ONE A DAY
Julian Zelazny '96
The list of good things that came out of colonialism is a
short one, but at the top of that list is India Pale Ale. The
mere sound of the name evokes exotic images of British India and
the poetry of Rudyard Kipling. India Pale Ale, or IPA to its
friends, is an old style of beer currently enjoying a great
resurgence in popularity.
IPA is a strong ale that is not especially pale by American
standards. It ranges from a dark straw to a dark amber in
color,(1) but was called pale ale in order to distinguish it from
the popular, deep brown to black porter. IPA was a version of
the pale ale style that was brewed expressly for delivery to the
British citizens living in India. Traditionally, IPA had a high
alcohol content and a high bitterness rate, even for those
hoppier times. While this flavor profile was the secret to a
market success, it started out as a solution to a problem.
In order to tell the story of IPA it is important to
understand traditional pale ale. It was in the early to mid 18th
century that pale ale was first introduced to the British people.
The town of Burton-upon-Trent is credited with being the
birthplace of pale ale.(2)
At this time the British were colonizing just about
everything they could get their ships on. Pale ales had become
all the rage with a British populace that had grown tired of the
porters they had been drinking. India's ex-pat population
consisted of a great many soldiers, and these young men were very
thirsty in the hotter and drier regions of India. Beer was so
important to the British military, that the ships stationed on
the English channel issued to each sailor 1 gallon of beer per
day.(3) In every sense, British India was a beer marketer's
dream. The problem was that the beer that was being sent to
India was arriving in very poor condition.
Consider what was being asked of the beer. It was being
shipped in wooden barrels from the cool climate of the North Sea,
to the equatorial seas, then cool again around the tip of South
Africa, and then to further heat as it reached its
destination.(4) Add to all that heat the motion of the ship upon
the sea and it is easy to see why the beer was arriving flat and
sour. Brewing in India was not an option since the climate was
not conducive to making quality ales. However, as a famous
brewer once said, necessity is the mother of invention.
In those days before pasteurization or refrigeration the
only methods available to the brewer to prevent spoilage were
increasing the alcohol and hopping rates. Both methods made the
beer less hospitable to bacterial contaminants. An enterprising
brewer named George Hodgson surmised that the Thirsty ex-pats in
India would be willing to tolerate the higher alcohol and
bitterness if he could just get it to them in reasonable
condition. Since shipping rates to India were very cheap, he was
willing to risk this large marketing test with the hope that the
payoff will come back from India in the form of many orders.(5)
As I've mentioned, the first IPA was not only tolerated in
India, it was a smashing success. It wasn't long before other
brewers caught on to what Hodgson had done and there was a bloody
market war involving some of the biggest names in British
brewing.
As the soldiers returned home to England they were greeted
by the familiar old pale ale that they had pined for while in the
service of the Crown. But this ale now seemed too light and
sweet. Ironically, the confused soldiers now yearned for the
beer that they had left behind in the tropics. The agony was of
a brief duration because the beer producers realized that they
had a domestic market for the IPA and, with the help of the
returned soldiers, popularized IPA at home.
As has been the trend in recent years, IPA has an American
counterpart, based upon the traditional recipe, but made with
American ingredients. The American hops are the most noticeable
difference since they tend to be more floral and citrusy in the
aroma. The American IPA is produced by microbreweries all over
the country, and a creditable version is produced here in Vermont
by the Mountain Brewers. Their IPA is currently on tap at The
Pub, where I can be found most Wednesdays at about 3:30 having my
one-a-day.
(1) Eckhardt, F. The Essentials of Beer Style, Fred Eckhardt
Communications, 1989.
(2) Jackson, M., The New World Guide to Beer, Running Press,
1988.
(3) Thomlinson, T., Brewing Techniques, 2 (2), 20-27 (1994).
(4) Eckhardt, F. The Essentials of Beer Style, Fred Eckhardt
Communications, 1989.
(5) Thomlinson, T., Brewing Techniques, 2 (2), 20-27 (1994).
If you have any comments, questions or advice concerning this
article or anything else that may be on your mind, please feel
free to email me.
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