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Introduction

O that this too too sullied flesh would melt, thaw, and resolve itself into … a brew?

For the learned of classics the above is a twist on the work of Jolly Ole England’s most famous playwright, William Shakespeare. Perhaps Hamlet, of whom spoke the above lines, wouldn’t have been so despondent if he had quaffed down an English original now and then; specifically, an India Pale Ale or IPA for short. But sadly he was before the time of the IPA.

Like Shakespeare, IPA is an English original that has spread across the globe. It has waxed and waned, been reborn and become an entity that is not the sole propriety of its country of origin but has been transplanted and taken root in foreign lands, evolving with their local and regional charms. The IPA is a style that any aficionado of the ever-growing craft beer niche will know. It is a staple for brewpubs and micro-breweries and often the flagship beer style of craft breweries (Steele 2012). For the most part it resides in the ‘craft beer’ market. However there was a time when it was the global style of preference, the equivalent of today’s dominance of the international lagers and pilsners (i.e., Budweiser, Corona, Becks…).

If we look at the name of the style, India Pale Ale, we see the word ale, which is the Anglo-Saxon term for what we now universally call beer (Pryor 2009). We see the descriptive term pale, which reflects the light color of the malted barley used to make the beer. Malted barley prior to pale malts were dark colored, which carried over to the production of less transparent, dark looking beers. Lastly we see the word India, the geographic name of a sub-continent and an important market for the English homegrown ale. What a complex name! Not as simple as the name of other beer styles such as wheat, amber, or stout. The complexity of the name fits the origins and evolution of the style. What we now know as a hoppy, high gravity or high alcohol by volume % (ABV) beer is a product of scientific progress and industrialization, empire building, nostalgia for nearly a once forgotten style, and finally American brewery ingenuity.

In the following sections we explore the when, where, why and how of the IPA. Its ancestry, evolution, spread, rise, fall, and resurrection is discussed. Lastly we look at the current and future branches of the IPA as it continues to change.

Origins

In the beginning, there was dark, sweet beer ….

Ales of England were notably dark in color, and malty/sweet. The sweetness came from a lack of hops used in the making of beer. Considering the English once viewed hops as a “pernicious weed”, their use in the brewing process only became acceptable in British beers long after their use by continental European brewers (Mosher 2004; Bamforth 2009). Records show the importation of hopped beers to England in the mid-1300s from Flanders, modern day northern Belgium. However it was not until after Flemish immigrants settled in the Kent region of southeast England that hops became a staple brewing ingredient. Upon arrival in the 1500s, Flemish immigrants grew hops for use in beer (Steele 2012). To this day the hop varieties grown in Kent—Kent Goldings—is known for having distinct bittering qualities and aromas and has in part taken the formal name of its geographical area.

Hop farming and use as an ingredient in beer expanded. In 1655 the English placed taxes on imported hops from Continental Europe, helping to increase the acreage of English hop farmers. Later, by 1800 acreage was well over 35,000 and upon harvest they were ready for the brew kettle (Cornell 2009).

The diffusion of Flemish brewing practices in England promoted and sustained the incorporation of hops into beer. This is vital for the evolution of what would become the IPA. IPAs then, as now, were known for having high bitterness levels. The appreciation of bittering can best be described as incremental for many palates, so the Flemish perhaps gave English beer drinkers a base point from which they could eventually increase and grow into. Hops add bitterness to beer and reduce the sweet, malty taste of the malted barley (Bamforth 2009). High bittering rates later would be appreciated by beer drinkers of the Tropics for their thirst quenching qualities compared to sweet malty beers (Steel 2012). Lastly, resins within hops are antibacterial in nature and thus have a preservative affect which improves shelf life and decreases spoilage rates (Bamforth 2009), an ideal trait if taking beer on a six month boat ride to India.

Coke, Pale Malt, and a Smile

The cultural assimilation of Flemish brewing styles greatly changed English brewing. However so did the onset of science and technology, which fortunately for the IPA and its pre-IPA ancestors happened to have originated in England, the hearth of the Industrial Revolution.

The paleness of what would become the IPA has to do with the English using coke for industrial purposes (Daniels 2000). The conversion of wood into charcoal is similar to turning coal into coke. In the 1600s the English, being fortunate to have an abundance of coal, noted that by heating coal to high temperatures the sulfuric, tarry, smoke characteristics are driven off. Coke is also better at regulating temperatures and was later used as a fuel source to drive the Industrial Revolution. Prior to this advent barley was kilned using other less reliable fuel sources to produce the fermentable malt. Wood, peat, straw, etc., where typically used. Not only were these fuel sources less reliable at regulating temperatures (i.e, dark roasted malt), their use contributed astringent, smoky by products to the malt and inevitably the beer. By comparison coke could kiln barley at lower temperatures, producing malt lighter in color and less astringent (Steele 2012). This malt became known as pale malt and led to new kinds of beers such as pale ales of the latter 1600s and then the October ales, Belgian tripels, IPAs and later the lagers and pilsners that dominate today (Steele 2012). These beers not only tasted different but they looked different, a characteristic that was later appreciated with the 1847 repeal of the glass tax. Before 1750 people felt lucky to have glass at all (Mosher 2004). By the mid-1880s, people could actually see their beer because glass had become affordable and indeed the golden amber color was a sight to see.

