It’s sometimes said the India pale ales were “invented” in the late 18th century by brewers looking to ship pale beers to India. However the original IPAs were no stronger than other contemporary beers and records show that porters of the day could happily survive for at least a year on ships and so could easily survive the 4 month trip to India. In fact beers had been exported to India quite happily for many years. What is true is that Hodgson’s Pale Ales were popular in India and by 1840 had gained the name India Pale Ale.
IPAs have a dry hoppy flavour that is bitter and peppery. Brewers such as Meantime produce IPAs to 19th century strengths and bitterness while chain pub staples Greene King IPA and Deuchars IPA tone down the strength and flavour to produce creamy beers
indistinguishable from other golden ales. A good middle ground, and modern day classic, is Thornbridge’s Jaipur which has huge fruity flavours to balance the dry hoppiness. Scottish troublemakers Brewdog started their rise with a Punk IPA that remains their signature beer.
IPAs are a phenomenon in American microbrewing. The US IPAs have massive citrus hop flavours and intense bitterness – sometimes it feels like sucking on a hop. These are often strongly alcoholic and you will commonly find Double and Triple IPAs whose strengths get close to 10% abv. Goose Island and Sierra Nevada are good places to start. Belgian brewers took notice of this and started fusing US IPAs with their strong pale Tripels, creating beers such as the Achouffe Houblon IPA. The US brewers then started doing versions of these Belgian IPAs creating a cycle of increasingly intense beers. Some brewers have even created black IPAs – such as Yeastie Boys Pot Kettle Black. These are a blend of a porter and IPA styles – now that has got to travel well.
Five to Try -
1. Thornbridge Jaipur
2. Yeastie Boys Pot Kettle Black
3. 1516 Victory Hop Devil IPA
4. Goose Island IPA
5. Samuel Smith India Ale
No comments:
Post a Comment