Next Round: It's all about the IPA

If you are like most craft beer drinkers, your next round will be an India Pale Ale.

India Pale Ale (IPA) is the clear-cut leader among the beer styles produced by U.S. craft beer brewers — those smaller in size than the big brands such as Bud, Coors and Miller.

IPAs made up nearly one-fourth (23%) of craft beer sales sold at supermarkets and other retail stores in the 12 months ending in January 2015, according to IRI, a Chicago-based market research firm.

And drinkers' love of the bitter, aromatic amber-colored ales continues to increase, with sales up 4% from a year ago. The next most popular category is seasonal beers which gets about 13% of sales, IRI says.

So brewers are making more IPAs to cater to consumers' whims:

Boston Beer Co. has two new IPAs in its lineup — Samuel Adams Rebel Rider, a lower-alcohol more drinkable session IPA, and Samuel Adams Rebel Rouser, a sweet and bitter expression of the double IPA style, which is boozier than the traditional IPA (Rebel Rouser weighs in at 8.4% alcohol by volume).

Very drinkable, Rebel Rider (bottles, 4.5% ABV), could be an entry-level IPA for newcomers, just as Rebel Rouser (bottles and draft), which is made with seven different hops, serves as a first-step into stronger IPAs for others.

Green Flash Brewing Co. Palate Wrecker (22 oz. and 12 oz. bottles and draft,9.5% ABV) is also a double IPA, sometimes referred to as Imperial IPA, aimed at those looking for new hop flavors. The San Diego-based brewery used a double brewing process with Columbus, Centennial and Simcoe hops. Don't be scared off by the 149 IBUs (International Bitterness Units); it's bitter but balanced with a caramelly finish.

For Boulevard Brewing Co.'s new year-round IPA The Calling (12 oz. bottles and draft), the Kansas City, Mo., brewery used eight different hops: Simcoe, Bravo, Topaz, Cascade, Mosaic, Equinox, Galaxy and Amarillo and a touch of lemon peel near the end of the boil. The result is a complex hop extravaganza with whiffs of pine, grapefruit and lemongrass and a taste that reveals a slight sourness as it warms.

Speaking of grapefruit, you might still be able to find Abita Grapefruit Harvest IPA (bottles, 6%), a winter seasonal release from the Louisiana brewery that has a sweet aroma and a bitter, fruity aftertaste.

Stone Delicious IPA comes in at the high alcohol end of an IPA (7.7% ABV, draft and bottles) and is brewed in a way to remove most of the gluten, so it classifies as a gluten-reduced ale. No taste sacrifices are made, however. Its citrusy flavor comes from a fairly new type of hop, Lemondrop, and dry-hopping using El Dorado hops.

Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. makes oil from fresh-harvested hops for its new year-round Hop Hunter (bottle and draft, 6.2% ABV), which has a dense pungent smell and corresponding flavor that lingers in the aftertaste.

Next Round will take a regular look at new and recently released craft beers. And if there's one on your radar, or if you have suggestions or questions, contact Mike Snider via e-mail. And follow Snider on Twitter: @MikeSnider.