The India Pale Ale, or IPA as we know it today, is quite possibly the most popular and versatile craft beer style in America. Developed to exploit the preservative qualities of hops and alcohol (and used to supply British troops in the late 1700s), the IPA has taken on a whole new life in the early 21st century under the creative supervision of adventurous brewers.
While the overall trend has skewed toward embracing the more extreme elements of over-hopping (for example, Stone Brewing’s Ruination), the IPA has also been translated into session styles like Founders Brewing Co. All Day IPA and The Alchemist’s Heady Topper, a cloudy, citrusy New England IPA. Then, of course, there are Double IPAs and Triple IPAs, both with increasing amounts of hops, as well as Black IPAs, which utilize darker malts usually found in porters and stouts.
Milkshake IPA is brewed with lactose, pectin, or oats for a full, chewy body.
One of the newer entries into the IPA family of beers is the Milkshake
While the fledgling category still isn’t recognized by Beer Judge Certification Program, you can get in on the ground floor by tasting some of the best Milkshake IPAs on the American market right now:
All The Boys Milkshake IPA Series
Bhramari Brewing Company
Creamy and utterly delicious, the Mango and Lychee version of this Asheville brewery’s All The Boys Milkshake IPA Series tastes like pineapple upside-down cake. Seriously. It’s a big, sweet dessert beer that has just the right cut of hoppy bitterness.
Citronious Shake
Calusa Brewing
True to its name, Citronius brings citrus to the fore with tangerine and mandarin orange flavors, as well as a sherbet-like bite. The full mouthfeel, brought to you by Florida’s Calusa, provides an unexpected twist on the overall Citra-hopped IPA trend
Milkshake Extra Vanilla
Tired Hands Brewing Company and Omnipollo
Pennsylvania-based Tired Hands teamed up with the creators of the original Milkshake IPA to bring one of the first tastes of this beer style to the States. These 16-ounce cans from the U.S. brewery’s Milkshake series are hard to track down, but devotees swear the entire lineup features some of the best variations on the theme. In particular, Extra Vanilla is brewed with loads of oats and lactose sugar, then hopped with Mosaic and Citra. Finally, it’s conditioned on Madagascar vanilla beans.
Piranha Dealer
Monday Night Brewing Company
Atlanta’s Monday Night Brewing Co.’s Piranha Dealer is a strawberries-and-cream Milkshake IPA style dessert beer that uses rolled oats and honey to shape its profile. Hop lovers aren’t left out as Simcoe, Citra, Ekuanot, Pira, and Mosiac blend to give the beer a bit of twang, but the real show here is the sweet strawberries and rich vanilla.
Language Lessons
Trophy Brewing Company
Bright fuzzy peaches are the key element in Language Lessons, and the stone fruit plays well with this style. The sweet initial sip gives way to a dry aftertaste, which beckons you back for another taste. Plus, the label art and beer name reference the classic flick Better Off Dead, which is bonus points all around.
Article originally published January 20, 2018. Last updated February 6, 2019.
