Shipping to 30+ countries

Shipping

Hoptimaal offers a wide variety of beers both in-store and online. If you can place an order, we usually have the product in stock (though mistakes can happen, unfortunately). Products that are in stock will be shipped the same day if ordered before 3:00 PM.

If we make an error with stock levels, you will be notified within 24 hours. In that email, we will offer you an alternative product, the right to a full refund, and a new delivery time. It's up to you how you'd like us to resolve the issue.

We ship all orders with DPD from the Netherlands. You can choose between:

  • Home delivery or delivery to your work
  • Delivery to a DPD pickup point near you

Shipping costs and the free-shipping threshold for your country are in the table below.

Deposit

On cans and bottles we charge the Dutch deposit (statiegeld): €0.15 per can and €0.10 per bottle (a little more for some bottles). It shows as a separate line in your cart. The deposit belongs to the Dutch deposit system: you can return the packaging in the Netherlands, not in deposit machines in other countries.

Shipping Costs by Country

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CountryShipping costReduced rateFree shipping from
Netherlands€8.50–€75
Belgium€8.95–€100
Germany€13.50–€100
Denmark€15.95–€150
Austria€15.95–€150
Bulgaria€47.50€25 from €150not available
Estonia€17.50–€150
Finlandpickup point €24.95
home €29.95		home: €10 from €200pickup point €200
home €250
France€16.95–€150
Greece€29.50€15 from €150not available
Hungary€21.95€10 from €150€200
Ireland€15.95–€150
Italy€16.95–€150
Croatia€47.50€25 from €150not available
Latvia€17.50–€150
Lithuania€21.95€10 from €150€200
Luxembourg€12.95–€150
Poland€15.95–€150
Portugal€19.95€10 from €150€200
Romania€27.50€10 from €150not available
Spain€18.75–€150
Czech Republic€15.95–€150
Swedenpickup point €24.95
home €29.95		home: €10 from €200pickup point €200
home €250
Norway*Coming soon
United Kingdom*Coming soon
Switzerland*Coming soon

Delivery

DPD generally delivers within 24 hours after receiving the parcel. So if we have received your order before 15:00 on working days, in 99% of cases you will have your order at home the next day. It may sometimes happen that they need one day longer. You can follow this via the Track & Trace details you receive from us, so you can see exactly where your order is. DPD also gives you a time window of 2 to 4 hours in which your order will be delivered. Not at home? No problem! You can indicate yourself whether you want them to come by again tomorrow or whether they should deliver it to the nearest post office.

Do you have a question about the delivery of your beer? Feel free to contact us: customer service.

Returns

You have a cooling-off period of 14 days after you have received the product. Within this period you can register the product for return. The email you received stating that your order is on its way contains a link that you can use to easily and free of charge download and print a return label. Returning is free: we provide the return label and the shipping costs of your return are at our expense. After registering your return, you have another 14 days to send the product back. If you bought multiple items at once, the period starts after receipt of your last item.

How do I return or exchange a product?

  • Fill in the return form within 14 days after receipt. If you are unable to print the return form, please write at least the order number and your name on a piece of paper and include it with your return.
  • Register your return with our customer service. You can do this by sending an email to: info@hoptimaal.nl or by calling 085 -130 1591. Or print your return label yourself via the link in the email titled "Your order is on its way".
  • After registering your return, you have another 14 days to send the product back.
  • Then send your return back in its original condition and with the packaging. Products that are damaged or incomplete are not eligible for exchange or refund.

Please note: after the 14-day cooling-off period it is no longer possible to return your product.

What can you expect after returning your product?

After receiving your return, you will receive a confirmation from us. This can take 3 working days, but in general we process your return on the day we receive it. We will check your return to see whether your product meets our return conditions and will then get to work on the solution you want.

Do you want your money back?

  • We will refund the purchase amount within 3 working days after confirmation of receipt to the account with which you paid. If you want to receive the purchase amount in another way, please contact us about the possibilities.
  • In case of visible signs of use, missing accessories or missing packaging, you are no longer entitled to a refund. If the packaging is not returned entirely in its original condition, we won't make a fuss and you will in any case get 75% of the purchase amount back. This is very rarely the case; usually the full purchase amount is simply refunded.

