West Coast IPA Is Dead is a beer brewed annually by Green Cheek and a select group of other breweries. We've been lucky to collaborate on this beer for the fourth year running and thought it was time to tell the story!
The History
While attending GroundUp Music Festival in Miami, Florida in 2018, our MD Paul Jones attended a talk by jazz musician Robert Glasper who expressed his frustration at being discredited and berated by fellow jazz musicians for bringing modern influence into jazz, in their words reducing its power and that classic jazz didn’t need to be meddled with.
Glasper argued that jazz is always evolving and has always evolved and that he was just a part of the latest evolution. He then argued that if jazz peaked in the 60s and 70’s then ‘Jazz is dead’ because it’s no longer living, breathing and taking influence.
Riffing on this sentiment, while Paul attended Modern Times Festival Of Dankness in San Diego that same year, he found himself on a panel talking about the rise of hazy beers, specifically NEIPA’s. San Diego is a fiercely West Coast beer style city with a lot of pride and heritage in brewing super bitter and clear beer and many brewers from there at the time rejected the rise of hazy beers as they saw it as a defilement of the proper West Coast IPA.
During a panel break Paul made a comment to Henry Nguyen from Monkish that if IPA has already peaked and people were so reluctant to evolve, then ‘West Coast IPA is dead.’. Henry being Henry, when they joined for the second half of the panel, relayed Paul’s statement of ‘West Coast IPA being Dead’ to a room of very shocked and now pissed off West Coast breweries.
Paul doubled down and explained that evolution is a natural part of working in a speciality and that we should embrace, not reject it. Being the only brewery, and possibly person, not from the US in the room you can imagine this didn’t go down well. Except for Evan from Green Cheek who stood to applaud and cheer.
The sentiment and phrase went down so well with Evan that in 2018 he brewed the first ever West Coast IPA Is Dead, going on to win the bronze medal in the American Style IPA category at the Great American Beer Festival 2018. Since then West Coast IPA Is Dead has grown into a yearly collaboration across the globe with individual breweries taking Green Cheeks recipe, evolving and developing it in their own brewing styles.
The Collaboration
This year sees a whopping 11 breweries collaborating for 2026 and we are the only UK brewery taking part!
So, what is West Coast IPA Is Dead 2026?
STYLE - DDH West Coast IPA ABV - 7.2%
HOPS - Simcoe T90, Krush Cryo and Mosaic Cryo
MALT - Pilsner Heidelberg, Flaked Wheat & Rice Hulls
PROFILE - Clean, bright, piney bitterness, soft tropical, bright citrus.
ALLERGENS - Contains Wheat and Barley, Gluten Free, Vegan
What makes this year's brew different from last year?
This year it’s not just a West Coast IPA but a DDH West Coast IPA! Meaning there is, quite literally, twice as many hops in it compared to last year.
We’ve also added hop Krush to the brew to bring some ripe mango and juicy peach to the already deliciously dank and bright citrus line up of Simcoe, Mosaic & Citra.
A touch of wheat has also been added to the grist to give a pillowy soft body to support the more tropical and stonefruit notes added.
Due to the level of dry hop (26g/L), this beer will have hop haze, as opposed to being pin bright.
When can we get our hands on it?
West Coast IPA Is Dead 2026 will be available online from Tuesday 20th October, and on tap at all Cloudwater venues and around the country from 31st October.
We're hosting a fun event at the Brewery Taproom on 31st October to celebrate too, hope you can make it!
Trade partners
If you'd like to stock West Coast IPA Is Dead 2026, head to our Sellar page
