Episode 334: Hot Takes on Cold IPA with Firestone Walker, Hop Butcher, and Heater Allen

Five years into cold IPA, the arguments still aren’t settled, but one thing is certain—strategic brewers have embraced the style for the unique counterpoint it can provide to more ester-driven IPAs, and the focus on light body has struck a chord with beer drinkers who increasingly want strong hop notes in ever-paler beers. We thought it was time to revisit the subject with three brewers who are no stranger to the podcast, and who each have contributed to the evolution of the style in their own way. Sam Tierney of the Firestone Walker Propagator in Venice, California has helped develop some pioneering cold IPAs for the California brewery, like core brand Hopnosis. Jude La Rose of Chicago’s Hop Butcher brews plenty of hazy IPAs, but continues to explore what hops can also do within the context of clear and light-bodied cold IPA. And Kevin Davey of McMinnville, Oregon’s Heater Allen and Gold Dot created the cold IPA style while at Wayfinder, but today is just starting to brew them again after focusing on lager for most of the past year.

In this episode, the three brewers look at where IPA has come since those earliest days and what it looks like now, with topics that include:

• creating the counter-trend to hazy IPA by pushing bitterness alongside low finishing gravity
• finding cleaner, more “crystalline” hop expression by fermenting with lager yeast
• achieving additional package stability in cold IPA through lower FAN
• varying dry hopping temperatures and techniques
• managing sulfur production in cold IPA fermentations
• blending modern, classic, and Southern hemisphere hops in cold IPA
• pushing the lightest of color through ultra-pale malts and adjuncts
• controlling oxygenation to avoid overstimulating the lager yeast
• why they continue to focus on the style now

And more.

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