IPA drinkers have it easy. The beer style is so popular that you can walk into any grocery or beer store and likely find a decent selection of noteworthy IPAs in stock. If you enjoy the classic piney, bitter, hoppy aromas and flavors of a classic West Coast IPA, you’ll have no trouble quenching your thirst at your neighborhood mini-mart. You’re aso in luck if you’re more of a double IPA, hazy IPA, or even a triple IPA. Your local grocer probably stocks a few of those as well.
While the lager is the best-selling beer style, there’s no disputing the saturation of the IPA marketplace. Your local beer retailer likely sells big-name beers from San Diego and other IPA centers and smaller award-winning brands. But with more than 9,000 breweries currently operating, what are the best beers you can find at almost any grocery store?
Fear not; we’re here to help with that. In our pursuit of sampling as many beers as humanly possible, we’ve compiled a list of the absolute best grocery store IPAs. Below, you’ll find the ten West Coast IPAs, hazies, and other IPA styles you can find almost anywhere. Keep scrolling to see them in all their piney, fruity, sometimes hazy goodness.
10. Elysian Space Dust
ABV: 8.2%
Average Price: $13 for a six-pack
The Beer:
Another iconic IPA, Elysian Space Dust is brewed with Pale, C-15, and DextraPils malts. It’s hopped with Chinook, Citra, and Amarillo hops. The result is a sublimely balanced IPA with a nice malt backbone and a ton of citrus, tropical fruits, and bitter pine.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: Malt sweetness, guava, pineapple, tangerine, lemon, grapefruit, and dank pine are prevalent on the nose.
Palate: Sipping it reveals notes of caramel malts, pineapple, peach, mango, grapefruit, lemon, fresh cut grass, and a ton of resinous pine needles.
Finish: The finish is a mix of caramel sweetness, ripe fruit, and prickly, bitter hops.
Bottom Line:
Elysian Space Dust is a well-rounded IPA. It ticks all the IPA boxes, especially the bitter pine finish.
9. Founders Centennial
ABV: 7.2%
Average Price: $22.99 for a fifteen-pack
The Beer:
With a name like Founders Centennial, you should be sure what you’re in for when you crack open one of these grocery store gems. This 7.2% ABV IPA is brewed with Crystal, Munich, and Golden Promise malts. It’s hopped solely with (you guessed it) Centennial hops.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: On the nose, you’ll find aromas of sweet malts, wildflowers, candied orange peels, lemon, grapefruit, and dank pine needles.
Palate: The palate is very citrus-forward. Drinking it brings you notes of tangerine, grapefruit, lemongrass, and a ton of pine.
Finish: It all ends with a dry, pleasantly bitter citrus and pine-filled finish.
Bottom Line:
If you’re a fan of citrus-centric hops (specifically Centennial hops), this is the grocery store IPA for you.
8. Stone IPA
ABV: 7.7%
Average Price: $11 for a six-pack
The Beer:
There aren’t many IPAs more well-known (and more readily available) than Stone IPA. This iconic West Coast IPA has been a grocery store mainstay since 1997. Brewed with Magnum, Chinook, Centennial, Azacca, Calypso, Ella, and Vic Secret hops, it’s known for its mix of citrus, tropical fruits, and bitter, bright pine.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: On the nose, you’ll find hints of sweet malts, orange peels, lemon zest, grapefruit, cracked black pepper, and dank pine.
Palate: The palate is a mix of sweet, cereal-like malts, candied orange peels, lemongrass, and floral, resinous pine.
Finish: The finish is all citrus and pine with a ton of pleasant bitterness at the very end.
Bottom Line:
Stone IPA is a simple, classic IPA. If you enjoy West Coast IPAs, you can do much worse than this beer.
7. Lagunitas IPA
ABV: 6.2%
Average Price: $11 for a six-pack
The Beer:
There’s a reason this IPA is readily available and it’s not just because it’s been brewed since 1993. It’s also its high-quality, balanced flavor profile featuring Cascade, Centennial, Chinook, and Simcoe hops. A backbone of English Crystal, Caramel, and Munich Malts adds balance.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: A lot is going on with this beer’s nose. There are scents of sweet malts, cracked black pepper, candied orange peels, tangerine, pineapple, and floral, piney hops.
Palate: There isn’t a ton of malt character, but there is a lot of ripe berry, caramelized pineapple, lemon zest, and juicy, prickly, floral, piney hop flavors.
Finish: It all ends with a final flourish of citrus peels and perfectly bitter, floral pine.
Bottom Line:
Lagunitas IPA is an excellent choice for fans of IPAs who prefer their beer to lean more heavily into citrus, fruit, and bitter pine instead of malts.
6. Firestone Walker Mind Haze
ABV: 6.2%
Average Price: $11 for a six-pack
The Beer:
Firestone Walker Mind Haze is a fitting example of a New England-style IPA you can get anywhere. It’s brewed with 2-row, wheat, Munich, torrified wheat, blonde RoastOat, and oats as well as Mandarina, Cascade, Azacca, El Dorado, Mosaic, Chinook, Cashmere, Callista, and Idaho 7 hops.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: Complex aromas of ripe pineapple, mango, cotton candy, tangerine, and floral hops make for a welcoming nose.
