Article written based on the work of Sensory Analysis conducted by Gabriela Montandon
The IPA style, the trend is still rising
Since more than eighteen years, the IPA style has imposed its law in the beer world, almost every brewer of each continent offers one beer of this style in their range. This hold on the beer industry follows the one of the Lagers and other Pilsners which predominate during the 20th century. Tastes and desires evolving over time, the IPA, with their aromatic profiles radically different from the beers of the last century, have imposed themselves as a reference. They are, in a way, the symbol of the craft beer revolution which started in the US at the beginning the years 2000 and which exported later in the rest of the world.
But so, how really define a beer as an IPA? As described in the Beer Guidelines of the Beer Judge Certification Program (BJCP), today the term IPA in its popular meaning tends to refer to the American IPAs and their derivates. It’s a decidedly hoppy and bitter, moderately strong American pale ale, showcasing modern American or New World hop varieties such as Cascade or Citra for example. This very large definition allows to categorize, rightly or wrongly, a lot of beers as IPA. If it’s now possible to use the trend by simply write IPA on the bottles, many brewers are still exploring deeply the possibilities of this style and so, creating new sub-categories for consumers who are always looking for new things. The first of these sub-categories was the beer style of the year 2018: the New England IPA.
History and definition of the NEIPA
Is it possible to have missed the NEIPA style in 2018? Clearly not, at least in the US. The New England IPAs or NEIPAs take their name of their origin region, the New England which regroups six different states located in the North-East of the US. Several American sources (American Brewers Association, Brew Your Own Magazine, etc.) are agreed to say that the NEIPA’s origin dates back to 2011 in the state of the Vermont with the beer Heady Topper brewed by The Achemist brewery. At this moment, their base idea was to put forward in their beer the fruity notes brought by hops without dwelling with other constraints of the IPA style such as the clarity, the bitterness or the level of alcohol for example. The resulting style is definitely an IPA with its own characteristics which are important to define. You’ll find the most important ones below:
- Juiciness, in a sensory way, it must be the equivalent of drinking ripe or over-ripe fruity juice, especially tropical.
- Haziness. Somewhat opaque, light-reflecting haze. The beer should not look like a yeast starter or a protein shake.
- A pale color (straw to golden), but some examples can have an orange hue. The opacity of the haze can make the color appear slightly darker than it is. A dense, white, rocky, persistent head is common as well.
- An intense Hop Aroma / Flavor: The aroma and flavor should be dominated by hops, intense and fresh. The hop varieties used are commonly associated with ripe or overripe tropical fruit (mango, passionfruit, guava, pineapple, papaya, etc.), but can also have some stone fruit (apricot, peach) or citrus (orange, tangerine) character. Whereas, the excessively resiny or piney side you can have with some hops variety is not typically found.
- A neutral malt profile. A light toasty, honey-like, or biscuity malt flavor can sometimes be found, but the malt should not interfere with the appreciation of hops.
- A Bitterness moderate level with a smooth and soft finish.
- The body is supportive to the alcohol content (shouldn’t be a hot), it shouldn’t be sugary sweet and heavy from unfermented sugars. Nothing to impact the drinkability.
Create a recipe which respects these different characteristics is not an easy thing. The choice of the hops varieties is, of course, a major step regarding the quantities you’ll use, but it would simplistic for the NEIPA style to reduce the creation of the recipe to the choice of the hops. The choice of the malts has also its importance such as yeast and it’s what we’ll explain in the following lines.
How we select our yeast?
Within Fermentis, we are convinced for a while by the quality of our yeasts and by their ability to fit with a lot of different beer styles. Because we know that we already have a solution in our range, we don’t need to release a new product every six months. In this sense, to select the best yeasts for a NEIPA we have worked several months with a trained panel to pick the best ones for your next recipes.
- A panel study
How work our panel? The panel aim to function as an instrument, able to measure and characterize each product coming from projects related to beer. Fermentis Beer Panel consist in 40 internal panellists from different sectors and activities within Fermentis and Lesaffre. The group was selected base on the analysis of their motivation, availability, consumption habits and health conditions. On a voluntary basis, since May 2017, during an hour per week the panel perform sensory trainings and tests to differentiate and to describe sensory attributes in beer. Up to date, they have been trained in 45 beer attributes and performed a set of exercises for a panel profiling and performance. In practice, the criteria to evaluation of sensory sensitivity varies depending on the difficulty of the screening test or the requirements of the project. Along with it, panellists are also expected to have excellent verbal abilities, which are important for the consensus language development during training sessions. All panellists have been performing discrimination, descriptive and acuity tests.
Sensory panel, Fermentis campus
To work on the NEIPA we have first established a representative recipe, to determine which yeast could fit with the style, we keep the same recipe every time and we just change the strain. This recipe is briefly described on the figure opposite. Nine strains have been tested, seven in our SafAleTM range: S-33, S-04, US-05, BE-256, K-96, BE-134, T-58 and two in our SafLagerTM range: S-189 and S-23.
