India Pale Ales hale from the famous brewing town of Burton Upon Trent and were so successful in the 19th century that they were exported all over the globe. There are many variations of IPA but they are all hoppy with quite high levels bitterness. CAMRA defines IPAs as having a minimum of 5.5% ABV so these are quite powerful beers. Many products on the market are called or advertised as IPAs but fail a long way short of this strength. It could be said that of all the beer names IPA is one of the greatest misused.
CAMRA often uses the term New World IPA to describe beers which are hop forward with the malt very much in the background, when compared to other styles of IPA such as British IPAs. New World IPAs can be sub-divided into West Coast and East Coast IPAs though there are multiple hybrid varieties. West Coast are very much hop lead than their East Coast cousins who favour a greater malt balance. The use of West Coast and East Coast tends to be a flavour descriptor rather than a geographical identifier.
Note that all New World IPAs have a balance of hops, fruit and light malt and are more complex than Premium Pale Ales and Blonds with more hops, but can have fruit levels akin to New World Golden Ales and noticeably fruitier.
Colour
Straw to Pale Brown
Clarity
Tend to range from slightly hazy to crystal clear
Carbonation
Low for cask, but bottles and cans are heavily carbonated
Alcohol
Detectable
Hop
Heavily reliant on American varieties to deliver tropical and citrus fruit, New Zealand hops can be used to give white wine notes.
Malt
Playing a supporting role to the hops
Esters
A veritable fruit salad expect tropical fruit (mango, papaya and passion fruit) and also citrus (grapefruit, lime and lemon jelly) - but not all at the same time.
Phenols
None
Fermentation By-Products
None
Body
Full bodied
Carbonation
Low but can be higher in bottled and canned examples
Finish Length
Long and clean, particularly if coupled with citrus flavours
Attenuation
Tend to be a bit on the assertive side
Hops
Heavily reliant on American varieties to deliver tropical and citrus fruit, particularly the use of one or more of the '4 Cs' - Cascade, Centennial, Chinook and Columbus.
Malt
Playing a supporting role to the hops
Water
No specific requirements
Yeast
Ale
Elusive- Oregon Trail
Anspach & Hobday - The IPA
Byatt’s Brewery - Mahana IPA
Twt Lol - Dreigiau'r Diafol / Diablo Dragons
Thornbridge - Jaipur