The October Surprise

In most likelihood the IPA started out as October ale (Hayes 2009). October ale exclusively used the newly developed pale malt, was high in alcohol content (8–12 %), heavily hopped, and was aged in barrels for up to two years (Steele 2012). Its namesake comes from the fact that prior to refrigeration brewing was a seasonal endeavor, starting in Autumn and ending in Spring (Mosher 2004). Brewing was halted during the summer months due to increases in microbial activity and the belief that pale malt fermented poorly when temperatures exceeded the low 20s C (70s F) (Steele 2012). Brewers at the time did not know about microbes, wild yeasts, and bacteria, but they knew that the summer months produced less than desirable results. The beers brewed at the beginning of the season, October, used only the freshest hops and malts, right after the harvest (Mosher 2004; Hayes 2009). The practice of exclusively using pale malt was initially done by country estate brewers and was favored by the wealthier country gentry (Steele 2012). Dark porters were the drink of the common man and perhaps the discrepancy between the classes initially came from premium prices placed on the October ale ingredients, associated costs of kilning malted barley with coke, aging for years at a time, and the affordability of enjoying a pale beer in an expensive glass. These same country gentry later would also happen to be the colonists in India wanting a taste of home, a beer terrior of England (Cornell 2008). However by the mid 1700s beers made from pale malt were no longer the exclusive drink of the country gentry. Commercial breweries in London began brewing pale beers alongside the ubiquitous porter (Cornell 2003).

Distribution

Rise of the Commercial Brewery

With the onset of the Industrial Revolution in the mid to late 1700s a noted decline in home, farm, and country estate breweries occurred. This decline is attributed to internal English migration where workers left the farming lifestyles for the urban factories (Bamforth 2009); the rise of commercial brewing had begun. Taking advantage of industrial innovations urban breweries efficiently sprung forth to quench the thirst of densely populated industrial centers by producing massive volumes of beer. Workers often obtained better wages and no longer worked from dusk to dawn as they once did on the farm, allowing for free time to be spent at local taverns. Porters were the dominant beer style consumed, but the pale precursors of the IPA were brewed side by side with the darker beer styles (Steele 2012). Perhaps this was to satisfy the more expensive and sophisticated tastes of a growing middle class trying to emulate the country gentry? Regardless the movement of the pale beers from the country to the urban, commercial breweries was vital for what would become the IPA. During this time transportation networks such as canals, roadways, and later railways were being established (Pryor 2009), changing the relative location of brewing centers with that of once far off markets. Breweries began to grow to sizes that spread for acres. Brewery annual production could not feasibly be consumed by the local surrounding neighborhoods yet with newly developed transportation networks a means of export was established, both within Britain and beyond (Steele 2012). This would become fortuitous for the IPA. Globalization of British pale ales had begun and their spatial distribution increased all during the ascension of the British Empire.

Rule, Britannia! Britannia, Rule the Waves!

With an expansive empire in which the sun never sets, the British had thousands of civilian, bureaucrat, and military personal spread across the globe. The relocation and periodic movement of these individuals created a thirst for home. They were skeptical of the local cuisine and drink. For example, colonists in India often preferred imported British beer to that of the local tropical water (Tomlinson 1994b). Beer could not be successfully brewed in tropical climates prior to refrigeration due to spoilage of ingredients and nasty microbial infections producing off tastes, hence a need for importation (Monkton 1966). Enter the East India Company.

Established in the early 1600s, the East India Company had a virtual trading monopoly between India and Britain. There was a trade deficit with less trade on ships to India than coming back. Ship’s captains of the East India Company were allowed specific amounts of personal cargo on India bound ships to be sold to colonists (Steele 2012). Beer was often part of that cargo. The term India in “India Pale Ale” comes from that exchange. There is some disagreement on how exactly IPA came to be traded in India. Some speculate that the six month long arduous journey through frigid and tropical waters called for the engineering of a hardy beer that could survive the voyage. In the hulls of ships beers rocked to and fro in wooden casks, first in cool English waters approximately in the low 10s C (50s F), crossed the equator along the African Coast, rounded the Cape of Good Hope, and crossed the equator entering the Indian Ocean with sea temperatures in the low 30s C (80s F) (Tomlinson 1994a). Exploding casks and spoiled, sour beer were not uncommon upon arrival. So theories abound about a conscious engineering approach where a beer style became a cultural invention (Pryor 2009) or developed to solve a geography (distance) problem (Tomlinson 1994a) (Fig. 12.1).

Fig. 12.1
figure 1

The long, six month, arduous journey of IPA from English ports to India is shown. Constant rocking in casks and changing sea surface temperatures complicated successful delivery of quaffable beer.

