India pale ale

A bottle of Fuller's IPA

India Pale Ale, abbreviated IPA, is an ale that is light amber to copper in colour, medium to medium-high alcohol by volume, with hoppy, bitter and sometimes malty flavor. IPA is a style of beer that is usually included in the broader category of pale ale. It was first brewed in England in the 18th century. Today, IPA is a popular style of beer among American craft brewers.

History

Early IPA

IPA descends from the earliest pale ales of the 17th century. The term "pale ale" originally denoted an ale which had been brewed from pale malt. The pale ales of the early 18th century were lightly hopped and quite different from later interpretations. 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. One such variety of beer was 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.

The October beer of George Hodgson's Bow Brewery was the world's first India Pale Ale. Bow Brewery beers became popular among East India Company traders in the late 18th century because of the brewery's location and Hodgson's liberal credit line of 18 months. East Indiamen transported a number of Hodgson's beers to India, among them his October beer, which benefited exceptionally from conditions of the voyage and was apparently highly regarded among consumers in India. Bow Brewery came into control of Hodgson's sons in the early 19th century, but their business practices alienated their customers. During the same period, several Burton breweries lost their European export market in Russia because of new tariffs on beer, and were seeking a new export market for their beer. At the behest of the East India Company, Allsop brewery developed a strongly hopped pale ale in the style of Hodgson's for export to India. Other Burton brewers, including Bass and Salt, were anxious to replace their lost Russian export market and quickly followed Allsop's lead. Likely as a result of the advantages of Burton water in brewing, Burton India Pale Ale was preferred by merchants and their customers in India.

Demand for the export style of pale ale, which had become known as "India Pale Ale," developed in England around 1840 and India Pale Ale became a popular product in England. Some brewers dropped the term "India" in the late 19th century, but records indicated that these "pale ales" retained the features of earlier IPA. American, Australian and Canadian brewers manufactured beer with the label IPA before 1900, and records suggest that these beers were similar to English IPA of the era.

Hodgson's October beer style clearly influenced the Burton Brewers's India Pale Ale. His beer was only slightly higher in alcohol than most beer brewed in his day and would not have been considered a strong ale; however, a greater proportion of the wort was well-fermented, leaving behind few residual sugars, and the beer was strongly hopped. The common story that early IPAs were much stronger than other beers of the time, however, is a myth. Moreover, porter shipped to India at the same time survived the voyage, and common claims that Hodgson formulated his beer to survive the trip and that other beers would not survive the trip are probably false. It is clear that by the 1860s, India Pale Ales were widely brewed in England and that they were much more attenuated and highly hopped than porters and many other ales.

Modern IPA

Great Britain

The IPA style is now common in the United Kingdom; many beers labelled IPA in the UK are by and large indistinguishable from ordinary session bitters, for example Greene King IPA and Charles Wells Eagle IPA. IPAs with modest gravities (below 1040º) have been brewed in Britain since at least the 1920s. Some British microbreweries have begun to brew IPAs more like the American style. Examples are Meantime Brewery IPA, Dark Star IPA and Freeminer Trafalgar IPA.

In 2002, Caledonian Brewery 'Deuchars IPA' took the title of CAMRA Supreme Champion Beer of Britain at the GBBF in London. This was an IPA brewed in the modern weak APV style in the UK. Also in this year, Hopdaemon Brewery 'Skrimshander IPA', became a Kent Beer Festival Winner. Skrimshander is brewed with Kentish Fuggles and Goldings Hops.

Worldwide

In Canada, Alexander Keith's India Pale Ale, brewed in Halifax from 1820, is popular. However, according to some Beer Judges, unlike its modern American cousins, Keith's is not a true IPA but rather one which has been toned down for modern tastes. By contrast, Halifax's Propeller, Garrison, Rogue's Roost, and Granite microbreweries produce more traditional IPAs. Other IPAs more reminiscent of the historical flavour are available from smaller breweries. There are also micro-breweries producing IPA in NZ, such as Peak Brewery in Wairarapa, and Hallertau in Riverhead, just north-west of Auckland.

In Israel there is an IPA from a microbrewery called Dancing Camel.

