I.P.A.
India Pale Ale
I
Puke
Alot
Odell Brewing:
We took the traditional IPA, originally shipped from England to India in the 1700’s, and
made it bolder and more flavorful – American Style. We’ve added new varieties of highly
aromatic American hops to create a distinctive bitterness profile and an incredible hop
character.
Goose Island Brewing:
Our India Pale Ale recalls a time when ales shipped from England to India were highly hopped
to preserve their distinct taste during the long journey. The result is a hop lover’s dream with
a fruity aroma, set off by a dry malt middle, and long hop finish.
Stone Brewing:
The History of India Pale Ales: Originally developed in the late 1700's, British
breweries would send beer via sail to the troops and British expatriates in India.
Problem was, there was no refrigeration and the ocean voyage took nearly five
months. As a result, the beer would usually arrive in compromised condition. Well,
the brewers of the time didn't know as much about beer as we do today, but they
did know that both hops (where we get the bitterness in beer) and alcohol act as
natural preservatives. So, they came up with a brew that was intensely hopped and
rather high in alcohol --- thus the birth of the "India Pale Ale."
About.com:Beer
In the early 1700s Britain had a problem. Troops and British citizens living in India as part of
the colonial rule did not have access to good British ale and any attempts to ship the malt
British ales to them resulted in spoilage. India Pale Ale, or IPA, was the solution. The generous
amount of hops in this brew protected it from the heat and motion of the British sailing ships of
the day.
Beer Advocate
First brewed in England and exported for the British troops in India during the late
1700s. To withstand the voyage, IPA's were basically tweaked Pale Ales that were, in
comparison, much more malty, boasted a higher alcohol content and were wellhopped, as hops are a natural preservative.
Beer Tutor:
The creation of India Pale Ale (IPA) during the 1790s was the result of tremendous
efforts by British brewers to overcome a difficult problem. During the 1700s beer did
not keep well on long ocean voyages, especially into hot climates. These hot
environments resulted in the arrival of flat, sour beer. The high hopping and alcohol of
IPAs solved this problem.
BJCP Style Guidelines
14. INDIA PALE ALE (IPA)
14A. English IPA.
14B. American IPA.
14C. Imperial IPA.
Referred to IPA as a “super-premium pale ale”
The trip to India was long and brutal; down the Atlantic through tropical heat, around
the Cape of Good Hope, and back north into the tropics. (There was no Suez Canal
until 1869, and even then it was still a very long, hot journey.) The first English beers
arriving in India were usually sour, flat, and unfit for sale. Even using the most modern
techniques and equipment, motion and heat combine to speed the staling of beer.
In the year 1792, an enterprising brewer named George Hodgson of the Bow
Brewery, motivated by the wide-open Indian beer market, solved the problem. He
invented a new style of beer, brewing it to a high alcohol level and using more hops
than any previous beers.
George Hodgson: Myths or Facts?
There is evidence that pale ale was being made at least as early as 1675, and that pale ale
was being sold in London by 1709 at the latest. There are records of ‘Burton and pale
ale’ being drunk in Madras as early as 1717-giving the lie to the myth that this was a
new style of beer invented in London later that century.
There is also evidence that ale and beer were being exported, apparently successfully, to India
as early as 1711.
By the 1760s brewers were being advised that it was “absolutely necessary” to add extra hops
to beer if it was being sent to warmer climes. There is no evidence linking this advice, to hop
export beer more heavily, to any specific brewer.
Hodgson’s involvement in the India trade seems to be based on two lucky chances. The
first was that the docks for the merchant ships that went to and from India, owned by the
East India Company, were just a short distance from his brewery.
George Hodgson: Myths or Facts?
There is evidence that pale ale was being made at least as early as 1675, and that pale ale was
being sold in London by 1709 at the latest. There are records of ‘Burton and pale ale’ being
drunk in Madras as early as 1717-giving the lie to the myth that this was a new style of beer
invented in London later that century
There is also evidence that ale and beer were being exported, apparently successfully, to
India as early as 1711.
By the 1760s brewers were being advised that it was “absolutely necessary” to add extra hops
to beer if it was being sent to warmer climes. There is no evidence linking this advice, to hop
export beer more heavily, to any specific brewer.
Hodgson’s involvement in the India trade seems to be based on two lucky chances. The
first was that the docks for the merchant ships that went to and from India, owned by the
East India Company, were just a short distance from his brewery.
George Hodgson: Myths or Facts?
There is evidence that pale ale was being made at least as early as 1675, and that pale ale was
being sold in London by 1709 at the latest. There are records of ‘Burton and pale ale’ being
drunk in Madras as early as 1717-giving the lie to the myth that this was a new style of beer
invented in London later that century
There is also evidence that ale and beer were being exported, apparently successfully, to India
as early as 1711.