NEIPA representative recipe, source: Fermentis
For the nine beers, the panellists have evaluated different criteria relative to the NEIPA style or not. Each criterion has been evaluated on a notation scale with numeric support from 0 to 8 (example of the malt character on the figure 5) or with a semantic differential scale (example of the turbidity level on the figure 4). Finally, when we put all criterions together, we are able to build a radar chart (figure 6). By looking to important criterions for a NEIPA (Juicy, turbidity, hop character, hop tropical), we can already have an idea of which yeast will fit the best with the style but we have to validate this result with a data analytic method.
Notation scale with numeric support for the malt character of the beer, source: Fermentis
Semantic differential scale for the turbidity level of the beer, source: Fermentis
NEIPA Sensory Characteristics radar chart – source Fermentis
A data analytic method
The method chosen to verify our results is a Principal Component Analysis or PCA (figure 7). It consists in transform our correlated variables (turbidity, juicy, body, etc.) in non-correlated variables called principal components or principal axes. In statistic, we consider that we have to keep a sufficient number of axes to explain at least 50% of the total inertia of the study. In this case, with a statistic software, we have selected two axes which explain together 58,75% of the total inertia. Once it’s done, you can see which variables is correlated with the axes. Closer a criterion is from one the axe, better it is explained by this same axe. In our case, we can see that the most important criterions for a NEIPA (hop tropical, turbidity and juicy) are well explained and positively correlated with the axe F1.
PCA NEIPA study, source: Fermentis
The next step is to increment on this graph all the results presented on the figure 6, the statistic software will transform these results in a unique point for each yeast with an abscissa and an ordinate. Each yeast which will appear on the right part on the plan will be interesting for a NEIPA because it will mean that it is positively correlated with the axe F1 and so with the main characteristic of the style (hop tropical, turbidity, juicy, etc.) We are no looking for bitterness or phenolic character for example.
So, as you can see above, we have four potentials yeast strains which could fit with the style. They are all part our SafAleTM range, the BE-256, the S-04, the K-97 and the S-33. To go deeply we have crossed these results with another study based on analytical observations made in laboratory. We see that the laboratory analysis confirms the panel’s results. Indeed, the SafAleTM S-04, the SafAleTM S-33 and the SafAleTM K-97 are still there but we can exclude the SafAleTM BE-256 because it’s on the left part on the graph. The NEIPA brewed with the SafAleTM BE-256 doesn’t contain enough quantity of hop oils for us. The three yeasts selected can all fit with the NEIPA style but which ones is the best for you? What is the difference between them? It’s what we’ll demonstrate in the last part of this article.
The right yeast for the right recipe
With what we see on the different markets across the globe and by talking to brewers, we know that the NEIPA style is evolving. In 2018, it was a differentiating element to brew a NEIPA, now the brewers want to brew a differentiating NEIPA and not brew the same than everyone. It’s why, in Fermentis, we prefer to let you choose between three different yeasts depending of the final taste you want. They strongly adhere to the NEIPA style but differ based on their aromatic expression:
- The SafAleTM S-33 is the most appropriate for a “classic” NEIPA. It mainly reveals aromas of mango and passion fruit with a high level of turbidity and a very high level of juiciness.
NEIPA Characteristics SafAleTM S-33, source: Fermentis
- The SafAleTM S-04 is a good alternative if you look for notes of stone fruits such as peach or apricots. It expresses a very high level of turbidity and a medium level of juiciness.
NEIPA Characteristics SafAleTM S-04, source: Fermentis
- The SafAleTM K-97 is more on the resinous side of hops with piney notes but also slightly floral ones. It reveals a very high level of turbidity and a medium-high level of juiciness.
NEIPA Characteristics SafAleTM K-97, source: Fermentis
Which future for the NEIPA style?
The NEIPA was definitely the trend of 2018 but does it will remain in time? In Fermentis, we believe that yes. The first reason is that big organisms such as the Beer Judge Certification Program (BJCP) we evoked at the beginning of the article or the American Brewers Association (ABA) have officially recognized the New England IPA as a style. In the category 21B for the BJCP and under the name Hazy/Juicy IPA for the ABA. The second reason is because we talk at the scale of the whole world, not only at the scale of the US. In the Uncle Sam’s country, the NEIPA market is really mature, a lot of consumers have already tasted one and new trends are starting to emerge. It’s not the case in the rest of the world, if brewers are all aware about the style, the lambda consumers are not. It’s still a newest thing for them, so they’re still asking for this kind of product. Globally, we still are in the growth phase in the circle of life of NEIPA style so we keep thinking that the style has a bright future.
About the author
Hugo Picard
Home Division Manager at Fermentis, Hugo is in charge to support homebrewers, winemakers, cidermakers, in their hobby for beverage production at home worldwide. Hugo graduated with a Master’s in Science and Agricultural Engineering from ISA Lille in France. He also acquired a Master’s degree in International Marketing and Communication at Lille University. Before joining Fermentis, he has been president of a brewing & winemaking association and worked in several breweries and brewpubs in France and New-Zealand as a brewer or as a Marketing & Communication manager.