with loads of Citra, Mosaic, Amarillo, and Simcoe hops. 8.5% ABV

Big Boy Pants –  A favorite of the big-beer fans. This Stumptown triple IPA delivers great hop impact in its 11% ABV wrapper. Incredibly smooth considering all the hops and its high alcohol content. Quite an accomplishment.

Weathered Ground Brewery

Weathered Ground Brewery is only one year old, but has delivered a steady stream of incredibly good IPAs. Try any IPA in the stable and you will not be disappointed. Folks are raving about a trio of double IPAs: R.K., Goodness Gracious, and More Haggard Than Haggard. Stop and Smell the Citrus, a tropical fruit bomb, had hop heads stopping in their tracks to say a collective Wow! It will be fun to see how this young brewery under the direction of head brewer Sam Fonda heads into its second year. 

Haggard IPA: You get a celebration of El Dorado hops in this juicy somewhat New England-style IPA.  People are calling it one of the best of the new breed of IPAs in West Virginia. It has varied a bit through succeeding batches, but never varied from being a truly balanced taste explosion. 6.5% ABV

Bad Shepherd Beer Company

Bad Shepherd Beer Company in Charleston is one of a growing number of breweries in the state where you can sometimes get a flight of true IPAs.  The flight pictured above included El Dorado IPA, Chemtrailing Juicy IPA, The Loud IPA, and Bollywood IPA. Each features a different hop and malt bill providing a look at the wide range of sub-styles that make up IPA. Brewer Ross Williams is not afraid to try his hand at any IPA variant. While he may not hit a home run every time, his batting average is pretty good. He produced a nice one in the Cloud Machine IPA, as its name implies, a very hazy, murky brew.  Another good one was Mystery Hole, an aptly named Black IPA.

The Loud is one of the state’s premier IPAs and Bad Shepherd’s top selling beer. It’s an empty-the-hop-cabinet recipe that comes off as a beautiful dank, fruity and citrusy melange of hoppiness. Its round bitterness is well-balanced with the malt rather than slapping your face. Its mix of half pale malt and half Maris Otter malts produce a lightly bready structure with good mouthfeel and a lingering finish. 6.8% ABV.

The Peddler

In its less than one year of beer sales, The Peddler is beginning to break through in the IPA race. The first beer to receive strongly positive notice was its Fist Bump IPA. This was followed by an enticing session IPA called SMaSH Bros. Yellow Devil. Brewer Jay Fox is building his hop resumé, and it promises to only get better and better.

Silt Sucker. A new contender for top place in the hazy IPA sweepstakes. This beauty is pretty much everything you could ask for in the contemporary edge of this style. As a true to style NEIPA, it is only mildly bitter and delivers loads of tropical fruity hop aroma and flavor, with good mouthfeel. 6.0% ABV

Short Story Brewing

Another of the new breed of West Virginia breweries, Short Story Brewing in Rivesville hit the ground running in its first year of business. Brewer Mike Kopischke has shown he has quite an innate ability to manage the hop and malt nuance so critical to balance in a good IPA. After putting a nice balance and fresh hop aroma in his original Ready, Steady, Go Citra Pale Ale, Mike quickly upped his game. Working Title Double IPA was a beer that excited north central West Virginia hop heads. He followed it up with the delicious Two for the Show, a hazy double IPA chock-full of Citra, Amarillo and Columbus hops.

Sideways Glance:  This classic NEIPA created a stir among IPA fans who got the chance to try it last spring. All are hoping the brewery quickly makes more of this beauty. Loaded with Centennial, Citra, and Chinook hops. 6.7% ABV.

More great IPA from WVa

Beyond those super examples above, we would be remiss if we didn’t mention a few other excellent IPAs by breweries that have been around a little while longer than the newer ones above.

Greenbrier Valley Brewing, Maxwelton
• Devil Anse IPA
• Mothman Black IPA

Chestnut Brew Works, Morgantown
• Your Best Hoption Double IPA
• Shakedown IPA

Big Timber Brewing Company, Elkins
• Hop Harvest IPA
• Double Bit Double IPA

Bridge Brew Works, Fayetteville
• Hellbender Black IPA

Parkersburg Brewing, Parkersburg
• Fibonacci Dossier IPA
• POW Daze Double IPA

Morgantown Brewing Co., Morgantown
• Hoodie Weather Double IPA (Pubstomper)