I posted this on a British beer forum, but figured it would do well here too, especially with the history of IPA and what seems to be "common knowledge" of it…
I'm reading a book on IPA's, and it starts with known British beers in England.
In this book it challenges the long held belief that the IPA itself was specifically designed for the long travel to the colonies in India, that it was it's own beer.
There's no record per se, but there are advertisements that show how Hodgson's Bow Brewery and the the East India Company together supplied (monopolized) India with the largest amount of goods, including beer, for the bulk of the time until it's decline in the 1800's.
Records show that what was sent was an October beer, a very strong pale ale, and possibly dry hopped more than usual to help it make the journey as they had known that for long term stability a higher alcohol content or high hopping rates were quite helpful.
But it wasn't until Bow Brewery was losing support due to price gouging and monopolizing (around 1813, but significant in 1820 with the passing of a free trade measure, and that it was Campbell Marjoribanks (pronounced Marchbanks) who sent a sample of Hodgson's pale ale to Allsop, a brewery in Burton, to attempt a similar beer, which took years before a good recipe was formulated. And it was years after this that advertisements were shown to call it such things as "pale ale for India" among a few others.
Records show that Allsop and Bass became the two biggest exporters of IPA once Bow Brewery fell.
From what I can see it appears as though a traditional IPA was brewed to about 6.5% ABV using 100% Warminster pale malts (Maris Otter?) and boiled for an extended amount of time to achieve its color. It also appears as though Kent Goldings were the only hop used (~27.5g/L), and it was tossed in around 90 mins using 55% of the hops, and another 22.5% at 60 mins, and the remainder at the end of the boil/whirlpool. It doesn't seem to state how much was used for a dry hop.
The above recipe was stated as a Burton IPA from the 1800's by James McCrorie who is a British beer historian.
So it would seems though there never was a flavoring addition.
Though I am far from finished reading, there doesn't seem to be a clear definition of what made up an October beer other than it used nothing but fresh barley and hops and was brewed strong from October to Novemeber, and was a beer that was usually aged 2-3 years until it went to India when it was aged 1 year prior to sending it as they found shipping across the ocean like that tended to help age it quicker.
Can someone explain to me what a 1700's October beer would have been, and how that compares to an 1800's IPA?
This book is titled IPA Brewing techniques, Recipes and the Evolution of India Pale Alw written by Mitch Steele.
One of these days I will be attempting a true old style British IPA, and am inclined, so far, to go with the recipe that was stated, though it states the yeast used is Fuller's 294, which I am unfamiliar with, and am not sure of what might be similar enough, along with the pale malt that was used.
I'm reading a book on IPA's, and it starts with known British beers in England.
In this book it challenges the long held belief that the IPA itself was specifically designed for the long travel to the colonies in India, that it was it's own beer.
There's no record per se, but there are advertisements that show how Hodgson's Bow Brewery and the the East India Company together supplied (monopolized) India with the largest amount of goods, including beer, for the bulk of the time until it's decline in the 1800's.
Records show that what was sent was an October beer, a very strong pale ale, and possibly dry hopped more than usual to help it make the journey as they had known that for long term stability a higher alcohol content or high hopping rates were quite helpful.
But it wasn't until Bow Brewery was losing support due to price gouging and monopolizing (around 1813, but significant in 1820 with the passing of a free trade measure, and that it was Campbell Marjoribanks (pronounced Marchbanks) who sent a sample of Hodgson's pale ale to Allsop, a brewery in Burton, to attempt a similar beer, which took years before a good recipe was formulated. And it was years after this that advertisements were shown to call it such things as "pale ale for India" among a few others.
Records show that Allsop and Bass became the two biggest exporters of IPA once Bow Brewery fell.
From what I can see it appears as though a traditional IPA was brewed to about 6.5% ABV using 100% Warminster pale malts (Maris Otter?) and boiled for an extended amount of time to achieve its color. It also appears as though Kent Goldings were the only hop used (~27.5g/L), and it was tossed in around 90 mins using 55% of the hops, and another 22.5% at 60 mins, and the remainder at the end of the boil/whirlpool. It doesn't seem to state how much was used for a dry hop.
The above recipe was stated as a Burton IPA from the 1800's by James McCrorie who is a British beer historian.
So it would seems though there never was a flavoring addition.
Though I am far from finished reading, there doesn't seem to be a clear definition of what made up an October beer other than it used nothing but fresh barley and hops and was brewed strong from October to Novemeber, and was a beer that was usually aged 2-3 years until it went to India when it was aged 1 year prior to sending it as they found shipping across the ocean like that tended to help age it quicker.
Can someone explain to me what a 1700's October beer would have been, and how that compares to an 1800's IPA?
This book is titled IPA Brewing techniques, Recipes and the Evolution of India Pale Alw written by Mitch Steele.
One of these days I will be attempting a true old style British IPA, and am inclined, so far, to go with the recipe that was stated, though it states the yeast used is Fuller's 294, which I am unfamiliar with, and am not sure of what might be similar enough, along with the pale malt that was used.
