An India pale ale built around New Zealand hop varieties — Nelson Sauvin, Riwaka, Motueka, and related cultivars. Typically 6.3–7.5% ABV, straw to copper, with high to intense hop aroma and flavor and medium-high to very high bitterness. The signature is the distinctive New Zealand hop character: tropical and stone fruit, white-wine grape, citrus, a grassy note, and a characteristic sulfur or diesel-like quality.
In the glass
Origin
New Zealand has grown hops commercially since the 19th century, and the country’s plant-breeding program developed cultivars with a distinctive tropical-fruit and white-wine character unlike American or European hops. The most prominent, Nelson Sauvin (released in 2000), contributes a grape-and-gooseberry, Sauvignon-Blanc-like aroma, joined by varieties such as Riwaka and Motueka. As these hops became available, brewers used them to build bold, hop-saturated IPAs that showcased their character. 8 Wired’s Hopwired (2009), brewed entirely with New Zealand hops, is widely cited as a foundational example that helped establish the category, alongside other all-New-Zealand-hopped IPAs from the country’s craft brewers. As a relatively young style, its commercial boundaries are still settling.
Notes
The defining feature is hop provenance rather than gravity or malt. New Zealand hops taste markedly different from the citrus-and-pine of American varieties and the spicy noble character of European ones, leaning toward tropical fruit, white-wine grape, and a distinctive sulfur or diesel-like edge that the style guidelines themselves call out. This is the higher-gravity, more bitter sibling of the New Zealand-Style Pale Ale: both showcase the same hops, but the IPA pushes the intensity considerably further. The same hop family also turns up in New Zealand pilsners, where the character is carried on a clean lager base instead.
Defining examples
8 Wired Hopwired IPA·Liberty Brewing Sauvin Bomb·Garage Project Pernicious Weed·Epic Armageddon IPA