What do ibu mean

Since the early 20th century, the IBU scale was introduced and has evolved as a way to put a number to, or quantify, this perception and assess just how bitter a beer turned out to be when it was ready to drink. The strict definition is simple : International Bitterness Units are a chemical measurement of the number of bittering compounds, specifically isomerized and oxidized alpha acids, polyphenols, and a few other select bittering chemicals, that make your beer taste bitter.

The IBU correlates well, in most cases, with the sensory bitterness of beer, and this is why brewers use it. We want to be clear on something though. Beer is about the balance of ingredients and taste. Just because a beer has a higher IBU doesn't necessarily mean it is perceived or tastes to be as bitter as something with a lower IBU.

The stronger malt flavor of the Amber ale matches the IBU's of the beer and balances them accordingly. The IBU scale simply measures the amount of the chemicals in a beer that make it taste bitter. Make sense? Generally speaking, the more IBU's, the more bitter it will taste. In general, you can assume that the higher the IBUs are on in a given beer, the more bitter it will taste when you take a sip. IBUs are often calculated by a brewer based on the amount and type of hops added to a beer and when those hops are used in the brewing and cellaring process, but malts and other ingredients added to give a beer its flavors can mask or augment the bitterness you may actually detect upon drinking it.

Think of a double IPA. Typically, to achieve a balance of flavor in a bigger, higher ABV IPA, you want to have a higher IBU so that the sweetness of the malt is perfectly complemented by the higher bitterness.

Important: while bitterness is extremely important to your beer experience, it is not the same thing as hoppiness. Hops are added at various points in the production of beer. The further down the process that hops are added, will give different qualities to the finished beer. Depending on when the hops are added there will be big differences in what you experience.