Ipa Light?

[Sammus]

Is it possible to make something that feels and tastes like (at least close to) an IPA or AIPA (even a IIPA!) without the massive alcohol content? I'd love to be able to live off these big tasting beers but still be functional after a pint or two.

 

[Doc]

Indeed it is.
Checkout my recipe here in the RecipeDB.

Beers,
Doc

 

[Sammus]

Looks good, I'll have to try it, but I was still after something closer to an IPA taste (ie ~60IBU but still well balanced). I'm guessing it would be kind of impossible to have it balanced when it requires an enormous amount of hops, light alc% and reasonable FG...

 

[Doc]

The one I linked to I started out with a higher IBU number.
However you have to remember that IBU is a number. Different hops impart different flavours and bitterness profiles, so the number isn't everything.
I even messed with hop bursting to get lots of hop aroma and flavour into the beer.
The recipe I linked to tastes like a very solid APA, and if you weren't told it was 3.5% you'd probably not even guess it until you'd had 5 pints and barely felt it.

Doc

 

[Sammus]

Yeah I'm aware of that, I wasn't dissing your recipe or anything, I will brew it and im sure itll be great.