By the 1760s brewers were being advised that it was “absolutely necessary” to add extra
hops to beer if it was being sent to warmer climes. There is no evidence linking this
advice, to hop export beer more heavily, to any specific brewer.
Hodgson’s involvement in the India trade seems to be based on two lucky chances. The
first was that the docks for the merchant ships that went to and from India, owned by the
East India Company, were just a short distance from his brewery.
George Hodgson: Myths or Facts?
There is evidence that pale ale was being made at least as early as 1675, and that pale ale was
being sold in London by 1709 at the latest. There are records of ‘Burton and pale ale’ being
drunk in Madras as early as 1717-giving the lie to the myth that this was a new style of beer
invented in London later that century
There is also evidence that ale and beer were being exported, apparently successfully, to India
as early as 1711.
By the 1760s brewers were being advised that it was “absolutely necessary” to add extra hops
to beer if it was being sent to warmer climes. There is no evidence linking this advice, to hop
export beer more heavily, to any specific brewer.
Hodgson’s involvement in the India trade seems to be based on two lucky chances.
The first was that the docks for the merchant ships that went to and from India,
owned by the East India Company, were just a short distance from his brewery.
George Hodgson: Myths or Facts?
The second lucky chance was Bow brewery’s owners were willing to give the East
Indiaman ships’ captains extended credit (up to 18 months), on their purchases of beer to
be sold to Europeans in Bombay, Calcutta and Madras. In addition, most outbound ships
were sailing half empty, resulting in low shipping rates. India was self-sufficient in most
things and it was really the silks and spices returning from India that opened p the
opportunity to ship beer to India.
Porter was perfectly capable of lasting on board a ship as this passage from the journal of
Joseph Banks on August 25 1769, when he was on board the Endeavour with Captain Cook in
the South Pacific, shows:
“It was this day a twelvemonth since we left England, in consequence of which a piece of
cheshire cheese was taken from a locker where it had been reservd for this occasion and a cask
of Porter tappd which provd excellently good, so that we livd like English men and drank the
heaths of our freinds in England.”
The first known use of the expression "India Pale Ale" comes from an advertisement in the
Liverpool Mercury newspaper published January 30 1835. Before January 1835, and for some
time after this date, this style of beer was referred to as "pale ale as prepared for India", "India
Ale", "pale India ale" or "pale export India ale".
George Hodgson: Myths or Facts?
The second lucky chance was Bow brewery’s owners were willing to give the East Indiaman
ships’ captains extended credit (up to 18 months), on their purchases of beer to be sold to
Europeans in Bombay, Calcutta and Madras. In addition, most outbound ships were sailing
half empty, resulting in low shipping rates. India was self-sufficient in most things and it was
really the silks and spices returning from India that opened p the opportunity to ship beer to
India.
Porter was perfectly capable of lasting on board a ship as this passage from the journal of
Joseph Banks on August 25 1769, when he was on board the Endeavour with Captain
Cook in the South Pacific, shows:
“It was this day a twelvemonth since we left England, in consequence of which a piece of
cheshire cheese was taken from a locker where it had been reservd for this occasion and a
cask of Porter tappd which provd excellently good, so that we livd like English men and
drank the heaths of our freinds in England.”
The first known use of the expression "India Pale Ale" comes from an advertisement in the
Liverpool Mercury newspaper published January 30 1835. Before January 1835, and for some
time after this date, this style of beer was referred to as "pale ale as prepared for India", "India
Ale", "pale India ale" or "pale export India ale".
George Hodgson: Myths or Facts?
The second lucky chance was Bow brewery’s owners were willing to give the East Indiaman
ships’ captains extended credit (up to 18 months), on their purchases of beer to be sold to
Europeans in Bombay, Calcutta and Madras. In addition, most outbound ships were sailing
half empty, resulting in low shipping rates. India was self-sufficient in most things and it was
really the silks and spices returning from India that opened p the opportunity to ship beer to
India.
Porter was perfectly capable of lasting on board a ship as this passage from the journal of
Joseph Banks on August 25 1769, when he was on board the Endeavour with Captain Cook in
the South Pacific, shows:
“It was this day a twelvemonth since we left England, in consequence of which a piece of
cheshire cheese was taken from a locker where it had been reservd for this occasion and a cask
of Porter tappd which provd excellently good, so that we livd like English men and drank the
heaths of our freinds in England.”
The first known use of the expression "India Pale Ale" comes from an advertisement in
the Liverpool Mercury newspaper published January 30 1835. Before January 1835, and
for some time after this date, this style of beer was referred to as "pale ale as prepared for
India", "India Ale", "pale India ale" or "pale export India ale".