Do you want to receive a new product?

After receiving your return, we will send the new product right away. If the product is no longer in stock, we will refund the purchase amount to the account with which you paid.

  • Is the new product cheaper? The remaining amount will be refunded to your account within 3 working days.
  • Is the new product more expensive? You will receive a payment request for the remaining amount. After receipt of payment, we will send the product immediately.
  • Do you want to receive the new product at a different address or on a different day? Please contact us.

Exceptions

Beer that has been opened will not be taken back. We also do not take back beer that you ordered at a discount because the shelf life is almost expired. Of course we state this clearly on the product page, so that you are not surprised by a limited best-before date.

The item may be returned to the address below:

Hoptimaal
Leeghwater 5
3825MR Amersfoort
Netherlands

Order before 3:00 PM on weekdays, shipped today.
Break-proof packaging

Your beers are always carefully packaged. If there is any damage during transit, we offer a guarantee. Not satisfied, money back.
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Beer School › IPA · Hoppy & Bitter

Session IPA

A session IPA is a light IPA, with at most 5% alcohol, that still clearly smells and tastes of hops. The idea: the hop character of an IPA in a lighter, easy-drinking beer.

  • Alcohol3.0–5.0% according to the BJCP; at most 5.0% at the Brewers Association
  • Entry levelEasy to start with

How it usually tastes

Bitter
Sweet
Sour
Roasted
Fruity
Full

Average for this style; every beer has its own accent.

What is it?

A session IPA is a lighter version of an IPA. According to the BJCP, it is an American IPA at session strength, with 3.0–5.0% alcohol. According to the Brewers Association, it can be a less strong version of any IPA style, including the hazy IPA. Above 5.0%, a beer no longer counts as a session IPA at the Brewers Association.

The hops come first here too. The Brewers Association names a medium to high hop aroma, a pronounced hop character and a medium to high bitterness. The malt is low to medium and the body light to medium. According to the Brewers Association, balance and drinkability are the key.

The difference from a pale ale is small, but it exists: according to the BJCP, an American pale ale is maltier, better balanced and less pronouncedly hoppy and bitter than a session IPA. According to the BJCP, an American pale ale has 4.5–6.2% alcohol.

Cloudy session IPAs exist too: Untappd has the sub-style 'IPA - Session New England / Hazy' for them.

Myth or fact?

Partly true

‘Session beer is named after the short drinking times in British pubs during the First World War.’

The restricted opening hours and the lighter wartime beers did exist. But that the name comes from them is not proven: the oldest use of 'session beer' found is from 1982.

Partly true

‘Session beer is named after the short drinking times in British pubs during the First World War.’

The story goes like this: in the First World War British pubs were only allowed to open at fixed times, and workers drank light beer in those short 'sessions'. Beer historian Martyn Cornell looked into it.

What is right: the wartime rules from 1915 (the Defence of the Realm Act) limited pub opening hours to two 'sessions', one around lunchtime and one in the evening, and those rules remained after the war. The government also limited beer strength then. Light beers below about 4% that nonetheless had flavour probably began in that war, according to Cornell.

What cannot be shown: that the name comes from that. Cornell only found the expression 'evening session' in 1938 and 'lunchtime session' only in 1956. He and his readers did not find the term 'session beer' itself before 1982. Cornell thinks it more likely that the name comes from 'a session in the pub' with friends, which can last for hours. He does not believe the idea that workers had to drink quickly in a short time. Nobody knows for certain.

Sources

Partly true

‘A session IPA is just a pale ale.’

They lie close together, but according to the BJCP a pale ale is maltier and less hoppy and bitter than a session IPA.

Partly true

‘A session IPA is just a pale ale.’

A session IPA and a pale ale resemble each other: both pale in colour, hoppy and not very strong. Still, the style guides draw a distinction.

