India Pale Ale (IPA), is a distinct style of beer and is characterized as a sparkling pale ale with a high level of alcohol and hops. The creation of India Pale Ale (IPA) during the 1790s was the result of tremendous efforts by British brewers to overcome a difficult problem. During the 1700s beer did not keep well on long ocean voyages, especially into hot climates. These hot environments resulted in the arrival of flat, sour beer.

History

The East Indies market was a very tempting but difficult one to enter for British brewers. After Britain had established itself in India by the early 1700s, it had a large number of troops and civilians demanding beer. However, the long hot journey proved a difficult one for the dark ales and porters of England. Ships typically left London, cruised south past the equator along the coast of Africa, rounded the Cape of Good Hope and then crossed the Indian Ocean to reach Bombay, Calcutta, and Madras. The temperature fluctuations were huge, and the rough waters of southern Africa resulted in an extremely violent voyage.

Despite these obstacles, however, brewers did try to establish exports to India. Early shipments to India contained bottled porters, the favorite beer in London, which generally arrived flat, musty, and sour. The answer to the great beer problem finally came from a recipe created by George Hodgson at the Bow Brewery in East London. Hodgson began shipping Hodgson's India Ale during the 1790s. India ale was a variation of his pale ale, which Londoners had been drinking since the mid-1750s. Pale ales were so called because they were lighter in color than the popular brown ales and dark porters and stouts.

Before refrigeration and pasteurization, the brewer's only weapons against spoilage were alcohol and hops. Alcohol provided an unfriendly environment for microbes and the hops prevented the growth of the bacteria which cause sourness. Therefore high alcohol content and high hopping rates could protect beer from the souring associated with long storage times. Hodgson took his pale ale recipe, increased the hop content considerably, and raised the alcohol content. The result was a very bitter, alcoholic, and sparkling pale ale that could survive the challenges of travel and shelf life in India. Hodgson's success became legendary.

Thanks in part to Hodgson's recipe, the Indian beer market expanded greatly. In 1750, about 1480 barrels left England for India -- in 1800, 9000 barrels were exported, an increase of about 7500 barrels in annual shipments. The success of IPA was soon copied by the Salt, Allsopp, and Bass breweries who all claim to have been the first to copy Hodgson's style. American brewers also began brewing IPA for the export and home markets. Ballantine's IPA dates back to the early part of the 20th century when IPAs were still strong in both popularity and alcohol content.

The expansion of the Indian beer market caused by Hodgson's IPA ultimately led to the building of Asia's first breweries. In the late 1820s Edward Dyer moved from England to set up the first brewery in India at Kasauli (later incorporated as Dyer Breweries in 1855) in the Himalaya producing Asia's first beer Lion. Dyer set up more breweries at Solan, Shimla, Murree, Rawalpindi and Mandalay. Another entrepreneur, H G Meakin, moved to India and bought the old Shimla and Solan Breweries from Edward Dyer and added more at Ranikhet, Dalhousie, Chakrata, Darjeeling and Kirkee. In 1935, when Burma was separated from India, the company was restructured with its Indian assets as Dyer Meakin Breweries , a public company on the London Stock Exchange. Following independence in 1949, N.N. Mohan took over management of the company and the name was changed to Mohan Meakin. The company continues to produce beer across India to this day and Lion is still available in northern India.

Today

Today, however, no brewer in India makes India Pale Ale. All Indian beers are either lagers or strong lagers (8 per cent alcohol - such as the popular MAX super strong beer). International Breweries Pvt. Ltd. have recently announced an intention to work with Mohan Meakin to produce and launch an India Pale Ale called Indian IPA from India's first brewery at Kasauli. International Breweries have stated their intention to reverse the historic flow of beer by sending it from the Himalaya mountains in India to Britain by ship.

India Pale Ales are still brewed in Britain, one example being Greene King IPA of Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk. Alexander Keith's India Pale Ale is popular in Atlantic Canada. The IPA style has become popular with American microbreweries as well (one example being Victory Brewing Company's HopDevil IPA). The are generally lower in alcohol and hops than the originals, although some are being made to original recipes.