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Others claim that beers of various styles and strengths, mostly shipped from London in the 1700s, successfully arrived in India (Steele 2012). Brewers at the time knew that hops had preserving qualities (Bamforth 2009) so hopping rates were increased for all India bound beers, sometimes by a third to a half (Steele 2012). Therefore, if other beer styles besides pale, strong, hoppy beers could survive the journey, how did IPA come to be?

Location, Location, Location

The East India Company headquarters was located in East London near the confluence of the Thames and Lea Rivers. Two miles upstream on the Lea River near the Bow-bridge was the Bow Brewery, founded by George Hodgson in 1752 (Pryor 2009; Steel 2012). George Hodgson was mainly a brewer of porter, but he also brewed an October beer that was renowned for being strong and hoppy, popular with the gentry (Cornell 2003). Hodgson quickly developed relationships with officers of the East India Company, whose ships were moored two miles downstream. Being located on a navigable river and having favorable credit terms where ship’s captains were given 12–18 months to pay back the brewery upon return from India, the Bow Brewery became the brewery of preference for entrepreneurial captains (Hayes 2009).

Hodgson already used large quantities of hops in his October ale and captains of the East India Company noted that it sold well. With the beer being highly hopped and higher in alcohol content, both preservative qualities (Bamforth 2009), they most likely had lower attrition rates than that of other beer styles and therefore better returns to the ship’s captains. This was also a favorite beer of the wealthier gentry of whom populated the bureaucratic and officer ranks and most likely appreciated a comfort from home (Pryor 2009). Additionally, beer drinking preferences changed in the tropics. Darker, sweeter ales were less satisfying than the thirst quenching paler, drier, more bitter ales (Tomlinson 1994b). Hodgson’s October ale quickly became a standard beer shipped to India. It was not originally engineered specifically for the voyage to India but was one of his stock beers that with increased hopping rates for the voyage, as with all beer styles of the time, grew to prominence (Steele 2012). He quickly established a monopoly on beer to India. Hodgson shipped a variety of beers, including Porters, but his October ale made his fortune. This October ale would later be referenced to as the first India Pale Ale, but not until the early to mid 1800s (Hayes 2009; Steele 2012).

Burton-Upon-Trent: An IPA Epicenter

In 1822 Hodgson’s beer was still referenced as being one of the finest October ales (Cornell 2008). The term India Pale Ale had yet to come. However the Bow Brewery’s monopoly was soon to be broken. George Hodgson’s grandson, Frederick was now the patriarch of the family brewery. The Bow Brewery, especially under the auspices of Frederick Hodgson was considered to be less than ethical regarding business practices. Price fixing practices were apparently common (Tomlinson 1994a). If the Bow Brewery got word of another brewery shipping beer to India, a flood of cheap beer would drive the prices down frightening off or bankrupting the competition. The following year with a reestablishment of a monopoly, the Bow Brewery would limit the amount of export, skyrocketing the price. Prices would range from 20£ per hogshead (large cask) of beer to 200£ per hogshead the following year (Steele 2012). Frederick Hodgson’s business practices were becoming increasingly less and less appreciated, especially by the East India Company (Hayes 2009; Steele 2012).

Legend has it that Campbell Majoribanks, director of the East India Company, approached Samuel Allsop, a brewer northwest of London at Burton-Upon-Trent. Majoribanks gave Allsopp a bottle of Hodgson’s pale October ale and asked if he could replicate it. Upon tasting the bitter ale Allsopp’s head brewer, not used to the highly hopped ale is said to have spit it out. However Allsopp was more than happy to oblige Majoribanks and the first test batch was brewed in a tea pot (Steele 2012). As mentioned, legend has it for another contemporary Burton brewer of Allsopp was Samuel Bass. His Bass Brewery also has the same story where a director of the East India Company approached Bass and enquired on the making of an equivalent to Hodgson’s October ale. Apparently the Hodgson family and the Bow Brewery were becoming despised for their business practices. The story even made its way into the popular culture a few decades later. Charles Dickens series of publications known as Household Words describes the same story but with this rendition the East India representative meets with the fictional Sir John Barleycorn of the beer trade (Pryor 2009).

Burton-upon-Trent was not an indiscriminate, novel choice for the East India Director to approach. It already had a long history of brewing dating to the establishment of an Abbey circa 1000 A.D. Burton brewers were known for their beer travelling well compared to beers brewed elsewhere. This later would be attributed to the chemistry and hydrology of the ground water used for brewing. Being located in central England and land-locked, the development of canals in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries allowed means to export to the port of Hull and beyond (Steele 2012). Commercial brewing soon ensued and Burton-upon-Trent became a functional region associated with mass brewing.

The Burton area, like London, had become a commercial brewing epicenter, far exceeding the drinking capacity of the region. Their ales were therefore in need of export. The Baltic nations and Russian nobility of St. Petersburg favored the strong, dark, amber ales of Burton. Soon however Russia initiated a trade war in 1783 with a 300 % tax on English Ales, most likely to support national breweries. Burton brewers then turned to Poland and Prussia but the Napoleonic Wars of the early nineteenth century shut down that trade as well. By the time of the legendary meeting between the East India Director and the Burton brewers a significant decline in exports had already occurred since the 1780s (Steele 2012). They were ready for a new market, and if need be a new beer.

