The best IPA is Bell’s Two Hearted Ale, the single-hop Centennial American IPA that wins the best-beer-in-America polls year after year, fruity, balanced and endlessly drinkable. That is my verdict after buying and tasting twelve of the most respected IPAs in the country side by side, every one out of my own pocket, and scoring each on aroma, balance, body and drinkability.
I am Dan, and beer is my life. I have been an active homebrewer for over 10 years and have tasted breweries all over the world. This guide is built from my own tasting notes, with honest scores and a full review behind every pick. You can read more about me or see everything I have reviewed on my author page.
IPA is not one thing, it is a whole spectrum. Below is the best IPA for every taste, from the bright, bitter West Coast classics through the soft, juicy hazies to the big imperial sippers and the light session beers. A quick map of the styles: a West Coast IPA is clear, dry and bitter; a hazy or New England IPA is cloudy, soft and juicy; an imperial or double IPA cranks up the strength; and a session IPA keeps the hop flavour but drops the alcohol. I have ranked them together here because that is how people actually shop for an IPA.
The Best IPAs, Ranked
Here is the short version, ranked by how they actually taste. Full reviews are linked under each pick.
| Rank | Beer | Style | ABV | Calories | Our score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bell’s Two Hearted Ale | American IPA | 7.0% | 220 | 4.8/5 |
| 2 | Sierra Nevada Hazy Little Thing | Hazy / New England IPA | 6.7% | 190 | 4.6/5 |
| 3 | Ballast Point Sculpin | West Coast IPA | 7.0% | 210 | 4.6/5 |
| 4 | Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA | American IPA | 6.0% | 200 | 4.5/5 |
| 5 | Cigar City Jai Alai | American IPA | 7.5% | 220 | 4.5/5 |
| 6 | Stone IPA | West Coast IPA | 6.9% | 200 | 4.4/5 |
| 7 | Lagunitas IPA | American IPA | 6.2% | 200 | 4.3/5 |
| 8 | Sierra Nevada Pale Ale | American pale ale | 5.6% | 175 | 4.3/5 |
| 9 | Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA | Imperial / Double IPA | 9.0% | 290 | 4.2/5 |
| 10 | Voodoo Ranger Juice Force | Imperial hazy IPA | 9.5% | 300 | 4.2/5 |
| 11 | Elysian Space Dust | American IPA | 8.2% | 250 | 4.1/5 |
| 12 | Founders All Day Haze | Session hazy IPA | 4.7% | 150 | 3.9/5 |
The Best IPAs at a Glance
Swipe through the top picks and tap any card to jump straight to the full write-up.
Best IPA Overall: Bell’s Two Hearted Ale
Two Hearted is the American IPA most other IPAs are quietly measured against. It is brewed entirely with Centennial hops for a beautifully clean grapefruit and pine character, and it is balanced and drinkable enough to enjoy across an evening. It wins the best-beer-in-America polls more often than any other beer for a reason.
Bell’s Two Hearted Ale is the American IPA that most other IPAs are quietly measured against, a single-hop Centennial beauty that is fruity, balanced and endlessly drinkable.
- The benchmark American IPA
- Beautiful single-hop Centennial aroma
- Balanced and dangerously drinkable for 7%
- Rock-solid consistency bottle to bottle
- Not as juicy as modern hazy IPAs
- A touch sweet for hardcore West Coast fans
Serve it right: An IPA shows best in a glass that concentrates its hop aroma. A stemmed tulip funnels all that citrus, pine and tropical fruit straight to your nose, which is where half the enjoyment of a good IPA lives.
- Also worth trying: Stone IPA
Pairing it with food? Try our beer and food pairing guide. More like this in our Dogfish Head 60 Minute review.
Best Hazy IPA: Sierra Nevada Hazy Little Thing
Hazy Little Thing is the beer that put a proper juicy, unfiltered hazy IPA in every shop in the country. It is soft, tropical and easy to drink, and because Sierra Nevada can it fresh and ship it fast it is usually in great condition. For availability against quality, no other hazy comes close. See our full ranking of the best hazy IPAs for more.
Hazy Little Thing brought the juicy, unfiltered New England IPA to every shop in the country, and it is still one of the best you can buy without hunting.
- Genuinely good hazy IPA at national scale
- Soft, juicy and tropical
- Usually fresh thanks to fast distribution
- Sensibly priced for the style
- Not as intense as small-batch hazies
- Haze fades if it sits around too long
Serve it right: An IPA shows best in a glass that concentrates its hop aroma. A stemmed tulip funnels all that citrus, pine and tropical fruit straight to your nose, which is where half the enjoyment of a good IPA lives.
- Also worth trying: Voodoo Ranger Juice Force
Pairing it with food? Try our beer and food pairing guide. More like this in our Founders All Day Haze review.