United States

In the USA, the original highly hopped and long aged (one full year in wood before bottling) Ballantine IPA was a beer of great distinction and a part of the Ballantine stable of brews since the early part of the 20th century. It now enjoys a legendary status despite the fact that it ceased being brewed to its original formula in the 1980s, and has not been brewed at all since the mid 90's.

Within the USA, there is a distinct type of IPA called the "West Coast IPA," which goes for a much more bitter, hoppy character than other IPAs, although the east coast brewed and Ballantine IPA was just as highly hopped as (and in some cases, more highly hopped than) as many so called "West Coast" IPAs. The hops in West Coast IPAs tend to have a citrus, grapefruit or coriander flavor, as opposed to the wood and pine accents of some IPAs brewed on the United States' east coast.

There has since the early 1980s been a movement to true Craft Brewing, where "real" IPA (a term open to wide interpretation) has been the goal; in fact, the once relatively rare style has become very commonplace. At least partly because of Ballantine IPA's legendary status in American brewing, the style has been attempted in recent years by numerous microbrewers. Among the dozens of current attempts at the tradition is the Hurricane IPA by Coastal Extreme Brewing.

In the USA, IPA has gradually evolved into a distinct variant sometimes called American India Pale Ale (A few examples are Anchor Brewing's Liberty Ale, Lagunitas Brewing's IPA, Victory Brewing Company's HopDevil Ale, Hop Ottin IPA by Anderson Valley Brewing Co., Hoptical Illusion by Blue Point Brewing Co., Two Hearted Ale by Bells Brewery, Stone Brewing Company's Stone IPA) and Russian River's Blind Pig IPA. Although some are made to traditional recipes, many American IPAs are brewed with citric American hop varieties such as Cascade, Chinook, Centennial, and Columbus. For example, Lost Coast's INDICA IPA which uses Columbus, Cascade, Willamette and Chinook hops.

A few American brewers have also altered the style to increase the bitterness of the beer to well over 100 IBUs and the alcohol levels up to more than 20% alcohol by volume. Examples this "extreme" are generally referred to as Double or Imperial IPAs, though some argue that they are not IPAs at all but rather an entirely separate style.

Double India Pale Ale

Double India Pale Ales (abbreviated Double IPAs or DIPAs) are a strong, very hoppy style of pale beer. Also known as Imperial IPAs (or IIPAs), perhaps in reference to the Russian Imperial Stout, a much stronger version of the English Stout, these beers are essentially India Pale Ales with higher amounts of malt and hops. Double IPAs typically have alcohol content above 7% by volume. IBUs are in the very high range (60+). Such "style" labels can seem arbitrary however, since the aforementioned Ballantine IPA in its original formulation was certainly well above these benchmarks.

There are some brewers that believe the name should be San Diego Pale Ale, since the style most likely started near San Diego, CA -- specifically a Double IPA brewed in 1994 by Vinnie Cilurzo[1] of the failed Blind Pig Brewing Company of Temecula, CA. Cilurzo claims he "accidentally" created the style by adding 50% too much malt to his mash tun. He then "corrected" this mistake by adding 100% more hops. This metric (50% more malt, 100% more hops) is the basic guideline behind the style.

Ales brewed in Northern California such as Lagunitas' Maximus IPA, as well as others in the San Diego area have taken to the double IPA style, including Stone Brewing Company, Oggi's Brewery, Alpine Beer Company, Alesmith, Ballast Point Brewing Company, and Port Brewing Company, etc. However, others attribute the creation of this style to Rogue Ales, a microbrewery in Newport, Oregon, and its I2PA beer, brewed in 1990. [2]

Many of the stronger Double IPAs could be alternately classified as American barleywines or Triple IPAs. As a relatively young style, it is still being determined. It is one of the fastest growing styles in the craft beer industry, and a favorite among hopheads.

References

• Cornell, Martyn. Amber, Black and Gold Zythography Press: 2008.
• Daniels, Ray. Designing Great Beer Brewers Publications: 1996.
• Foster, Terry. Pale Ale Second Edition. Brewers Publications: 1999.