-The IPA Diaries-
An Archive of India Pale Ale,
or as it is also known,
Export Bitter Beer

India Pale Ale - probably no other style of beer is surrounded by so much myth and lore. I have been doing informal research on India Pale Ale for a couple of decades now, and have found that there is an enormous amount of speculation, assumption, misconception and confusion out there. There is a certain cabal of ale enthusiasts, historians and writers that have categorically stated what is true and what is not, statements that are often times backed up with little or no documentation. Unfortunately, many of these statements get repeated over and over again, and eventually become considered facts. Pity

Here’s the most basic of questions: What is an India Pale Ale? Ok, in the most basic sense, it’s a pale ale that was made somewhere and shipped to India. I will buy that, but more importantly, what does an India Pale Ale taste like? Here, indeed, is the $64,000 question. Can we, beer people of the 21st Century, brew a true India Pale Ale that is like the original? I will let Mr. Terry Foster - author of “Pale Ale” (Brewers Publications, 1999) answer that question: “Not a lot is known about this beer [IPA], for no recipes remain, but it appears that he [Hodgson] did make it hoppier and more bitter than was then customary for ales.”

Before we get started I must say that I am a beer aficionado and a beer history enthusiast, I am not a beer style geek. I find it rather strange that a particular genre of beer can be precisely defined, especially when it comes to something as old and as obscure as an India Pale Ale. Proclaiming a beer “The World’s Best IPA” is to me impossible task. Of all the lore surrounding India Pale Ale, one thing is reasonably consistent - an India Pale Ale was brewed someplace other than India and then shipped over a long distance to India. Granted, I would surmise that the vast majority of India Pale Ales made today have never even been considered for shipment to India. With that in mind, at the very least, I would submit that the India Pale Ale brewed today - and perhaps judged “The World’s Best IPA” - cannot be compared to the India Pale of days of old as it has not been subjected to this same conditions while in transit. I wrote a short article years ago - that appears below - on this topic:

The Great IPA Challenge:  I have always wondered about the taste of India Pale Ale. Today, this variety of beer is immensely popular, especially over here in North America, with hundreds of different breweries producing their particular interpretation of what an IPA should taste like. It's that interpretation that I would like to challenge. Ok, maybe challenge is not the right word, let's use the word "verify" instead. We all know that an IPA is quite hoppy, sometimes almost the excess, but is that mega-hoppiness necessarily correct. Hence "The Great IPA Challenge." Let's begin with a short history of the IPA.
   Actually the history of India Pale Ale is quite a bit more obscure than many people think, with records and recipes being somewhat scarce, if extant at all. It is generally assumed, backed by ephemeral records, that English brewers began shipping their beer to India sometime around the late 1600s. According to Peter Mathias, who wrote the book "The Brewing Industry in England, 1700-1830," in 1697 some 700 barrels of beer were shipped to India. Not a lot, but a start. Trouble is, exactly what type of beer was being shipped to the sub-continent is not a certainty, but most likely it was a porter, at least in these early days. Although several brewers were soon shipping beer, of various styles including porters and pale ales, to India, the originator of what many assume to be the first real IPA was a Mr. George Hodgson. Well, maybe, maybe not.

In 1752, Hodgson began brewing ales in a London brewery, and by 1790, he was shipping his product, which he first referred to as India ale, to India. History tends to posit that Hodgson actually garnered his place in beer history simply because he was, by far, shipping the most ale to India. Hodgson, and later his sons, who made money on both legs of the voyage - beer to India and exotic trade goods back to England - was quite aggressive in protecting his market share. Yes, Mr. Hodgson is usually credited, however uncorroborated, with the idea of over hopping a higher alcohol beer in order to ensure it survived the outward voyage, although this may or may not be exactly accurate. There are records of normal - i.e. not overly hopped - beer being shipped long distances with no major detrimental effects.

As one advert indicates - Calcutta, 1809 - beer could be shipped to India in bottles. Yet another variable to be considered. So, an IPA may or may have not been in contact with oak over an extended period of time. Hmm?

Still, it is a most accepted theory that Hodgson over hopped his ale, the hops acting as a preservative. The trouble is his recipe has long been lost, so formulating a beer to his specifications today - we don't actually know the type of hops, nor the amount used - is an educated guess, at best. Also, other breweries were using the same technique.
  A passage in Lord Askwith's 1928 book." British Taverns - Their History and Laws" noted that: "The Burton brewery [he does not note which one] exported as much beer abroad as they sold in England. But as faster ships and extended dominions made the trade [shipping and selling beers overseas] more profitable very considerable extension occurred, and extension which continued with increasing speed throughout the 19th Century, particularly after the Exhibition of 1851 [a century after Hodgson started brewing] and the resulting demand for bottled beer in India."  Unfortunately, Lord Askwith does not record what happened at this Exhibition to cause this increase in demand, nor whether the beer was considered an India Pale Ale. By the way, the "Great Exhibition of 1851," held at the newly built Crystal Palace in Hyde Park, was meant to showcase the worldwide economic dominance of English goods, including glass bottles. For example, a firm by the name of The Aire and Calder Bottle Company - from "Castleford near Pontefract" -  had a number a glass liquor and beer bottles on display.

   Who did what first has been the subject of great discussion for years, so for the sake of détente among beer drinkers, let's just agree that Mr. Hodgson was the father, at least by virtue of quantity, of India Pale Ale. Now, on to the Great IPA Challenge.
 So today, in the most general terms, we perceive India Pale Ale as a heavily hopped, high alcohol pale ale, which right away is a bit odd as historic records indicate that Hodgson India Ale was actually a bit weaker than his other, home market ales. Who knows for sure? Anyway, there are a number of heritage brewers out there, working with beer historians, trying to replicate what an age-old IPA would taste like. I have read dozens of articles to this end, and applaud their efforts, but even most of these folks say their resultant recipes are assumptions, even if based on source records. The one thing that I have yet to see seriously replicated, however, is the voyage to India itself, and all the variables faced while at sea.
Here is the challenge: Make a batch of IPA, based on the best vintage recipe available - or, alternatively, take a modern IPA recipe - and rack it into an oak cask. In either case, using an appropriate contraption, slowly, but continuously, rock the cask back and forth to imitate the motion of a ship. At the same time, cool it down for a few weeks, then heat it up for a few weeks, then cool it down again, and finally heat it back up, simulating the ship's slow progress through extremes of climate. If possible, add a highly humid, salty atmosphere, and some nasty bilge water to the mix. A well-made oak cask is nearly impermeable, but not 100 percent so. Do all of this over the span of at least a couple of months. Now, tap the keg and compare. How has the taste changed from the original? What did the British colonial soldier in India, who was a targeted consumer of IPAs, taste?
    To be honest, I have read articles about this very concept, but never to this depth.  I have even heard of a guy who travelled aboard a ship from the UK to India, toting his own keg of beer - but it was an aluminum keg. Not quite accurate. Sure, modern IPAs are often well aged, some in contact with oak, but there is more to it than that. The point is for the modern brewer to subject their ale to the same conditions that an ancient IPA faced, and note how the taste has changed. Is this a more accurate result, more than just letting a keg of ale quietly age in a cool dark room?
 I do enjoy an IPA on a fairly regular basis. As I sit there with a nice pint, I sometimes wonder if I took the IPA in my hand and subjected it to the conditions present in the olden days, what would it then taste like. I do read a lot about beer and brewing, but if I missed an article about the subject, drop me a line - I would love to read it. Thanks and Cheers! [End of Article]

As I noted above, there is a lot of “speculation, assumption, misconception and confusion” on the subject. I should clarify that I am not an expert, so I cannot make any categorical statements either. What I can do is record and present to you here an every growing database of old references, recipes and notation as to India Pale Ale, written over the years. Then a meaningful discussion on the subject can ensue. Check back here often as I will be adding documents all the time. So, presented below - in semi-chronological order - are links to what I have dubbed The IPA Diaries. Enjoy!

By the way … Many of the documents that appear below were found on one of the best online databases around - The HathiTtrust Digital Library. Here’s their link: babel.hathitrust.org

Found a ancient document on India Pale Ale? - drop me a line and I will include it here. Cheers!

-The IPA Diaries-

1711: “An Account of the Trade in India” by Charles Lockter (London). Click HERE.

1840: “Drake’s Road Book of the Sheffield and Rotherham Railway” by Howard and Moore (London). Click HERE.

1843: “The Chemist” edited by Charles and John Watt (London). Click HERE.

1849: “The Knife and Fork for Enlightened Epicures” by The “Aldermen” (London). Click HERE.

1850: “The Art of Brewing - Practically Exemplified” by Daniel Dobell (London). Click HERE.

1852: “The Art of Brewing” by David Booth (London). Click HERE.

1855: “The Schoolmaster at Home (Book Advert)” Click HERE.

1857: “The Theory and Practice of Brewing” by W.L. Tizard (London). Click HERE.

1872: “The Art of Brewing India Pale Ale and Export Ale” by James Herbert (Burton-Upon-Trent). Click HERE.

1888: “The Club Directory of the United States” by The Clucas Publishing Company (New York, New York). Click HERE.

1889: “Guide Book of the City of Toronto” compliments of the Rossin House (Toronto, Ontario). Click HERE.

1907: “Beverage Menu from the Kaberett Flendermaus” (Vienna, Austria). Click HERE.

1908: “Souvenir Historique du Club Champêtre Canadien.” (La Province de Quebec) Click HERE.

1910: “Guests of an Old Time Inn” by P. Ballantine & Sons (Newark, New Jersey). Click HERE.

1967: “U. S. Code of Federal Regulations” - Title 27, Intoxicating Liquors. Click HERE.