Ok i sort of know what makes a ipa. And i dont claim i know everything. Reason yesterday. Went shopping. Did see bottles of. Leffe royal ipa. Beer. I never did know. Leffe did made ipa. Beers. So time to taste. It supose to have cascade. Hops. But once i did try and taste. There is not really a hoppy flav in the beer. So now. Question. When can you call a beer a ipa. Or not
A style guideline (like BJCP) could be a good starting point.
edit: apparently it’s not a good starting point today 
The name IPA has just become a marketing tool. Even a IIPA is not what it used to be. Beer names are just names
All of a sudden there are Belgian IPAs. Since when did Belgians brew IPAs or anything very bitter for that matter?
I have only had one Belgian (style) IPA and can’t say I was impressed.
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That’s the wonderful thing about commercial beers. They can call them ANYTHING. A blonde stout, which is really just a blonde beer with coffee… how about a chocolate “bock” made with an ale yeast… breweries don’t have to follow BJCP guidelines and can label their beer how they want, within legal requirements.
Of course, you don’t have to follow BJCP guidelines either.
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IPA was a moderate strength pale ale (actually a beer, not ale) with typically a higher hopping rate than the domestic version, although sometimes not. High attenuation and clarity were characteristic. Orval is probably the closest thing to a traditional IPA than anything else on the market. Hey, isn’t that a Belgian beer?
Too early in the day to get started on the BJCP…
So I will add this, I don’t think I’ve had an IPA that was fresh out of the package from a mass produced point, that was all that good. I will refer to what USA, IPA style is. As close as you can get to the boil kettle, in regards to time, IS what I will perceive as an IPA. Those fancy pants BJCP’s can amuse themselves with their perception and tell us how smart they are… NOT. IPA to me, above 6%, loads of aroma and flavor, maybe some hint of bitterness, blonde, or all they way to orange in color. Simple is best. Sneezles61
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@wilcolandzaat may show up in a couple of hours and decide that a style guideline is helpful to him in his professional brewing work. There are a number of them out there, BJCP was just an example, and I was too lazy (sorry 
) this morning to google a list of style guidelines for the forum. Reading a couple of style descriptions probably saves him many hours of google-ing.
A local brewery just released an “east vs west” IPA pack. A Facebook group may have gone a little off the rails about names of styles.
I’m at a weird age, where I started drinking IPAS about twenty years ago, so I didn’t get o.g. IPAS, but some of the second wave American interpretations. Constant new hops, new techniques, changing fads, etc, mean “IPA” is a huge category now that doesn’t say much. Black nitro IPA with PNW piney hops? Golden coffee IPA with all British? Fruity, hazy NZ life saver in a glass? All of these could reasonably show up in my glass if I order “IPA.” Kind of nuts.
YES!!
Maybe @wilcolandzaat can tell us what the “bottled on” date was for the commercial beer he tried and found to be lacking in happyiness (and hoppiness 
).
Well the original IPA was far from fresh
Yes, British style was, well, old… I will fast forward to today, with USA style… I’m not knocking the original, I’m enjoying our style best. Such as PA’s too, Bass is great, I prefer Summit’ variation. Sneezles61
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Dont know got to look at the bottle. But me true not impresed. With the leffe royal. Cascade ipa. No flav.
OK guys…just my opinion here but you can’t trash the guidelines and then complain that every thing under the sun is labelled wrong. I agree that the term “IPA” is overused and misused for marketing purposes. IMHO that’s why guidelines are important. Not that you’re going to force brewers to use them but because it helps people understand that they might really like a style if that’s what they were actually drinking…not some marketing BS in a can.
I don’t see what the problem is with guidelines. They’re just that. Doesn’t mean you can’t brew whatever you like and call it whatever you like of course but I like the idea of parameters…so yea…
@wilcolandzaat look here for what makes an IPA an IPA per BJCP http://bjcp.org/stylecenter.php
Think we do need sort of guidelines in our life. And this case our hobby. But on the end. Its what you like or not. Can not say. I did like this beer. And maybe its just the name. Like what most us think. And brew. We try to. Get as close to a certain beer type we like to brew. So call it a ipa a stout. A blond. For example. On the end. Its do we like the end result. In this case. My question. Ipa taste or not. I know. For example comercial beer brewers only try to sell their product. And most the beer drinkers. Buy it any way. Because a craft beer the new hype to drink
Think I’ll just go brew another batch of “MYPA”… DWRHAHB
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Whoa dude… thats what a friend calls his… wait a minute… Sneezles61
And here I thought I was being so clever…