Palate: This IPA is extremely fruity and juicy with a ton of candied orange peels, lemon, mango, cotton candy, pineapple, mango, and just a hint of floral, earthy pine.
Finish: The finish is fruity, juicy, loaded with citrus, and just a wisp of prickly hop presence.
Bottom Line:
If you’re new to hazy IPAs, you’ll love this balanced, approachable New England-style IPA. It’s so good you’ll grab it every time you go to your local grocery store.
5. Deschutes Fresh Squeezed
ABV: 6.4%
Average Price: $11 for a six-pack
The Beer:
Deschutes is the type of brewery that makes nothing but noteworthy beers. When it comes to easy-to-find IPAs, its Deschutes Fresh Squeezed is one of the best. This year-round 6.4% ABV IPA is brewed with 2-row, Munich, and Crystal malts as well as Citra and Mosaic hops.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: On the nose, you’ll find aromas of sweet caramel, grapefruit, lemon zest, orange peels, ripe berries, and just a hint of floral hops.
Palate: Sipping it reveals a palate featuring sweet, bready malts, lemon peels, grapefruit, tangerine, pineapple, and a ton of floral, earthy, lightly piney hops.
Finish: The finish is citrusy, lightly prickly, but with extraordinarily little hop bitterness.
Bottom Line:
This beer is very aptly named. If you’re a fan of IPAs with little bitterness, but a lot of citrus flavor, this is your brew.
4. Rogue Batsquatch
ABV: 6.7%
Average Price: $11 for a six-pack
The Beer:
There’s a decent chance you’ll never encounter the mythical Pacific Northwest creature known as Batsquatch, but you will easily find the beer brewed in its name. This fruity, juicy, tropical IPA is brewed with 2-row malt, flaked wheat, malted wheat, oats, and Imperial Juice yeast. It’s hopped with El Dorado, Belma, and Mosaic hops.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: The nose is a mix of bready malts, candied orange peels, apricots, berries, honeydew melon, and light pine.
Palate: Your first sip will be filled with flavors like tangerines, ripe peaches, berries, pineapples, mango, guava, and just a hint of sticky, floral pine.
Finish: The finish is soft, sweet, juicy, and has little to no bitterness.
Bottom Line:
Rogue Batsquatch is a well-balanced, juicy, fruity beer. If you enjoy New England-style IPAs, this will be your new go-to grocery store hazy.
3. Bell’s Two Hearted
ABV: 7%
Average Price: $12 for a six-pack
The Beer:
There aren’t many grocery store IPAs as highly regarded as Bell’s Two Hearted. This iconic beer is kettle brewed and dry-hopped solely with Centennial hops. This results in a citrus and pine-centric IPA for all occasions.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: This beer has a complex nose featuring scents of bready malts, candied fruit, orange zest, mango, caramelized pineapple, lemon, and earthy, floral hops.
Palate: The palate features a ton of caramel, ripe peach, pineapple, tangerine, grapefruit, fresh cut grass, and floral, piney hops.
Finish: The finish is a mix of fruit, citrus, and perfectly bitter, hoppy pine.
Bottom Line:
When it comes to straight-forward, balanced IPAs, there aren’t many better grocery store beers than Bell’s Two Hearted.
2. Sierra Nevada Torpedo
ABV: 7.2%
Average Price: $12 for a six-pack
The Beer:
Sierra Nevad is another brewery that could have a few grocery store beers on this list. Sierra Nevada Torpedo gets its ridiculous, hoppy, citrus, fruity flavor because it’s hopped with Citra, Crystal, and Magnum hops using a dry-hopping device called the “Hop Torpedo”.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: Thanks to the “Hop Torpedo”, there’s a ton of dank, resinous sticky pine on the nose as well as caramel malt and a lot of orange, lemon, and grapefruit.
Palate: Sweet caramel malt, pineapple, grapefruit, Mandarin orange, and a lot of extremely dank, herbal, weed-like piney hops make for an exciting palate.
Finish: The last sip is a mix of caramel malt, citrus peels, and dank, bitter pine needles.
Bottom Line:
We picked Sierra Nevada Torpedo because it’s such a great beer that you can get anywhere. This is especially true if you prefer your IPA to be loaded with dank, resinous aromas and flavor.
1. Cigar City Jai Alai
ABV: 7.5%
Average Price: $12 for a six-pack
The Beer:
Jai Alai is a violent, potentially dangerous game that’s popular in Florida. And while Cigar City Jai Alai is made in Tampa, there’s nothing dangerous about this balanced, memorable beer. This 7.5% ABV year-round offering is brewed with a smattering of Amarillo, Cascade, Centennial, CTZ, Motueka, and Simcoe hops.
Tasting Notes:
Nose: On the nose, you’ll find hints of orange peels, grapefruit, caramelized pineapple, orchard fruits, freshly cut grass, and dank, herbal, earthy pine.
Palate: On the palate, you’ll find notes of biscuit-like malts, ripe berries, orange peels, grapefruit, pineapple, wet grass, and resinous pine needles.
Finish: The finish is well-balanced with caramel malts, tropical fruits, citrus, and gently bitter pine.
Bottom Line:
If you only buy one IPA on this list, make it Cigar City Jai Alai. Available almost anywhere, it’s a dank, fruity, hoppy beer you’ll go back to again and again.
