user 22118
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Jul 4, 2008
- Messages
- 2,023
- Reaction score
- 13
trying to figure out at what alcohol to start calling something an Imperial beer. 7%, 8%?
This makes no sense - because both Barleywine and Mild are distinctive styles, rather than arbitrary classifiers of alcohol strength. You can't call a BGSA or Tripel an 'Imperial' anything.I figure it like this:
Mild = 3%-4.5%
Regular = 4.5%-7%
Imperial = 7%-10%
Barleywine = 10%+
The trend of naming beers brewed out of style 'imperial' in reference to alcoholic strength frustrates me to no end...
This makes no sense - because both Barleywine and Mild are distinctive styles, rather than arbitrary classifiers of alcohol strength. You can't call a BGSA or Tripel an 'Imperial' anything.
I am not saying that they are a style or a classification. I am just stating that if I brew something that has 12% I am going to be in the barleywine category. With IPA I think that it caps at 1.090, so if I brew an IPA at 1.100 then is it technically a barleywine?
RIS and IIPA (though I prefer Double IPA - pet peeve) are actual styles, but Rogue calling their Morimoto Pils 'Imperial' just because it's outside of the parameters of a defined style pisses me off.I ask about Imperial only because you see Imperial stout and Imperial IPA and I just wanted to know when it hits Imperial.
but Rogue calling their Morimoto Pils 'Imperial' just because it's outside of the parameters of a defined style pisses me off.
RIS and IIPA (though I prefer Double IPA - pet peeve) are actual styles, but Rogue calling their Morimoto Pils 'Imperial' just because it's outside of the parameters of a defined style pisses me off.
Here I have to disagree slightly. When I see DIPA, to me it says more hops, which in turn means more alcohol to balance it out. When I see IIPA, to me it just says more alcohol, though there could be more hops as well but not always. So if I brew a 1.080 IPA and only hop it to 50, what do we call that? If I brew a 1.070 IPA and hop it to 90, what do we call that?
Off the IPA subject though, when I make an American Stout and get it up to 1.100, is that Imperial?
Off the IPA subject though, when I make an American Stout and get it up to 1.100, is that Imperial?
You guys are both frustrating. The ONLY reason it is called a "Double IPA" is because of the two "i"s in front of IIPA. Instead of saying "I-IPA" or "Two-IPA", people say, "Double IPA". The DIPA is just another way of saying IIPA. They're exactly the same thing. Fact is, it shouldn't be called any of those things, but the name 'Imperial' was easy for people to understand and it stuck. They're all the same thing though.
If you brew a 1.080 beer and hop it to 50, I wouldn't call it an IPA at all. Not all beers fall into a style and need a classification. At that point, you're just making a big malt bomb.
And a 1.070 beer hopped to 90 IBUs sounds like an IPA to me. That's how it is with every IPA out here.
The ONLY reason it is called a "Double IPA" is because of the two "i"s in front of IIPA. Instead of saying "I-IPA" or "Two-IPA", people say, "Double IPA". The DIPA is just another way of saying IIPA. They're exactly the same thing. Fact is, it shouldn't be called any of those things, but the name 'Imperial' was easy for people to understand and it stuck. They're all the same thing though.
A Russian Imperial Stout is definately not a Barleywine and ranges in gravity from about 1.080 to huge. That style is Imperial because it was originally brewed for the Russian Imperial family. All other "Imperial" beers are a made up designation. Imperial IPAs are the only other style I know of that is a recognized style and that has some defined guidelines.
There is but one style that truly can be called 'Imperial' and that is Russian Imperial Stout, 13F.
My mind just popped...
When it is outside of the style guidelines, where do you enter it? Where does a 12% IPA belong, since it is outside the Imperial IPA guidlines of 1.090? Do I begin calling it an American Barleywine? This is where there is a grey area for me and I am trying to have that answered.
Or are all of the beers that are outside of the OG guidelines just specialty beers?
My mind just popped...
When it is outside of the style guidelines, where do you enter it? Where does a 12% IPA belong, since it is outside the Imperial IPA guidlines of 1.090? Do I begin calling it an American Barleywine? This is where there is a grey area for me and I am trying to have that answered.
Or are all of the beers that are outside of the OG guidelines just specialty beers?
Enter your email address to join: