One of the famous beer styles, which today has many subtypes and production locations, is India Pale Ale. A classic IPA, according to the BJCP description of the style, is a moderately bitter and moderately full-bodied solid pale ale with a pronounced hop aroma and dry flavor (Strong & England, 2021). The British ingredients provide the flavor profile most authentic to the historically accepted one. Visually, it can range from dark amber to golden and is usually clear, except for unfiltered versions. Sometimes there is a spicy, peppery, floral, or citrus aroma and a moderate to pronounced hop bitterness on the palate.
Ratings and reviews of this type of beer can be found in large quantities due to the abundance of substyles. However, many of them have little in common with the original recipe. For example, according to people’s considerations, the popular website Beer Advocate shows statistics where five out of fifteen top-rated beers refer to the IPA. In terms of reviews, there is likewise a significant preponderance of positive reviews for the classic version – more than 90% of the total number of reviews (Beer Advocate). There is no doubt that this beer is valued by beer enthusiasts worldwide.
The first, most original pale ales were more hopped than modern ales. All possible mentions of this style come from the early to the mid-eighteenth century, coke-roasted malt was used in brewing pale ales. Such malt was chosen because it yielded less roasting and smoking of barley during the malting process (Cantwell, 2018). Accordingly, the final product was very light, so it was called pale. It became known as Indian because such beers were prevalent for export to India.
One of the first famous breweries was George Hodgson’s brewery called Bow Brewery. According to historical claims, his popular October brew became one of the most prized brews in India – the quality of this brew depended on aging, and long transport improved its taste (Cantwell, 2018). Initially, the East India Company traders were interested in this brand because it became common in the pubs around the docks and administrative buildings of the trading company itself. Moreover, the warehouses with finished products were not far from this company’s docks, and there was a river connection between them.
The equally famous Burton brewery joined this export later, after losing part of the market in Western Europe due to the wars involving the French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte. The same East India Trading Company invited them to develop a recipe similar to Hodgson’s but with more emphasized hops. In India, it became more popular than the October brand, according to experts, because of the high concentration of sulfates in the water used by Burton (Homer, 2018). Such specificity of water magnified and highlighted the beer bitterness in the final product, which attracted connoisseurs of the variety at that time.
Historically, early IPAs did not have much more alcohol than other brews and could not be called strong. However, the intense hoppiness of the beer and the low amount of residual sugar meant that almost all of the wort was well fermented. Later this type was exported to other countries as well, changing names and parts of the recipes in the process. Many breweries practiced shipping batches of their beer anywhere and selling it by auction to wholesalers.
In their homeland, Britain, India Pale Ale varieties gained popularity before 1800 and were among the most successful products for a long time. Already in the early 20th century, there was a straightforward division of IPA into two styles – premium, bottled medium strength, and draft pale ale, less than 5% ABV and one of the weakest beers in the pubs at the time. Now its popularity is owed to the fact that at the end of the twentieth century, there was a revolution in craft beer, and brewers began to seek out and revive original recipes from years ago.
Furthermore, it can be declared that the beer style is described as a subdivision of light ale, separated from the main category and becoming the ancestor of many sub-styles. Due to the development of the industry related to the profitability of exports and customer feedback, the style has branched out, and all that remains of the original recipe is just the name in some varieties (Baiano, 2020). However, the evolution of other significant styles from IPA can be confirmed: double and triple IPAs with increased ABV, brut with the sugar removed, West Coast and New England IPAs, black and white IPAs, as well as many others.
The recipe is globally widespread, despite its impressive age. Modern commercial versions have popularized this beer style in the U.S., and the widely distributed “Susan”, “Nelson” or “Axe Man” versions from different breweries are excellent proof of this and have the highest consumer ratings (Beer Advocate). The main difference is the level of hop aroma, the presence of citrus notes and transparency. Some modern brands value the original recipe and deviate from it only for the purpose of commercial or flavor experimentation, which causes satisfaction of true connoisseurs of the product.
Bright factors that define the main branch of the style formed many years ago can be called the beer’s hoppiness, a distinct note of hop bitterness, and a pronounced pallor due to the reduction of the degree of roast in the process of malting. Obviously, this does not apply to black IPAs, whose prominent heritage is a pronounced hop aftertaste. When served, the original IPA is best paired with crispy, sweet, and savory chicken wings or a cheese set on a stir-fry. Sauce for appetizers can be spicy or cheesy, and they should not overpower the flavor of the hops in the drink they accompany.
References
Baiano, A. (2020). Craft beer: An overview. Comprehensive Reviews in Food Science and Food Safety, 20(2), 1829–1856. Web.
Beer Advocate. (n.d.). Putting the beer into geeks since 1996. Web.
Cantwell, D. (2018). Brewing eclectic IPA: Pushing the boundaries of India Pale Ale. Brewers Publications.
Homer, J. (2018). Brewing in London. Amberley Publishing Limited.
Strong, G., & England, K. (2021). Beer Judge Certification Program: 2021 style guidelines [PDF document]. Web.