I'd say it's mostly the hop profile. Those earthy, Noble hops are really what signifies an English IPA.
There are plenty of top-rated, hoppy West-Coast style American IPAs with English malts and/or yeasts. You would never label these as English IPAs when you smell/taste them.
Elysian Immortal IPA is termed "English IPA" but the use of American hops, high aroma, and smooth bitterness of the beer make it fantastic. A favorite of mine for sure, but keep in mind, I tend to dislike English-hopped IPAs.
I tried an "English IPA" from a brew pub I used to go to (location in Framingham, MA, same plaza as Best Buy and Bob's
) that was too bitter and used all US hops. :cross: I think they used an US yeast strain too. Don't remember if I was able to find out the malts used, but I doubt it was MO, or even UK 2-row (Pale Ale) malt.
Just glad I tried a sample size before committing to a full pint.
BTW, pretty sure 'Noble hops' are not used in English IPA's...
"A lot of home brewers are familiar with the term “Noble Hops” which refers to four variety of continental European hops originally grown in Central Europe. The four hop varieties are
Tettnanger, Spalt, Hallertauer and Saaz."
EKG is included in the 'The “Nearly Noble” Hops' category.
"In addition to the four hops listed above (and their variants), you will often hear of other hops occasionally listed as noble hops. These include English Fuggles, East Kent Golding, (Hallertauer) Hersbrucker, and Styrian Goldings (a Fuggle variant). While none of these are actually true noble hops, they share many of the noble hop characteristics of being highly aromatic and having low alpha acid.
Also due to the pressured of land usage in Central Europe, diseases and pests and the move of many commercial brewers towards high yield, high alpha hops (for hop extract), the supply of true noble hops has been steadily decreasing for decades. Growers are instead producing hybrids or variants such as Liberty (a cross of Hallertauer Mittlefruh with a disease resistant US hop) or Mt Hood (a higher alpha acid hybrid). Variants of the nearly noble hops above such as Willamette (derived from Fuggles) are also widely grown in the United States."
:smack:
Personally, I really, really, really like EKG. Fuggles is ok, when used in moderation and properly. I like to use Target and Northdown for bittering additions from time to time too (when I don't want to use too much EKG).
IMO, any brews produced as "English" or from the British Isles should have the flavors from there. That means hop flavors/aromas should be from native hop varieties. IMO, using US, German, etc. varieties for the flavor and aroma immediately removes it from being an actual/true English style brew. It can be 'in the English style' but that's as close as it gets.
Carry on.