This was fortunate for the next evolutionary stage of what is now called the IPA. Burton-upon-Trent has a different physical geography and groundwater hydrology than that of the London region, resulting in mineral laden ground waters that produce a crispier, drier, more thirst quenching ales.

Hard Vs. Soft

The physical geography and hydrology of an area impacts the quantity and quality of water used in the brewing process. Today as in the past, brewers interact with their environment and use the water that they have on hand. Groundwater is preferable to that of surface water for its general lack of contaminants and biological activity (Bamforth 2009). The difference between the two commercial brewing epicenters of Burton and London is that geography has dictated that Burton has hard groundwater while London has soft groundwater (Hayes 2009). Hard water has higher concentrations of sulfates and calcium, minerals derived from the local bedrock that inevitably become entrained in the groundwater through hydrological processes. The higher calcium content allows for better starch conversions, producing a drier beer with less residual sugars (Steele 2012). Calcium also improves extraction of hop bitterness and reduces haze by increasing yeast flocculation (Tomlinson 1994b; Bamforth 2009). Sulfates change mouthfeel and the perception of bitterness, allowing for the hopping rates to be increased without lingering astringent aftertastes (Tomlinson 1994a; Mosher 2004). Soon Burton breweries such as Allsopp and Bass were competing side by side and being preferred to the Bow Brewery’s pale October ale in the Indian market. They were drier, more hop forward, and had better clarity and overall consistency to that of the London juggernaut, the Bow Brewery. This resulted in a beer that not only travelled better due to less residual sugars that might lend to souring and spoilage, but a beer that was better at quenching tropical thirsts and simply more pleasing to look at (Pryor 2009; Tomlinson 1994a). Hodgson initially still had a large market share over that of the Burton breweries, so marketing strategies describing the tonic like qualities of Burton pale ales brewed for India came about. By the 1840s this had manifested into the term or equivalent of what today is called an India Pale Ale. So it was not until after the Burton breweries got into the Indian beer market, long after Hodgson and his Bow Brewery first shipped pale ales to India that India Pale Ale became a staple term referencing a beer style (Steele 2012).

The Burton, hard water style of IPA soon became standard and preferred over that of the original London soft water style. Hodgson’s Bow Brewery was still in business however his less than ethical business practices and the preferable waters of Burton led to a fortuitous style change. Hodgson’s brewery increasingly saw a decline in market share and after several changes of ownership eventually went out of business and was later demolished in 1933 (Steele 2012). Burton-Upon-Trent had become the global hearth of the IPA.

The IPA Rises

The Burton region soon became a global brewing center going from a production of 300,000 barrels in 1850 to over 3 million barrels three decades later. The Bass Brewery was at the forefront of production and would later become the largest brewery in the world (Steele 2012). In the early 1880s it was said that a Bass Ale (IPA) could be obtained in any country of the world that had an Englishman (Bickerdyke 1886), a sign of the vast British global presence. But Bass was not the only brewery in the Burton region. Other British brewers soon came to understand that Burton groundwater was highly desired and by 1860 some 26 breweries were in the area (Steele 2012), cementing Burton-upon-Trent as a functional brewing region.

Burton IPA was not solely an export beer. Domestic consumption of IPA had skyrocketed and by the 1840s with the new completion of a railway network reaching Burton, Burton IPA could now be distributed throughout the rest of the country instead of being slowly distributed via canals to port cities (Hayes 2009). This changed the relative location of Burton and its marketable goods, mainly beer. Burton ales diffused across Britian and were suddenly more accessible. Burton IPAs were also popular in Britain because returning colonists from India craved the pale ales they had enjoyed in the Tropics. This combined with increased wages for workers and the view of IPA as a status symbol representing sophisticated palates honed on the exotic sub-continent helped increase its market share. A reduction of the glass tax in 1840 also meant that IPA could be purchased in bottles and enjoyed at home, or enjoyed in glassware at fine establishments, often chilled. It had entered the lexicon of popular culture. It was compared to sparkling champagnes. It had become vogue, no longer for the country gentry, but for the aspiring masses (Pryor 2009; Steele 2012) (Fig. 12.2).

Fig. 12.2
figure 2

Edouard Manet’s The Bar at the Folies-Bergeres (1882) shows an urban, swanky Parisian scene with the finest hospitality. Fruit, wine, cordials, champagne, and bottles of Bass Ale, an IPA shown with their identifying red triangles, can be found on the table.

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Imitation is the Sincerest Form of Flattery

Naturally other breweries around the world strived to replicate Burton’s success. Some breweries, like those found in Edinburgh Scotland where fortunate by having similar hard water to that of Burton. By the 1890s Edinburgh was exporting a third of all beer to India, much of which was IPA (Hayes 2009; Steele 2012). Other locales had a hit and miss success brewing IPAs to Burton standards, until advances in brewing sciences leveled the field.

