The true history of the IPA | The Craft Beer Channel 

Don't forget to check out our feature length documentary, also featuring the wonderful Martyn Cornell. If you want more beer history check our his books: www.amazon.co.uk/kindle-dbs/entity/author/B0034PY5ZE

To anyone in London and interested in trying something similar to the original IPAs, I really recommend 1892 IPA by Beerblefish. Its about 7% and has a lot of brett character (brettanomyces claussenii I think the strain is called? Its the strain isolated from an old English ale). Apparently pretty accurate to Victorian era recipes, but without the barrel aging. Very complex and fascinating to drink

These guys always tell me I was drinking great beer. Sierra Nevada was my first independent beer that I loved.

I've always thought of Orval as a contaminated ESB rather than a 19th century IPA but Martyn makes a great point (as usual). I've visited the Abbey and drank the water from the well. Styrian Goldings was used for years as the dry hop, Strisselspalt is used more recently. At 9 months old it is absolutely sublime

I'd throw Pete Brown's "Hops and Glory" into the mix. He brewed, with Steve Wellington, head brewer at the White Shield Brewery (Museum Brewery at the National Brewery Centre - shut down by Molson Coors 9 days ago) an ale which they called Calcutta IPA that Brown eventually managed to take to India, by sea. The final chapter provides a beautifully succinct potted history of the brewers and politics of Burton.

Great history. As a Canadian I am familiar with (and enjoy) the us west coast ipas (eg Russian River’s) as well as the east coast and all our locals in Ontario. I recently visited London and really enjoyed the green king offerings. They were a nicely flavored ipa without the ABV. I’ve not found a light ipa with the same good flavour on this side of the pond.

Fantastic video to watch whilst sipping Juipur and traveling to Finsbury park to watch the football this evening!

Splendid! Thank you very much guys!

I grew up downwind from Sierra Nevada. THANK YOU for recognizing it in this cannon. Amazing video!

Great video! Thanks! Sierra Nevada Pale Ale is my absolute main stay. Has been for several years. I did start out with Liberty Ale decades ago. I have an unopened bottle of Liberty Ale from the 1980's. I kept it because it had an error on the label, i.e. print omitted from banners and anchor. Another good one was Sam Adams Boston Ale (not lager), but I haven't seen that one in about 10 years.

Grewing up in Northern Germany Pils was synonymous to "beer" and thats pretty much all you could get in a pub or bar. Visiting London in 2015, a Bengal Lancer ( in Ye Olde Mitre Tavern of all places, no kidding) was my first IPA and the beginning of my craft beer journey. Great channel btw. And congrats to the UK Craft Beer Scene

Really well put together content. Music, video, script. All solid.

Never expected to see an Orval in an IPA video. Very informative video indeed. Cheers.

Was stuck having to drink Newcastle last night at a pizza pub because it was the only brown ale they had and everything else was IPAs or industrial lagers. I can’t tolerate the bitterness of IPA and I’m sick to death of it being the only craft selections on menus. Bring back tasty and balanced brown ales!

Your comments about SNPA being not as dry makes me think of what happened with Three Floyds; I find that their hoppy ales (Alpha King, Zombie Dust, Dreadnaught, etc.) are much sweeter than their earlier counterparts. To me, their meaningful innovation was in discovering that sweet malts + fresh hops = juicy, hoppy beer. We are in their debt today with the newest generation of hoppy beers.

Glad there was that one decision to use a different hop. 😀 Facinating stuff you guys. Love these little segments you do.

Great video! This goes really well with your brilliant documentary. Fascinating to learn about the history of beer.

Fascinating and very informative video guys, Martyn is a great source of information - good work 👏

I really do love the history videos. I like all of the stuff here, but the somewhat deeper history pieces really blow my skirt up. Thanks chaps!

Prior to Prohibition, there were many American IPAs but only one resurfaced after the law was repealed. That beer was Ballantine IPA, a true British style India Pale Ale. Ballantine IPA and their XXX Ale thrived until the 1960’s. They brewed beer until the early 1970’s and unfortunately went out of business after being sold and relocated a number of times.

My fridge is full everyday with Sierra Nevada Pale Ale! Great video gents!

