Are you ready to question everything you know about the origins of IPA? You better be. This is the real origin story of our beloved IPAs.
The IPA is born
In a shipyard in England in the 1700s, imagine a conversation about beer. Maybe it went a little something like this.
“We’re not going to India without our beer,” said one Englishman to the King as he, along with hundreds of other adventurers, were preparing to sail from England to India.
“Of course not,” said a brewer. “And this beer is all hopped up to keep it nice and fresh for your hundred day journey across the sea. There will be no bad beer for England’s brave explorers!”
The adventurers rejoiced and the IPA (India Pale Ale) was born.
Not quite!
The (mis)understandings of how IPAs came to be
It has long been (mis)understood that IPAs originated from an English brewer by the name of George Hodgson. Another (mis)understanding was that beer couldn’t be shipped on the long and arduous journey from England to India without spoiling.
Let’s address these (mis)understandings.
The real story of how IPAs began goes something like this:
In 18th century England, people loved the very common, easy to brew, often high ABV dark beers. It was the beer that was plentiful and these porters were well-loved and well-received by beer lovers.
That’s not to say lighter beers didn’t have a place. They did. In fact, even previous to 18th century England, in the 1600s, advances in malting began to take hold.
Advances such as coke-firing (a coal-based fuel) which allowed maltsters to have more control over the malts, allowing for lighter roasted malts. These pale ales were much different than those utilizing the common wood roasting practices that resulted in dark beer, often with a smoky residual flavor from the malts.
These pale ales also made their way from England to India early on in the 1700s. And in 1784, they were on sale, along with porters, as advertised in India in the Calcutta Gazette.
So how did George Hodgson get credit for inventing the IPA?
Knowing what we do about brewing today, you need to brew your beer and sell it shortly thereafter to make a profit, so you can brew more and repeat the process, allowing you to stay in business.
It was the same in 18th century England. Very few brewers were willing to brew batches upon batches of beer, put it on a ship, and then wait months for said beer to arrive where it would finally be sold.
George Hodgson was one of those brewers. Hodgson opened Bow Brewery in London near East India’s major shipping port in 1752.
It was the East Indiamen, affiliated with the East India Company, that handled bringing the goods from England to be sold in India. And one of those goods was beer.
Bow Brewery was a small brewery, but Hodgson was willing to extend credit to the East Indiamen, unlike many of the larger breweries there. That and his convenient location helped seal the deal for his beer to be sold across 4,000 nautical miles before receiving payment.
But nobody was going to pay for beer that arrived spoiled. And even though previous shipments of beer had arrived unspoiled, some did not fare well during the long voyage across the seas.
One would have to imagine that Hodgson wasn’t willing to risk that his beer may or may not arrive in ship-shape condition. Recognizing this potential problem, it’s possible that Hodgson dry-hopped the barrels and added in whole-cone hops to help preserve the flavor and prevent spoilage. However, this is not known for certain.
What is known is that Hodgson had been brewing both porters and pale ales at Bow Brewery and both were of great quality. While porters were still well-loved even in India, the pale ales sent over from Bow Brewery (with or without added hops, we may never know) began to gain in popularity. More likely from the mere fact that these suited the climate better. The possible addition of extra hops to preserve the beer didn’t have much to do with that.
The popularity of Hodgson’s pale ales, though, made it easy for some to credit him with being the founder of the IPA.
But, contrary to popular belief, Hodgson’s beer was not called an India Pale Ale. It was a Pale Ale made for India. Even the media at that time referred to Hodgson’s beer as that – a Pale Ale made for India.
And if you remember, pale ales have been around long before Hodgson brewed his Pale Ale for India.
There’s also the fact that it has never been proven that Hodgson was the first to add additional hops to beers, as previous to this there were other known beers that utilized fresh hops. With added ingredients, these were more expensive than the typical beers consumer could afford. Nonetheless, these brews, known as October beers, may have been some of the first IPAs.
Renowned brewmaster and author Mitch Steele stated in his book, IPA: Brewing Techniques, Recipes and the Evolution of India Pale Ale, “Research done by beer historians and brewers over the past several years has uncovered absolutely zero evidence to support the idea that Hodgson’s beer was formulated or invented specifically for exportation to India.” (2012, pgs 23-24)
So where did the IPA come from?
From a Pale Ale for India to an India Pale Ale (IPA)
While the porter was still a popular beer both in England and India, India’s warmer and more humid climate begged for Hodgson’s lighter, hopped up beer. The Pale Ale of India began to catch on.
But it wasn’t until the 19th century that this style of beer was labeled an India Pale Ale. Even then, after its first official labeling in an Australian newspaper in 1829 and being brewed more and more at its epicenter just outside of London, it took another decade or so for the label to stick.
Today this beer style is more commonly called an IPA. So much so, that many new craft beer drinkers have no idea that an IPA is short for India Pale Ale.
Now you know the real story behind the origin of the IPA. Or India Pale Ale. Or Pale Ale of India. It’s as clear as a hazy!
Cheers to IPAs!
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About Malteurop Malting Company (MMC)
Malteurop Malting Company (MMC) is based in North America—specializing in growing and producing quality malts for the beer, whiskey, and food processing industries. With local farms and Malthouses spread across the United States, Canada, and Mexico, Malteurop’s commitment to excellence is fully ingrained into every batch it produces, ensuring businesses of any size can create the finest beverages and food products on the planet.
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https://www.wineenthusiast.com/culture/spirits/ipa-beer-history-hodgson/
https://beerconnoisseur.com/articles/complete-truth-about-origins-india-pale-ale-ipa
Steele, Mitch, IPA: Brewing Techniques, Recipes and the Evolution of India Pale Ale