![]() ![]() We saw how that ended for 2Pac and Biggie. Now, we’re not going to go down some pissing match wormhole of who “invented” or brewed the first West Coast IPA or NEIPA. But, before we talk about West Coast IPAs and New England or Hazy IPAs, it seemed ok to talk a little bit about plain old IPA, which nerds can read all about on the internet or in books, such as “IPA, Brewing Techniques, Recipes and the Evolution of India Pale Ale,” gifted to me by Mitch Steele (thanks Mitch!). Who knows what these beers looked or tasted like? (It probably wasn’t good according to our standards of today). There’s definitely some controversy over what the IPA’s of the Bow Brewery were like, and whether or not they weren’t actually just the same pale ales of the day, but the common thread supports the idea that extra hops and extra alcohol came to be associated, making the beer less likely to sour on the hot voyage, and only Belgians like sour beer, so the Brits definitely didn’t want that. It could be argued that this dry hopping with popular new hop varieties is essentially what makes all styles of modern IPA possible. The British also practice the important tradition of dry hopping a cask, or adding a handful of hops straight into the finished beer. The British are more known for their ales whilst the Germans are known for their lagers. So we say that this was a Pale Ale designed for export to the British troops stationed in India. If we look at the individual letters, we know I is for India, P is for Pale and A is for Ale. Sadly, that brewery is gone and sitting in its place are some boring condos. His name was Richard Hodgson and the brewery was called the Bow Brewery. The world’s first IPA begins with an entrepreneur, who was lucky to have located his brewery business close to the East India Company, which was in the business of bringing exotic stuff back to the UK, and that meant the ships were a little light on the way there (plenty of room for beer). ![]() ![]() This is a story all about how my life got flipped-turned upside down. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |