If you’ve paid attention to the beer world over the past decade or so, you know there are a lot of breweries operating in the US. At last count, well over 9,000. And while there are great options all over the country — from Vermont to Washington State — featuring endless styles of beer, you’d have a tough time finding a better state for brew, in general, and IPAs, specifically, than California. The state is home to more than 1,000 breweries on its own and San Diego is the undisputed nexus of the West Coast IPA universe.
Meaning that picking the ten best IPAs from California is no easy task. Still, we tried our very best — re-tasting the most popular, sought-after, beloved California-made IPAs to come up with this ranking. Regardless of their previous ratings, our metric was based on overall flavor and balance. Keep scrolling to see where your favorite IPA landed on this list.
10) Ballast Point Sculpin
ABV: 7%
Average Price: $14 for a six-pack
The Beer:
This popular West Coast IPA from San Diego’s Ballast Point gets its name because its hoppy sting is reminiscent of the sting of the Sculpin fish. Citrus, fruit, and a gentle bite of hops make this a memorable beer.
Tasting Notes:
A nose of light caramel malts, lime peels, grapefruit, and floral hops greet you before your first sip. The palate is all citrus peels and pine needles with a fairly aggressive, biting hoppy finish. People love this beer, but it’s a little too one-dimensional and bitter for some.
Bottom Line:
Ballast Point Sculpin is like a blueprint for a classic West Coast IPA. But with only light malts, citrus, and pine… it’s fairly muted.
9) Stone Enjoy By IPA
ABV: 9%
Average Price: $13 for a six-pack
The Beer:
The name of this popular series of beers is a reference to one when the brewery feels you should drink the beer. Brewed to be fresh and imbibed as soon as possible, depending on the bottles or cans you buy, the drink by date will be listed. The last Stone Enjoy By IPA was 04.20.23 Hazy IPA.
Tasting Notes:
Brewed with Rakau and Citra hops, this hazy IPA begins with a nose of tangerine, ripe peach, mango, caramel malts, and floral, lightly dank pine. Drinking it reveals more peach and tangerine as well as bready malts, mango, caramelized pineapple, and gentle, floral hops. It leans a little on the sweeter side and could use a bit more balance.
Bottom Line:
This is a tasty hazy IPA. It’s juicy, sweet, and loaded with tropical fruit aroma and flavor. That said, it’s just a bit one-dimensional.
8) Moonraker Dojo
ABV: 8%
Average Price: $19 for a four-pack of 16-ounce cans
The Beer:
This hazy, juicy, unfiltered New England-style IPA was brewed with a proprietary English yeast strain as well as Simcoe, Galaxy, Mosaic, and Citra hops. This creates a lightly bitter, memorable beer filled with tropical fruit flavors.
Tasting Notes:
Classic hazy IPA aromas of ripe pineapple, peach, guava, and passionfruit greet your nose prior to your first sip. The palate continues this trend with tangerine, caramelized pineapple, mango, and more peach, The finish is lightly resinous and bitter, but there’s not much of a malt backbone to be found.
Bottom Line:
It’s obvious why this hazy IPA is wildly popular. It’s hazy, juicy, and loaded with tropical fruit flavors and a nice, dank, piney finish. It could use a little more malt character though.
7) Alpine Nelson
ABV: 7%
Average Price: $14 for a six-pack
The Beer:
This beer gets its name from the liberal use of Nelson Sauvin hops. Used both on the kettle and through dry-hopping, this hop variety gives the beer pine, tropical fruit, and citrus flavors. European rye malts give this beer a well-rounded flavor profile.
Tasting Notes:
This IPA begins with aromas of caramelized pineapple, ripe peaches, mango, tangerine, and just a hint of peppery rye. This interesting start makes way for a palate of pineapple, orange peel, peach, guava, and even more rye. The finish is lightly bitter, dry, and filled with pine.
Bottom Line:
This is a well-balanced, highly drinkable IPA. The rye spice is a welcome addition and one that makes this the kind of beer you’ll go back to again and again.
6) Noble Ale Works Citra Showers
ABV: 8.8%
Average Price: $10 for a 22-ounce bottle
The Beer:
This beer gets its name because this double IPA is hopped exclusively with Citra hops. The result is a surprisingly complex beer with a ton of lemon, mango, grapefruit, and pine. This is an IPA for the citrus fans.
Tasting Notes:
The nose starts with a healthy dose of caramel malts and works its way into grapefruit, tangerine, lime peel, and tropical fruit flavors. Drinking it reveals hints of more sweet malts, grapefruit, orange zest, lemongrass, light pepper, and floral, lightly resinous hops. Subdued bitterness at the finish.
Bottom Line:
Citra hops live up to their name — it’s a hop varietal bursting with citrus aroma and flavor. The folks at Noble Ale Works use it perfectly to make a citrus-filled yet balanced IPA.
5) Kern River Citra
ABV: 8.5%
Average Price: $6 for a 16-ounce can
The Beer:
This 8.5% ABV IPA might be called Citra, but it’s not just a one-trick pony by any means. On top of being dry-hopped with Citra hops, it’s also dry-hopped with Amarillo hops. This creates a balanced IPA with a ton of citrus, tropical fruit, and dank pine tree flavors.
Tasting Notes:
A backdrop of caramel malts leads to honeydew melon, ripe pineapple, grapefruit, and orange zest aromas on the nose. The palate is centered around more sweet malts, tangerine, grapefruit, peach, melon, berries, and just a hint of acidity. The finish is dry and semisweet with little bitterness.
Bottom Line:
The use of Citra and Amarillo hops gives this beer a great balance. It also has a great malt backbone to hold everything together nicely. A very well-rounded beer.
4) Societe The Pupil
ABV: 7.5%
Average Price: $14 for a six-pack
The Beer:
This award-winning IPA is brewed with Nelson Sauvin, Citra, and Centennial hops. It’s known for its well-balanced flavor profile featuring a mix of citrus, tropical fruit flavors, and a crisp, lightly bitter finish.
Tasting Notes:
Candied orange peel, caramelized pineapple, mango, ripe melon, and just a hint of floral, piney hops. Drinking it brings forth notes of lime peel, lemongrass, honeydew melon, pineapple, mango, and a nice kick of lightly bitter pine needles at the very end. It’s not overwhelming though.
Bottom Line:
This is a very well-balanced IPA. Everything seems to be working together in perfect unity to make a fruity, dank, highly drinkable beer.
3) Russian River Pliny The Elder
ABV: 8%
Average Price: $8 for a 16.9-ounce bottle
The Beer:
One of the most sought-after beers in America, Russian River Pliny The Elder is definitely the easier to find of the Pliny duo. Brewed with Centennial, CTZ, Amarillo, and Simcoe hops, this beer is renowned for its fresh flavor and perfect balance of malts and hops.
Tasting Notes:
Classic West Coast IPA flavors of lemon zest, grapefruit, tangerine, caramel malts, and floral, herbal, piney hops start the nose off on the right foot. Drinking it reveals more grapefruit, ripe orange, lemongrass, caramel malts, and more dank pine. The finish is dry, crisp, and has a bit of hop bitterness that only adds to the overall experience.
Bottom Line:
The hops and malts selected for this beer give it a ridiculously complex flavor profile that still manages to be well-balanced. There’s a reason this beer is so popular.
2) Monkish Foggier Window
ABV: 8.1%
Average Price: $22 for a four-pack of 16-ounce cans
The Beer:
This 8.1% ABV double IPA was double dry-hopped with Nelson Sauvin, Galaxy, and Citra hops. The result is a fruity, dry, lightly bitter IPA well-suited for warm-weather drinking.
Tasting Notes:
A vibrant nose of passionfruit, mango, guava, pineapple, peach, tangerine, and literally any tropical fruit you can imagine greets you before your first sip. The palate is filled with more tropical fruit goodness, but there are also some berries, honey sweetness, and a nice hoppy, resinous bitter finish that will leave you craving more.
Bottom Line:
This beer is like a tropical fruit salad meets your favorite dank weed. It’s a perfect combination and one that we can’t get enough of.
1) Russian River Pliny The Younger
ABV: 10.25%
Average Price: Limited Availability
The Beer:
In the pantheon of California IPAs, it’s pretty tough to beat Russian River Pliny The Younger. This highly coveted, hard-to-find triple IPA is widely known as one of the most balanced, well-made American craft beers of all time. Drinkers love it for its hoppy aromas and flavors and citrus zest.
Tasting Notes:
This beer is like the textbook definition of a classic IPA. The nose is a perfect balance of resinous pine, freshly cut grass, and citrus. The palate has all of those flavors but expands on them with the addition of sweet caramel malt, tropical fruits, and candied orange peel. It all ends with a dry, resinous, dank, floral, hoppy, lightly sweet, and lightly bitter finish that leaves you wanting more.
Bottom Line:
Good luck finding a better, more balanced California IPA than Russian River Pliny The Younger. Well… also good luck finding Pliny The Younger.