Best West Coast IPA: Ballast Point Sculpin
Sculpin is one of the beers that defined the modern West Coast IPA. It is bright and light bodied, bursting with apricot, peach and lemon, and it drinks far more easily than its 7% suggests. If you like your IPAs dry and fruit-forward rather than sweet, this is the benchmark. See our full ranking of the best West Coast IPAs for more.
Sculpin is one of the defining West Coast IPAs, a bright, light-bodied beer bursting with apricot, peach and lemon that drinks far more easily than its 7% suggests.
- A defining West Coast IPA
- Gorgeous apricot and citrus aroma
- Light, dry and crisp
- Very drinkable for 7%
- Needs to be fresh to shine
- Too dry for drinkers who like a malty IPA
Serve it right: An IPA shows best in a glass that concentrates its hop aroma. A stemmed tulip funnels all that citrus, pine and tropical fruit straight to your nose, which is where half the enjoyment of a good IPA lives.
- Also worth trying: Stone IPA
Pairing it with food? Try our beer and food pairing guide. More like this in our Stone IPA review.
Best Imperial IPA: Dogfish Head 90 Minute
If you want the full, rich, warming imperial IPA experience, 90 Minute is a benchmark. Continually hopped over a full 90 minutes, it has a big honeyed malt backbone and a smooth bitterness that keeps a 9% beer civilised. Treat it as a slow sipper and it is one of the most satisfying big IPAs going. See our full ranking of the best double and imperial IPAs for more.
90 Minute is Dogfish Head’s imperial IPA, a rich, warming 9% beer with a big malt backbone and a smooth, continually-hopped bitterness that famously earned best-IPA praise.
- A benchmark imperial IPA
- Rich, warming and complex
- Smooth bitterness for a 9% beer
- Big malt and honey backbone
- Too big to drink more than one
- Malt sweetness not for hop purists
Serve it right: An IPA shows best in a glass that concentrates its hop aroma. A stemmed tulip funnels all that citrus, pine and tropical fruit straight to your nose, which is where half the enjoyment of a good IPA lives.
- Also worth trying: Voodoo Ranger Juice Force
Pairing it with food? Try our beer and food pairing guide. More like this in our Voodoo Ranger Juice Force review.
Best Session IPA: Founders All Day Haze
For hop flavour without the strength, All Day Haze is the pick. At just 4.7% and around 150 calories it is genuinely light, yet it keeps a real juicy, tropical hop character where most session IPAs taste thin. It is the beer for a long afternoon when you still want something hoppy. See our full ranking of the best session IPAs for more.
All Day Haze is Founders’ session IPA, a light 4.7% hazy that gives you real juicy hop flavour without the strength, calories or heaviness of a full IPA.
- Real hop flavour at just 4.7%
- Light in strength and calories
- Genuinely sessionable
- Does not taste thin or watery
- Lighter than a full-strength hazy
- Not for drinkers chasing intensity
Serve it right: An IPA shows best in a glass that concentrates its hop aroma. A stemmed tulip funnels all that citrus, pine and tropical fruit straight to your nose, which is where half the enjoyment of a good IPA lives.
- Also worth trying: Sierra Nevada Hazy Little Thing
Pairing it with food? Try our beer and food pairing guide. More like this in our best light beer guide.
Explore More Beer Guides
Want to go wider? These guides cover the rest of the beer world:
IPA FAQs
What does IPA stand for?
IPA stands for India Pale Ale. The name is historic, from strong, well-hopped pale ales shipped from Britain to India in the 1800s, but the modern American IPA is its own thing: a hop-forward pale ale built to show off aroma and flavour hops.
What is the difference between a West Coast and a hazy IPA?
A West Coast IPA is clear, pale, light bodied, dry and firmly bitter, showing off piney, citrusy hops. A hazy or New England IPA is cloudy, softer, fuller bodied and much lower in bitterness, focused on juicy tropical fruit. They are almost opposite ends of the IPA spectrum.
Why are IPAs so bitter?
IPAs use a lot of hops, and hops add bitterness as well as aroma and flavour. Classic West Coast IPAs lean into that bitterness, while modern hazy IPAs use late and dry hopping to get big hop flavour with far less bitterness. So not all IPAs are bitter any more.
What is a session IPA?
A session IPA is a lower-strength IPA, usually under 5% ABV, designed to deliver hop flavour in a beer you can drink several of without it flooring you. Founders All Day helped popularise the style.
How We Test and Score
Every beer here was bought with my own money and tasted properly, not skimmed from a spec sheet. I score each on aroma, balance, body, drinkability and how well it does the job it is built for. Simple beers are not marked down for being simple, but the ones with real character and balance score higher. You can see every score on the individual beer reviews.
Looking for a hazy New England IPA? See our Bissell Brothers The Substance Ale review.
One East Coast IPA worth seeking out on its own: our Maine Beer Company Lunch IPA review.
One cult-favorite pale ale worth seeking out: our Zombie Dust review.
Want the full ale family tree before picking your next IPA? See our types of ale guide.
