Typically, they add a large share of a beer's hops as it boils in their kettle. Brynildson says he uses a blend of oats and wheat, which as higher protein grains, create a soft and fuller mouthfeel.īrewers also save nearly all the hops until late in the brewing process for low-cal IPAs. Some brewers use an additive, like the chicory root in Deschutes' Wowza or monk fruit in Dogfish Head's Slightly Mighty, to add body and balance. Then there's the lack of body-these beers have roughly a third to a quarter of the carbs of a regular IPA. We found 10 low-cal IPAs from across the country we enthusiastically recommend. Brynildson says Firestone Walker uses a yeast strain, commonly called London III, that's popular with IPA brewers-and borrowed from his Mind Haze-for creating juice-like flavor compounds from the hop oils as the beer ferments to broaden the hop character. Cutting down the ABV is a matter of using less grain, but then they have to make up for the lighter hop character. And then there are the calories from carbohydrates that provide a beer's body and sweet balance to the bitter hop oils.īrynildson and his brewing peers use several methods to achieve a (nearly) full-flavored IPA with half the calories.

All that alcohol makes an excellent solution for extracting aromatic hop oils, says Matt Brynildson, brewmaster at Firestone Walker Brewing. The biggest portion of calories comes from the typical 6 to 7 percent ABV. Your standard craft India pale ale, like a Sierra Nevada Hazy Little Thing or Firestone Walker Mind Haze, weighs in around 200 calories.

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