According to the BJCP, an American pale ale is maltier, better balanced and less pronouncedly hoppy and bitter than a session IPA. In a session IPA the hops therefore come even more to the fore. The alcohol differs slightly too: according to the BJCP, an American pale ale has 4.5–6.2%, a session IPA 3.0–5.0%.

So why 'partly true'? The BJCP itself writes that modern American pale ales are 'often just lower gravity IPAs'. In practice the line therefore blurs. The Brewers Association does draw a clear line: a beer below 5% that fits the description of another classic style does not count as a session IPA.

Sources

Myth

‘An IPA gets better if you leave it for a while.’

The hop aroma that an IPA is all about declines when you store it, especially if it is warm. Drink IPA as fresh as possible.

Myth

‘An IPA gets better if you leave it for a while.’

In master's research at Oregon State University (Barnette, 2018), dry-hopped beer was stored cool (3 °C) and warm (30 °C), with different amounts of dissolved oxygen. The storage temperature had the biggest effect on the aroma. With heat and more oxygen, tropical, citrus and hoppy aromas disappeared, and malty, dried-fruit and cardboard aromas took their place. Oxygen had a smaller, but demonstrable effect after just two weeks.

Other research, from the VLB in Berlin (2022) on eleven commercial hoppy ales, shows that it is more nuanced. Some hop aroma compounds stayed reasonably stable, other aroma compounds (esters) less so, and compounds that go with ageing increased.

The Brewers Association writes of the double IPA that the beer must show 'the fresh character of hops', without oxidised or aged flavours.

So store IPA cool and drink it fresh.

Sources

Where does it come from?

Light beers with a lot of flavour are older than the session IPA. According to beer historian Martyn Cornell, British beers below about 4% that nonetheless had flavour probably only began in the First World War, when the government limited beer strength. After the war that lower strength remained, because of the high tax on beer. The term 'session beer' is younger: the oldest use that Cornell and his readers found is from 1982, and in a British context from 1988.

The Brewers Association counts the session IPA itself among the styles of North American origin, and the BJCP bases it on the American IPA. In the Brewers Association style guidelines it is not in the 2014 edition and is in the 2015 one, then with 3.7–5.0% alcohol. Who brewed the first session IPA, we have not been able to establish with a reliable source.

How to pour it

A good starting point: 7–10 °C, the general suggestion of the American Homebrewers Association for American pale ales and IPAs. Store it cool and drink it fresh, because storing it warm costs you hop aroma.

Taste it yourself

Kundmüller GrischBEERlaKundmüller GrischBEERlalight, hoppy, crisp, easy drinking€3,95 LERVIG House PartyLERVIG House Partyfresh, fruity, light, dry finish€3,50 JELSTER MINI MANGOJELSTER MINI MANGOlight, mango, fresh bitter€3,95
All Session IPA in the shop
Did you like this? Then try New England IPA →

Similar to: IPA, Pale Ale

Terms

Session
A beer with a lighter body and less alcohol, of which you could drink more than one on a single occasion; there is no hard limit: the BJCP calls under 4% 'session strength', but allows a session IPA up to 5%, as does the Brewers Association.
Alcohol percentage (% vol.)
How much alcohol is in the beer, measured by volume (6% vol. is 6 ml of alcohol per 100 ml of beer); under the EU rules, the figure on the label for beer up to and including 5.5% vol. may deviate by 0.5% vol. upward or downward, and for stronger beer by 1% vol.
Hops
The cone-shaped flowers of the female hop plant (Humulus lupulus), which give beer bitterness, aroma and flavour and inhibit bacteria.
Mouthfeel / body
How a beer feels in your mouth: how full or thin it is (the body), how much carbonation it has and whether it is, for example, creamy or rather astringent.
Hazy / cloudy
Beer that is deliberately cloudy, such as a hazy (New England) IPA, where the sources differ on where that haze comes from: according to the BJCP from compounds from the hops that combine with proteins from the grain and not from yeast, according to the Brewers Association also from yeast and starch, among other things.
Sources for this page
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