What makes a beer an IPA? What are the qualifying characteristics of an IPA? What is the difference between a Pale Ale and an IPA? Just wondering what it takes for a beer to be labeled an IP? Thanks and enjoy a good cold one 
Hereās a good reference
http://www.bjcp.org/styles04/Category14.phpIPA stands for India Pale Ale. It was created durring the british occupation of India, when they wanted to send beer over to their military. Pale ales wouldnāt survive the journey, and tasted bad by the time they arrived due to temperature changes, and such. So they added a lot more hops which increased the shelf life, and hid some of the imperfections that were caused durring the voyage.
IPA is basically a hoppier/more bitter pale ale. Typically has more alcohol.
Mitch Steele may beg to differ
Mitch Steele may beg to differ [/quote]
Havnāt read his book yet. Iām sure thereās a lot of different theoryās on the evolution of IPA. Anyway the English IPA and American IPA are two drastically different beers.
My story above is just the āconventionalā theory about the start of IPA - Itās what the English told me when I studied in Sunderland. Although Iām certain thereās a lot more to it.
:cheers:
Why the heck didnāt they just brew the beer in India? The grain would take up less room than the barrels of beer.
Do they have breweries in India?
Would you move yours there or bother to build one in a temporary situation?
As I understand it, it was a trade situation. There were all these import companies running cargo ships back from India with spices (and textiles?) When they would return, they would load them up with beer. While the grain might take up less room, you can get a lot more money for barrels of beer than you can for grain.
There was nothing temporary about the British in India. About 200 years. Plenty of time to build a brewery donāt you think. I think if I was a buisness man back then I would build a brewery. I definatly could make it cheaper locally. No transportation cost.
I see your point, a very good one. But did they know that when it started? As for the occupationā¦
Before the British arrived the drank rice beer. In the 1700s the first British brewery opened. Lion brewery its still open , they apparently make a very good stout
Mitch Steele may beg to differ [/quote]
As would Martyn Cornell.
Have a look here:
(there are other articles on the site as well)
I donāt think that shipping barley from a country where it was grown would have worked. It would have become totally stale and useless by the time it arrived after itās long sea journey, and I would bet the same would be true for hops, too. And thatās not even saying anything about yeast. They would have had no practical way whatsoever to preserve yeast for such a long journey without having refrigeration.
Short answer: An IPA is just a bigger Pale ABV is generally 6+, very hoppy, golden to copper color. Think of it as an Imperial Pale Ale (beer history buffs, I already know the Russian connection there).
Mitch Steele may beg to differ [/quote]
As would Martyn Cornell.
Have a look here:
(there are other articles on the site as well)[/quote]
good read. I stand corrected :cheers:
especially this page:
I donāt think that shipping barley from a country where it was grown would have worked. It would have become totally stale and useless by the time it arrived after itās long sea journey, and I would bet the same would be true for hops, too. And thatās not even saying anything about yeast. They would have had no practical way whatsoever to preserve yeast for such a long journey without having refrigeration.[/quote]
They had grains in India for goodness sakes they were making bread and beer so they had yeast. They were making bread in the desert (Egypt ) 2000 years ago so they could and were making beer in India. They werenāt drinking a lot because I believe of their religion. Now maybe it was marketing remember when you couldnt get coors on the east coast. Itās lousy beer but people wanted it so the pent up demand created a huge market. Itās all history now.
I think the obvious answer is the climate and the water. They didnāt have refrigeration back then so the beer would be fermenting and aging at dry hot temps if you built a brewery in India. Also, I donāt know about the water profile in India but the water profile in Burton is what made the IPA so popular.
I donāt think that shipping barley from a country where it was grown would have worked. It would have become totally stale and useless by the time it arrived after itās long sea journey, and I would bet the same would be true for hops, too. And thatās not even saying anything about yeast. They would have had no practical way whatsoever to preserve yeast for such a long journey without having refrigeration.[/quote]
They had grains in India for goodness sakes they were making bread and beer so they had yeast. They were making bread in the desert (Egypt ) 2000 years ago so they could and were making beer in India. They werenāt drinking a lot because I believe of their religion. Now maybe it was marketing remember when you couldnt get coors on the east coast. Itās lousy beer but people wanted it so the pent up demand created a huge market. Itās all history now.[/quote]
Yes, Iām aware of all that, but you have to remember that the British would have been making beer to suit their own tastes, and that would have required using ingredients from their own region, if they really wanted to duplicate the taste of their own beer from home. Just swapping out ingredients from halfway across the world would have resulted in a completely different kind of beer, and I doubt they would have settled for that. Iām not saying it would have been impossible to make beer in India, of course, but to make it the way the British liked it, using ingredients from India, would have been a huge challenge. Iām quite sure they looked deeply into the possibility back then, and the reasons they declined to pursue that goal must have been pretty compelling for them. We just donāt really know why, I guess. It will probably always be a little bit of a historical mystery.
Maybe Iām wrong, but I doubt they had a lot of knowledge about fermentation temperatures and water profile back then. Within old beer recipes from colonial times the instructions often read to let the wort cool to the temperature of blood.
[/quote]
Yes, Iām aware of all that, but you have to remember that the British would have been making beer to suit their own tastes, and that would have required using ingredients from their own region, if they really wanted to duplicate the taste of their own beer from home. Just swapping out ingredients from halfway across the world would have resulted in a completely different kind of beer, and I doubt they would have settled for that. Iām not saying it would have been impossible to make beer in India, of course, but to make it the way the British liked it, using ingredients from India, would have been a huge challenge. Iām quite sure they looked deeply into the possibility back then, and the reasons they declined to pursue that goal must have been pretty compelling for them. We just donāt really know why, I guess. It will probably always be a little bit of a historical mystery.[/quote]
You sure are making a lot of assumptions here. Iām willing to bet that British soldiers stationed in India would drink pretty much any alcohol they could get their hands on. Sure, theyād probably want an English style ale from their home land, but I doubt theyād reject another type of ale if it was all they had. Of course, Iām just speculating.
[quote=ādobe12ā][/quote]
Yes, Iām aware of all that, but you have to remember that the British would have been making beer to suit their own tastes, and that would have required using ingredients from their own region, if they really wanted to duplicate the taste of their own beer from home. Just swapping out ingredients from halfway across the world would have resulted in a completely different kind of beer, and I doubt they would have settled for that. Iām not saying it would have been impossible to make beer in India, of course, but to make it the way the British liked it, using ingredients from India, would have been a huge challenge. Iām quite sure they looked deeply into the possibility back then, and the reasons they declined to pursue that goal must have been pretty compelling for them. We just donāt really know why, I guess. It will probably always be a little bit of a historical mystery.[/quote]
You sure are making a lot of assumptions here. [quote]Iām willing to bet that British soldiers stationed in India would drink pretty much any alcohol they could get their hands on.[/quote]
Yeah, maybe occasionally, if their supply of beer from home ran dry. But if they were really that undiscriminating, why would they go to the trouble of having beer shipped thousands of miles all the way from home in the first place?
