Comparison
Red IPA vs West Coast IPA
What is the difference between Red IPA and West Coast IPA?
The short answer
The main difference is dryness: West Coast IPA has far more of it than Red IPA. Red IPA also leads on caramel & toffee; West Coast IPA on tropical fruit and bitterness.
Generated from the two style records. No editor has written this comparison up, so it carries no verdict beyond what the data supports.
Where they overlap
They share comparable hop aroma, alcohol warmth, carbonation, overlapping strength ranges, the same style family — the boundary between them is narrower than the comparison suggests.
Side by side
| Red IPA | West Coast IPA | |
|---|---|---|
| Family | IPA | IPA |
| Fermentation | Top-fermented (ale) | Top-fermented (ale) |
| Origin | United States | United States |
| Category status — One of these is a more settled category than the other, which is worth knowing before treating the comparison as exact. | Commercial category | Emerging |
| Strength | 5.5–7.5% ABV | 6–7.5% ABV |
| Bitterness (IBU) — IBU measures iso-alpha acids in the lab. It does not track perceived bitterness, which residual sweetness, body and roast all alter — compare the sensory rows below for how each actually tastes. | 50–80 IBU | 55–85 IBU |
| Colour | Reddish amber to copper — 11–19 SRM, 22–37 EBC | Pale gold to light amber — 4–9 SRM, 8–18 EBC |
| Original gravity | 1.056–1.070 | 1.058–1.070 |
| Final gravity | 1.010–1.016 | 1.006–1.012 |
| Serving temperature | 8–11°C | 7–10°C |
| Carbonation | 2–3 vol CO₂ | 2–3 vol CO₂ |
| Glassware | Tulip glass | Tulip glass, Teku glass |
| Clarity | clear | brilliant |
How they taste different
| Character | Red IPA | West Coast IPA |
|---|---|---|
| Dryness | Not characteristic | High–Very high |
| Caramel & toffee | Moderate | Not characteristic |
| Tropical fruit | Not characteristic | Low–Moderate |
| Bitterness | High | Very high |
| Sweetness | Low–Moderate | Trace |
| Body | Moderate | Low |
| Malt intensity | Moderate | Trace–Low |
| Floral | Not characteristic | Low |
| Citrus | Moderate | High |
| Resin & pine | Moderate | High–Very high |
Which should you choose?
- You want more dryness → West Coast IPA
- You want more caramel & toffee → Red IPA
Derived from where the two actually differ. Neither is better — this is a question of which difference you want.