Industrialization continued to fuel technical developments in the brewing sciences. Thermometers, microscopes, hydrometers, pumps to transport fluids, cast iron and later copper brewing vessels, and the use of steam all aided breweries in being able to consistently and efficiently produce beer. Yeast, thanks to Louis Pasteur, had become better understood and could be managed more efficiently for a consistent beer (Tomlinson 1994b; Steele 2012). Prior to this, yeast was thought to be important, yet was not understood to be a living organism. However the understanding of chemistry and groundwater analysis allowed IPAs to be produced to Burton standards outside of the Burton region (Steele 2012). By the 1850s some London breweries were dabbling with adding salts, notably gypsum, to their brewing waters (Cornell 2003). With continued experimentation and study, knowledge of ground water chemistry advanced. By the 1880s calcium and sulfate additions to local soft waters was standard, producing a Burton style water (Hayes 2009). The process of adding brewing salts to local waters, to this day, is known as Burtonization (Bamforth 2009). Now Burton-style IPAs could be brewed anywhere.

With knowledge of Burtonization IPA breweries no longer needed a Burton-Upon-Trent postal address. London, Scotland, North America, Australia, Norway, and Germany housed IPA breweries. Even the Punjab region of India had an IPA brewery, only though because the brewery was at 6000 feet above sea level and lacked the sweltering climate of the lowlands (Steele 2012).

By the late nineteenth century the United States was the largest importer of English beer. U.S. breweries replicated these styles with a majority being located in the Northeast. A brewer of note was Peter Ballantine, a Scotsman who immigrated to the U.S. Scotland had become a respectful alternative to Burton style beers, so once established in his new home of Newark, NJ in 1840, he brewed a variety of Burton style ales, including an IPA (Steele 2012). His Ballantine Ale, an IPA, survived long after his death, and managed to resurface after prohibition. The brewery finally closed doors in the early 1970s but not before leaving its imprint on what would become some of the founding fathers of the American craft brewing scene (Jackson 1996; Bamforth 2009).

IPA reached its global zenith in the 1880s. They were brewed commercially around the globe thanks to Burtonization. With advances in industrial refrigeration, the development of steam ships and locomotives, along with the Suez Canal and global rail networks, IPAs now were brewed year long and transported quickly (Steele 2012). Soon though, the IPA was to enter into obscurity. An exodus of Central Europeans to new lands would allow for a diffusion of a new beer style (Mosher 2004). Combined with the temperance movement and the world wars the once global IPA would move into an endangered species status.

The IPA Falls

Temperance and War

Temperance was a global movement that started to make significant inroads in the latter 1880s (Steele 2012). In Britain as IPA had risen so too did the distilled spirit gin (Bamforth 2009). The ill effects of gin were wearing thin with segments of society and soon all alcoholic beverages were targeted. Public drunkenness was frowned upon, especially from the wealthier classes who were the traditional consumers of IPA. Factory owners grew tired of lost productivity from their workers. Tea soon became more acceptable to drink (Steele 2012). Public sentiments were such that governments got involved.

Social engineering approaches were taken to limit the extent of drinking. The British levied taxes on original gravities of beer. Original gravities reflects alcoholic potential. The higher the original gravity, potentially the stronger the beer (Tomlinson 1994a). The 8–10 % ABV IPAs quickly became expensive to make and drink. Lower gravity beers such as running ales, ales that did not require long amounts of aging, and the emerging lower ABV styles of central Europe such as helles, lagers, and pilsners became more proper to drink (Steele 2012). Soon IPAs were either no longer produced in England or qualitatively had changed to such an extent that the term IPA on the label had little to do with the original parameters of the style, becoming nearly indistinguishable from the bitters and Extra Special Bitters (ESBs) of today (Tomlinson 1994a). This transformation of the style lingers on even today with British IPAs being of much lower ABV than U.S. craft IPA styles (Tomlinson 1994b).

World War I compounded the IPA’s demise. British politicians and munitions makers complained that excessive drinking was doing greater damage to the war effort than German U boats (Bamforth 2009). This led to the Defense of the Realm Act which established drinking ages and hours of pub operations that tended to favor consumption of lower ABV styles (Monkton 1966). Rationing and beer ingredient availability also led to lower the gravities of all beers. Later with the onset World War II and similar concerns for a new generation, the IPA was nearly extinct from its original homeland by the onset of the 1950s (Hayes 2009; Steele 2012).

Like the U.K., war and temperance influenced much of the English speaking world, as well as Scandinavia. Unfortunately for the IPA and alcohol in general, the United States took a draconian approach to temperance with the onset of Prohibition. Prohibition closed most U.S. breweries for good and IPA production and recipes were lost (Steele 2012). British style ales were already in decline in the U.S. due to immigration influxes and changing beer preferences (Mosher 2004). After the repeal of Prohibition the heavier, more bitter IPAs had lost their following with most Americans, who preferred the lighter German and Bohemian style lagers and pilsners. Only a few British style breweries survived, including the producer of Ballantine Ale, an IPA (Steele 2012).

