I overheard a man on the weekend say that Indian Pale Ale got it's name because the British army in India back in the 17 or early 1800's or something were getting beer sent to them. The hot climate and length of journey was meaning that the beer was getting stale by the time it got to them. The response was to tell them that it was actually a new and special more hoppy variety called Indian Pale Ale. The troops approved, the name stuck and it started getting brewed all over the shop.
I have no idea if this is correct or not (?) and wikipedia doesn't support it, but I'll be damned if it's not an entertaining story anyway.
Who knows? Beer for the British overseas in India was sent by boat and the lightly cooked malt and extra hop was found to produce a superior pint at the other end. Other beers were also sent by the same method and survived just fine but IPA just attracted the attention long enough to catch on an become popular over there as well as over here - and in the USA too it seems. Even an East India Company worker could tell a stale beer so there would be trouble if anyone tried to palm them off with rubbish.
My favourite bird, this could well become my favourite beer too!
ReplyDeleteI overheard a man on the weekend say that Indian Pale Ale got it's name because the British army in India back in the 17 or early 1800's or something were getting beer sent to them. The hot climate and length of journey was meaning that the beer was getting stale by the time it got to them. The response was to tell them that it was actually a new and special more hoppy variety called Indian Pale Ale. The troops approved, the name stuck and it started getting brewed all over the shop.
ReplyDeleteI have no idea if this is correct or not (?) and wikipedia doesn't support it, but I'll be damned if it's not an entertaining story anyway.
Who knows? Beer for the British overseas in India was sent by boat and the lightly cooked malt and extra hop was found to produce a superior pint at the other end. Other beers were also sent by the same method and survived just fine but IPA just attracted the attention long enough to catch on an become popular over there as well as over here - and in the USA too it seems. Even an East India Company worker could tell a stale beer so there would be trouble if anyone tried to palm them off with rubbish.
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