Beer School › IPA · Hoppy & Bitter
Triple IPA
Triple IPA is a name brewers use for an IPA that wants to go a step further than a double IPA. It is not an official style: what exactly it is, the brewer decides.
- Alcoholno official range; a double IPA goes up to 10% (BJCP) or 10.6% (Brewers Association)
- Entry levelFor the adventurous
How it usually tastes
- Bitter
- Sweet
- Sour
- Roasted
- Fruity
- Full
Average for this style; every beer has its own accent.
What is it?
Myth or fact?
Myth
‘Triple IPA is an official beer style with fixed rules.’
The big style guides of the BJCP and the Brewers Association do not recognise a triple IPA. It is a name that brewers choose themselves.
Myth
‘A triple IPA is three times as strong as a regular IPA.’
According to the BJCP, an American IPA has 5.5–7.5% alcohol. Three times as strong would be 16% or more; beers sold as triple IPA had 9.6 to 12%.
Myth
‘A triple IPA is related to the Belgian tripel.’
Only the name is similar. For IPA, 'triple' means: one more step further than the American double IPA. The real cross between IPA and Belgian beer is called Belgian IPA.
Myth
‘An IPA gets better if you leave it for a while.’
The hop aroma that an IPA is all about declines when you store it, especially if it is warm. Drink IPA as fresh as possible.
Where does it come from?
How to pour it
A good starting point: 7–10 °C, the general suggestion of the American Homebrewers Association for IPAs; according to the same source, you pour stronger beer slightly warmer. Store it cool and drink it fresh, because storing it warm costs you hop aroma.
Taste it yourself
FrauGruber Simcoe Vibesvol, sappig fruitig, warm, licht bitter€6,95
Messorem Temporalis #0065sappig fruitig, vol, stevig, alcoholwarm€12,95
Messorem Temporalis #0066sapachtig fruitig, vol, zwaar, warm€12,95
Similar to: IPA, Double IPA
Terms
- Double / imperial
- Designation for a stronger and more intense version of a well-known style, such as a double IPA (7.5–10% alcohol according to the BJCP) or an imperial stout (8–12%).
- Alcohol percentage (% vol.)
- How much alcohol is in the beer, measured by volume (6% vol. is 6 ml of alcohol per 100 ml of beer); under the EU rules, the figure on the label for beer up to and including 5.5% vol. may deviate by 0.5% vol. upward or downward, and for stronger beer by 1% vol.
- Dry hopping
- Adding hops after the wort has been boiled, often during or after fermentation, mainly for a fresh, strong hop aroma.
- Hops
- The cone-shaped flowers of the female hop plant (Humulus lupulus), which give beer bitterness, aroma and flavour and inhibit bacteria.
Sources for this page
- BJCP 2021 Style Guidelines — Beer (volledige tekst)
- BJCP 2021 Style Guidelines — 22A Double IPA
- Brewers Association 2026 Beer Style Guidelines, published by the Brewers Association
- Untappd — Top Rated Beers (lijst met substijlen)
- Alex Weaver, Hop Culture — Is There Such Thing as a Triple IPA? (2017)
- Russian River Brewing Company — Pliny the Younger (brouwerijpagina)
- Jeff Alworth, Beervana — Russian River's Elusive Pliny the Younger (2011)
- Tom Acitelli, All About Beer — The Evolution of GABF Categories (2014)
- American Homebrewers Association — Proper Beer Serving Temperatures
- Bradley M. Barnette (2018), Evaluating the Impact of Dissolved Oxygen and Aging on Dry-Hopped Aroma Stability in Beer (masterscriptie, Oregon State University)