The Huns Lager Forward

It is claimed that Central European visitors to London during the 1700s dastardly engaged in industrial espionage, bringing back the secrets of making pale malt. This led to the development of white and later pilsner malts (Mosher 2004; Steele 2012). Helles, golden lagers and pilsner beer styles were the results which are typically lower in ABV and bitterness than IPAs. Originally lager production was seasonal with an abstention of brewing during the warmer months (Daniels 2000). However with industrialization and commercial refrigeration, lagers too could be produced and shipped year round, like the IPAs (Steele 2012).

Inhabitants of warmer climates such as Australia, India, and portions of the United States started to favor the crisper, more quaffable lagers. German brewers pounced on the decline of the IPA with breweries such as Becks establishing production facilities in India and Australia. (Steele 2012). With immigration to the United States, Germans and Bohemians substantially populated regions of the Midwest. Their relocation diffused lagers, and the beer style like the immigrants assimilated into U.S. society. The United States, once the largest importer of English ales, had made the switch from ales to lagers due to its changing demographics (Mosher 2004). The IPA was experiencing a meteoritic fall. By 1900 the English export of IPA was a remnant of its former self. The combined impacts of temperance, which favored lower ABV styles, immigration and diffusion of lagers, and rationing due to war efforts, globally killed the distribution of the IPA (Steele 2012).

IPA Resurrection

The West U.S. Coast

The IPA was on the cusp of extinction. Regional and global consolidation of breweries and the lingering effects of temperance led to a loss of variety and diversity where the IPA had once reigned. Beer variety now was mainly defined within the lager or pilsner style. In the United States one of the last substantial producers of IPA, the Ballantine Brewery, finally shut their doors in 1971. Soon with the onset of the 1980s over 90 % of all beer production in the U.S. was controlled by only 10 lager breweries (Steele 2012). Serendipitously before the Ballantine brewery closed its doors, their Ballantine Ale was introduced to future founders of the American Craft brewing scene. Ken Grossman of the Sierra Nevada Brewing Company and Frtiz Maytag of San Francisco’s Anchor Brewery had been inspired by Ballantine’s IPA. In 1955 Maytag graduated from Deerfield Academy, a prep school in Massachusetts where he was within the distribution of Ballantine Ale (Bamforth 2009). Later as proprietor of the Anchor Brewery he released American Liberty Ale in the early 1970s as a seasonal beer. It was heavily hopped for the time coming in with over 40 International Bitterness Units, or IBUs (Steele 2012). IBUs represent the system most commonly used to measure the bitterness of a beer from alpha acids found within hops. Depending on the variety of hops, the amounts used, and the style of beer, a beer will vary in its IBU profile. For example an American light lager may have between 8–12 IBUs (Daniels 2000), so the 40 IBUs of the American Liberty Ale was quite big for its time. By 1984 American Liberty Ale was a year round beer. Grossman’s Sierra Nevada Brewing Company also released a seasonal IPA in 1981, known as Celebration Ale (Steele 2012). A market for hoppy, heavy IPAs was developing in California.

To the north in the state of Washington a Scottish immigrant to Canada as a child, who later moved to the state of Washington as an adult was Bert Grant. Bert worked in the brewing and hop industry prior to opening his own brewery in Yakima, Washington in the early 1980s. In 1983 he also brewed an IPA entitled Grants IPA, coming in close to 60 IBUs. What Grant, Grossman, and Maytag had in common was that they were not only from the west coast of the U.S., nor that they all brewed a variation of an IPA in a then, and perhaps even now lager world, but that they used an obscure hop to bitter their beers. The hops they used are called Cascade (Steele 2012).

American Hops

An American Beer Needs an American Hop

Cascades hops are American and were given their name from the Mountain Range of the Pacific Northwest. Their ancestry comes from the English Fuggle hop where they were experimentally bred in the 1950s as a resistant strain to mildew. During this time mildew and mold had wiped out hop producing regions in Upstate New York and hop production began to be concentrated in northern California and the Pacific Northwest. The physical geography of the U.S. West Coast and its summer time precipitation lows differ from the more humid eastern U.S. Therefore mildew outbreaks are less common during the growing season accounting for a clustering of hop production in California and the Pacific Northwest (Bamforth 2009). Initially brewers in America were hesitant to use the new Cascade hop variety, relying on the more traditional German varieties until a blight in the late 1960s and 1970s once again devastated traditional German hops, skyrocketing prices. The newly named Cascade hop was suddenly attractive and acreage increased in hop growing areas of the Pacific Northwest. Maytag, Grossman, and Grant, all ale producers, latched on to this new variety (Steele 2012). The citrusy grapefruit aroma and character of the hop profile was very forward for the time in a lager dominated culture, different from the spicy, earthy characteristics of traditional European hops (Hausotter 2009; Steele 2012). The American style IPA had been born.