Conclusions:
IPA evolved from aged “October beer”, and it’s likely that several brewers had the idea
of adapting these ales for the Indian market independently of each other. By the mid-18th
century, pale ale was mostly manufactured with coke-fired malt, which produced less
smoking and roasting of barley in the malting process, and hence produced a paler beer.
October beer, a pale well-hopped brew popular among the landed classes, who brewed it
domestically; once brewed it was intended to cellar two years. It was pure luck that on
the four month voyage to India, Hodgson’s October Ale underwent the sort of maturity in
the cask that would have taken two years in a cellar.
While George Hodgson did in fact brew at the Bow brewery to the east of London, there is
no evidence whatsoever that Hodgson “invented” or “developed” a new beer especially for
the Indian market: no record that he did so, no claim by Hodgson or his successors that he did
so. There is evidence that hops were used in brewing in central Europe in the 11th century
Hodgson probably had around half of the Indian market. In fact at the start of the 19th century
the market was extremely small, just 9,000 barrels a year, equal to less than half a per cent of the
two million barrels brewed in London alone every year.
Conclusions:
IPA evolved from aged “October beer”, and it’s likely that several brewers had the idea of
adapting these ales for the Indian market independently of each other. By the mid-18th century,
pale ale was mostly manufactured with coke-fired malt, which produced less smoking and
roasting of barley in the malting process, and hence produced a paler beer. October beer, a pale
well-hopped brew popular among the landed classes, who brewed it domestically; once brewed
it was intended to cellar two years. It was pure luck that on the four month voyage to India,
Hodgson’s October Ale underwent the sort of maturity in the cask that would have taken two
years in a cellar.
While George Hodgson did in fact brew at the Bow brewery to the east of London, there
is no evidence whatsoever that Hodgson “invented” or “developed” a new beer
especially for the Indian market: no record that he did so, no claim by Hodgson or his
successors that he did so. There is evidence that hops were used in brewing in central
Europe in the 11th century.
Hodgson probably had around half of the Indian market. In fact at the start of the 19th century
the market was extremely small, just 9,000 barrels a year, equal to less than half a per cent of the
two million barrels brewed in London alone every year.
Conclusions:
IPA evolved from aged “October beer”, and it’s likely that several brewers had the idea of
adapting these ales for the Indian market independently of each other. By the mid-18th century,
pale ale was mostly manufactured with coke-fired malt, which produced less smoking and
roasting of barley in the malting process, and hence produced a paler beer. October beer, a pale
well-hopped brew popular among the landed classes, who brewed it domestically; once brewed
it was intended to cellar two years. It was pure luck that on the four month voyage to India,
Hodgson’s October Ale underwent the sort of maturity in the cask that would have taken two
years in a cellar.
While George Hodgson did in fact brew at the Bow brewery to the east of London, there is
no evidence whatsoever that Hodgson “invented” or “developed” a new beer especially for
the Indian market: no record that he did so, no claim by Hodgson or his successors that he did
so. There is evidence that hops were used in brewing in central Europe in the 11th century
Hodgson probably had around half of the Indian market. In fact at the start of the 19th
century the market was extremely small, just 9,000 barrels a year, equal to less than half a
per cent of the two million barrels brewed in London alone every year.
Conclusions:
We know that the Hodgsons evidently became greedy, and lost the Indian market to others,
including Bass and Allsopp from Burton and Ind & Smith from Romford, just east of
London (later Ind Coope). Bow Brewery had came into control of Hodgson's sons in the
early 19th century, but their business practices alienated their customers. The brewery
went into decline and was bought out in 1885.
The secret to the Burton brewers' success came from the water, an ingredient often downplayed
in beer recipe formulation. The sulfates of the Trent basin helped the Burton beers achieve their
clarity and bitterness and allowed the Burton brewers to far exceed Hodgson's India Ale in clarity,
hopping rate, and marketability.
Conclusions:
We know that the Hodgsons evidently became greedy, and lost the Indian market to others,
including Bass and Allsopp from Burton and Ind & Smith from Romford, just east of London
(later Ind Coope). Bow Brewery had came into control of Hodgson's sons in the early 19th
century, but their business practices alienated their customers. The brewery went into decline and
was bought out in 1885.
The secret to the Burton brewers' success came from the water, an ingredient often
downplayed in beer recipe formulation. The sulfates of the Trent basin helped the Burton
beers achieve their clarity and bitterness and allowed the Burton brewers to far exceed
Hodgson's India Ale in clarity, hopping rate, and marketability.
“That’s all I have to say on that subject.”