Historic Journey To India

January 18, 2008

Most craft beer drinkers learn early that IPA stands for India Pale Ale and that it is a beer style designed to be strong and very “hoppy”, so that it could last the grueling trip from London to India. It was brewed to supply British Troops and citizens occupying India with non-spoiled ale and it was thought that the general public wouldn’t want to drink anything that bitter. Some think that IPA might have disappeared with the end of the British occupation of India if it wasn’t for the “good fortune” of a shipwreck with a shipment of IPA leaving London. Some of the casks that were in the shipwreck were damaged and ended up for sale on the local market. The extra hoppy beer was a hit with the locals, who started to demand IPA for themselves.

IPA was (most likely) created by George Hodgson at the Bow Brewery in East London. Hodgson controlled the IPA market very skillfully, but eventually breweries in Burton got a foothold in the market and became the major IPA producers of the time.

Beer author, cask beer enthusiast, and blogger Pete Brown wanted to do a book on the journey of IPA to India, so for research he recreated the historic journey from Burton to Calcutta. He began his adventure by brewing the beer he would travel with to India at the White Shield Brewery in Burton with head brewer Steve Wellington. Most of Pete’s blog posts for his trip are here. Start at the bottom.

Notable milestones were:

• The Announcement of the Trip
• Brewing the Beer
• The Loss of Barry (Barry was the first “pin” of IPA)
• Arrival with Jerry

For those who poke around his main blog, you’ll find that there are some posts that didn’t make it into his summary. You’ll learn that Pete and Barry got off to a rocky start, and the beginning of the (now outdated) trip up the canal through the Midlands was slow and expensive.

Posted in Beer History