The resurrection of the IPA took an American turn. The success of the Anchor, Sierra Nevada, and Grants Yakima brewing companies helped initiate a cluster of brewpub and small brewery openings during the 1980s. These breweries initiated a contagious diffusion of fine scale brewery operations. The San Francisco Bay Area, Portland, OR, Seattle, WA, and later Boulder CO, were the renaissance hubs of this craft beer scene (Steele 2012). Perhaps the closer proximity to the Cascade hop growing region than other regions of the U.S. explains the use of this new hop variety for these brewing renaissance hubs? Cascade hops initially had terrible storage stability (Mosher 2004) so brewers in Seattle and San Francisco may have had less concern on using Cascade hops than brewers in Boston or Miami. Cascade hops increased in popularity and IBUs were continually driven upward on predominantly ale style beers. This success led to the development of new hop varieties that were “Super Cascade” in nature. They were cascade hops on steroids with a very forward citrusy aroma. Centennial, Chinnook, Columbus and later Amarillo, Simcoe, and Citra hop varieties were experimentally designed and successfully marketed (Mosher 2004; Steele 2012). Hops have what are known as alpha acids which contribute to the bitterness of beer (Daniels 2000). European style hops have alpha acids in the ranges of 1.5–5 % (Mosher 2004). American style hops may obtain a maximum range of up to 18 % (Steele 2012). Not only are the American hops generally higher in bitterness but they produce citrusy beer profiles with peach, tangerine, mango, guava, grapefruit, lemon skin, tangerine, orange, and even pine being used to described IPA styles (Mosher 2004; Hausotter 2009). As craft breweries spread across the country, brewing a plethora of ales, the IPA soon became a rediscovered style that allowed for experimentation with the new American hops. By the 1990s patrons of small breweries had been cultivated into a new hop loving generation by brewers continually pushing the envelope with very hop forward IPAs (Hausotter 2009; Steele 2012). These new American IPAs were more in character to the original British IPAs of the past. IBUs and original gravity were high (Tomlinson 1994b). However the use of American hops led to bitterness levels and an aroma bouquet that was so distinguishable from its British cousin that in 2000 a new beer style recognizing the hop intensity of the American beer was recognized by organizers of the Great American Beer Festival (GABF), the largest annual beer competition in the United States (Steele 2012). Now American IPAs were separate from British.

The IPA Officially Emigrates

The IPA Becomes a U.S. Citizen

The English still favor lower alcoholic beers lacking the strong bitterness and hop profile of the original IPAs. There is currently a British equivalent of a craft beer scene IPA revival, however nothing compared to the U.S. (Tomlinson 1994b; Steele 2012). Hence the IPA is now as American as Apple Pie and the Fourth of July. This is illustrated by the fact that at the Great American Beer Festival (GABF), held annually in Denver, Colorado, the IPA category is one of the most anticipated events with the most numerous entries. Breweries compete for gold, silver, and bronze medals by beer style (Steele 2012). To gain an IPA gold medal is huge bragging and marketing rights for any craft brewery.

The American IPA has become such a valued beer style that it has leant itself to further experimentation and evolution. The U.S., known for its multiculturalism and fusion of varying ideas and ethnic styles, has allowed the IPA to be a template from which many brewers fuse other styles. It appears that the common thread for American IPAs and their ever increasing sub-categories has nothing to do with India or being pale; in fact, it no longer has to be an ale, as IPA/Lager-Pilsner hybrids have been created by several breweries (personal experience by the author). The common thread of American IPAs seems be the use of a lot of American hops.

IPA Branches Forth

A variety of styles have sprung from the American IPA. Perhaps the most marketable is the Double or Imperial IPA. Once again the West U.S. Coast was the hearth of the Double IPA. John Maier from the Rogue Brewing Company in Southern Oregon and Vinnie Cilurzo now owner of the Russian River Brewing Company in Northern California, originally brewed very hoppy, strong IPAs in the early 1990s. They are known to be the co-evolutionary designers of the double IPA. Soon the style spread southward. Big robust, over the top ABV (7–10 %) hop bombs were brewed in the San Diego area. Stone Brewery, Ballast Point Brewery, and other San Diego craft breweries adopted the style such that it soon was referred to as the San Diego Pale Ale in limited circles. Note the lack of India in its name. The connectivity to the subcontinent has been lost. The production area of San Diego, known for high hopping rates has replaced the ancestral market of India in its stylistic nick-name. Officially though the style is referred to as a Double IPA and the category was later recognized as a separate beer style by the GABF in 2003 and is now common to most craft brewery markets (Steele 2012).

Another IPA offshoot is the Black IPA. The term itself is an oxymoron—how can something be black and pale at the same time? Once again the main theme for American IPAs is a beer that is highly hopped and high in gravity. The incorporation of roasted malts during the mash produce a dark amber to black, porter like looking beer. Some Black IPAs use de-husked roasted barley so that the beer is less astringent while others do not, producing a grittier stout like experience. Regardless IBUs are high and the most distinguishable aspect is the hop forward beer. Black IPAs have also been called Cascadian Dark Ale after versions brewed in the Pacific Northwest, yet non-Pacific Northwest residents are less receptive to the local place name of ‘Cascadian’ with their beer. The U.S. Brewers Association has struggled with the term being an oxymoron and has academically relabeled the Black IPA as India Black Ale in 2010 and then American Strong Black Ale in 2011, its current official name. No matter what it is called, fans of the style appear to be forgiving of using black and pale in the same beer name (Steele 2012). After all it is now all about the hops, not the color.

