Well, I figured out what an IPA is. Yeah, I never really even tried one before. After being given one at Asheville Pizza and Brewing in Asheville, NC I knew I needed to investigate this bitter beer. I soon discovered the history behind it. Pretty much, back in the 1700’s or 1800’s the English needed a beer that would last the journey from England, down around South America, and up to India. In short, they learned the preserving powers of hops and added more than usual to their beers. So, I started checking around for IPA’s. And, I didn’t have to look far. At my local grocery store I found one by a company out of Greensboro, NC - Natty Greene’s. Their Southern Pale Ale is fantastic. Enough so that I took a bottle to my local home brew supplies store and asked them to build up a recipe that mocks this one. I brewed it (called it Apalachian Pale Ale because I used water from the mountain spring) and it came out amazingly nice. Not as bitter as Natty Greene’s but pretty good. Got some work to do to refine it but I’m now a huge lover of IPA’s. Living in the new Beer City USA of Asheville is a plus!
You got me to wondering what my first IPA was…I know it was a British import because it was back when there was no other IPA, and most beer drinkers here wouldn’t know what you were talking about. I do sort of wish the name IPA was strictly for the British style. There’s nothing “India” about the beers we have here and half aren’t even pale. If AHA wasn’t taken, I’d suggest it for American Hoppy Ale which would have to use US hops but could be any shade of ale.
there is one- APA american pale ale
Sure, for below a certain hop level. I’m drinking a British IPA right now and it’s nothing like an American IPA. Just saying that to use the British name for what most Americans think of as an IPA is a bit silly.
Iunno. I’ve been looking at historical recipes lately, and IPA’s fluctuated quite a lot over the years. For example, just before WWI you might see a London brewery using what would work out to over 6 ounces of hops per 5 gallons in an IPA. By the Depression the hopping rates and gravity had dropped considerably. And a lot of adjunct was sneaking into the grist. Beers from the same brewery and bearing the same label (to speak nothing of style designation), but separated in time by only 20 years, have characteristics different enough to send a high-ranking BJCP judge into hysterics.
Depending on what decade you want to plant your feet in, it seems to me that it’s pretty easy to argue that it’s the Americans who are true to style on IPA whereas the English have lost their way. Or to argue that just the opposite is true.