Belgian IPAs have risen to prominence during the 2000s as well. Belgian IPAs are truly a co-inspirational development between American and Belgian brewers, having established a series of brewing spatial interactions. Belgian brewers visiting the United States became inspired by American IPAs and brewed Belgian versions upon return. These European versions are often more similar to Belgian Tripels, being brewed with high levels of European hops (lacking citrus profiles) while using malts and yeasts of the regions. Belgian styles typically use a variety of sugar additions and ‘beefier’ barley styles, producing a sugary, malty beverage. American produced Belgian IPAs are often Double IPAs but they have been inspired and fermented with Belgian yeasts (Steele 2012), yeasts that are distinctive from all other beer yeasts and that have perhaps more in common with wine yeasts than traditional lager and ale yeasts (Hieronymus 2005).

Onward and Forward

With lagers and pilsners globally inundating the markets, IPAs most likely will never regain their past glory. However they do continue to rise in global distribution. The hop forward American style IPA is now being produced and distributed in Denmark, Norway, Japan, Australia, and even England (Steele 2012). The Danish brewery Mikkeler for example has brewed an IPA with an astonishing 1000 IBUs. Modern day Double IPAs in comparison have upwards of 100 IBUs. This American influenced IPA brewed in Copenhagen has been distributed to the United States and this author has consumed it in Reno, Nevada. I should note that my lips and tongue where completely numb after consuming a glass of 1000 IBUs and no other beers consumed afterward could be appreciatively tasted due to the lingering bitterness.

Perhaps to the bane of the American Brewers Association, IPA styles keep emerging. White IPAs, Session IPAs, Rye IPAs, Wheat IPAs, Pilsner and Lager IPA hybrids, and more are being created and brewed (Steele 2012). How one goes about defining a style and associated parameters must be at best quite frustrating, even for academics who thrive on defining terms. Do we base the name on ingredients, tradition of the style, or both? Regardless the common thread for any IPA is a hop forward experience. Perhaps a drinker of IPA can relate to the late U.S. Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart who struggled in defining a threshold definition for obscenity in the Jacobellis vs. Ohio case of 1964. Failing to adequately define obscenity such that prosecutorial action could be taken, he stated,

…I know it when I see it…

Since IPAs now apparently do not have to be pale, no longer have any association with India, nor do they have to be true ales, drinkers might borrow the strategy of the late Justice Potter in identifying IPAs,

We can’t define it, but we know it when we drink it!

Conclusion

Flemish immigration literally planted the seed for hop usage in England. Their relocation to the Kent region diffused hop usage and English ales inevitably changed in character with increasing bitterness from that of the original sweet, non-hopped ales (Steele 2012). Later these hops would be used for a new beer created with the onset of the Industrial Revolution and the advent of coke, a new reliable fuel source that could kiln malt consistently at low temperatures (Daniels 2000). Pale malt was the result. Pale ales, and October ales were originally brewed for the country gentry, while porters were the drink of the common man (Hayes 2009). However with industrialization, migration patterns changed in England and large commercial breweries were needed to quell the growing urban population’s thirst. Pale October ales, known for being highly hopped, were now brewed alongside the ever present porters in metropolitan London as working wages increased (Steele 2012).

The British Empire continued to expand and British patriots abroad longed for goods, including the pale October ales of home. East Indian ship captains developed a favorable business relationship with George Hodgson and his Bow Brewery in the 1750s, which was only two miles from the East India Company headquarters (Tomlinson 1994a). This porter brewery also brewed a hoppy, October ale, which was soon favored in the Indian trade. It tended to have better survival rates and was preferable over that of the sweet, dark ales in the Tropics. The London pale beers later were replaced by Burton-Upon-Trent breweries due to ethical complaints with the Bow Brewery and favorable Burton waters. Burton breweries’ hard groundwater leant itself to a new pale ale that was drier, crisper, better at hop extraction and eventually more preferable to that of the London soft water pale ales. The Burton region became the global epicenter of what was now labeled the IPA. With the understanding of groundwater chemistry other locales would soon Burtonize their water. IPA breweries spread like a contagion being brewed in North America, continental Europe, Australia, and even India itself (Steele 2012).

The dominant global style soon faded into obscurity though as temperance, world wars and German relocation and diffusion of lagers all combined to kill the once dominant global IPA (Steele 2012). In the 1980s they reemerged with craft brewers on the U.S. West Coast using American hops, known for their citrusy aromas (Hausotter 2009). Renaissance brewing hubs developed up and down the U.S. West Coast and in Boulder, CO during the 1980s and 1990s. These American style IPAs spread across the United States and became distinguishable from that of traditional British styles. In 2000 they were given their own category beer style by the American Brewers Association and have been replicated in multiple countries. As they spread, local regions impart their character into the IPAs and brewing spatial interactions between U.S. and mainly European brewers has produced a series fusion style IPAs, such as Belgian IPAs (Steele 2012). The future of the style will most likely continue to spawn new types and various hybrids, but all (should be) considered hop forward beers.