Thanks for this; I've always considered Sierra Nevada to be an 'American' IPA, not just for the high hopping rates (bittering and late Cascade additions) but also the 5.6% ABV gets a tad closer to the original 'India' PAs.

In the late Eighties, in Boston and Connecticut there was a real micro brewery explosion but everything was very ale like if it wasn't an American style lager. I never came across Sierra Nevada. In '96 I tried my first IPA... a local Washington State brewer that had a pub / hotel chain, McMenamins. Best beer I'd ever tasted and became hooked. Returned to UK, saw Sierra Nevada but it was nothing like McMenamins. Then Punk IPA arrived, very close to McMenamins IPA but not as good.

I have to say your channel is one of my favorite ones to watch. Thank you for the content you put out and cheers.

Great video chaps! Am always drawn back to Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, not because of its significance in craft brewing but because it is such a ruddy delicious beer. However, the SNPA in bottles is 'knocked into touch' by fresh kegged SNPA in the US. Unsure if the kegs reach UK shores but they definitely don't make it as far as Sweden! Recently returned from 2 weeks in USA - Denver, Colorado and San Francisco - a shout out to the American craft scene which is alive and kicking! Didn't make it up to Chico but thoroughly enjoyed the Anchor Brewery tour. Love n Beer!!

This is great!! Good job on the video. Learned a lot. This what i have been wanting to do on my channel. Keep it up!

I could easily have gone through a hundred guesses before coming up with Orval. Great stuff guys!

Anchor's Liberty Ale is very underrated and doesn't get enough credit. It's actually a SMASH beer (using cascades), came out in 1976, I prefer it over SNPA. Great episode, enjoy hearing the older generations laying it down.

I was drinking IPAs while watching this! 🍺

Hodgsons at Bow Bridge Brewery near St Marys Church brewed an " October Beer " which was ' little different from a good farmhouse beer of old ' which became that which was shipped to India . The strength would have been much higher . For that go to William Cobbett's " Cottage Economy " of 1823 of which half the book is devoted to brewing and fermenting alcoholic drinks including the strong 'farmhouse beers ' using "15 bushels of Malted barley to 15 lb of good Kentish hops" and has included the methods of drawing the stronger to small beers . Also includes other recipes including using sweet peas with malted barley using one of the many pea varieties available in the 18th C like the ' Grey ' pea . Very sweet when ripened in the pod . The yeast is very important for flavour as Adnams found out in the late 70s early 80s when their yeast become sick and they had to go to Greene King to continue to brew Southwold Bitter from Greene King yeast which was not the same product . Greene King had just acquired Rayments in Furneux Pelham in Herts , which was producing BBA , a much better product than anything Greene King produced and promptly closed Rayments down . Allsops was still brewing in the 70s as an independent brewery , but Hodgsons became Hodgsons & Abbott's in around the 1840s and just Abbott's Brewery soon after . The Lea was also a source of distillers of London Gin another (export to malaria infested country's along with quinine tonic waters) , the last one that was situated close to the Les Stort Navigation basin closed in the 80s . For a real IPA or October Beer , grab some S.B. yeast ( which was also used for bread making ) , Golding hops and follow Mr Cobbett's instructions using sweet water . You will need an oak cast ( although much was secondary fermented in bottles ) , dry hop the brew in the cask and roll it from side to side for 6 months preferably in a salty equable climate as this will also change the character of the beer as this ensures the top fermenting yeast is constantly mixed back in and the lees disturbed . Then you can say that this is a real IPA .

All hands on deck, prepare for the nitpicking storm a-coming!

I recommend anyone watching this to read Pete Brown's Hops and Glory. You won't be disappointed.

Enjoyed whilst sipping on an Elysian Brewing Altered Contact IPA, a very sour, fruity one from Seattle, Washington.

Maybe you could do a collab brew with Fullers using one of their old recipes under their past masters series. Would be very interesting to see old recipes

Very good documentary. Well done 🍻

Great to see the follow up thanks lads really enjoyed, off the back of the last video I've got a St Peters Ipa kit on the go don't have space for all grain equipment in my apartment just small batch biab stuff on the stove or kits so don't be too hard on me, looking forward to tasting some Kent hops again 😀

A few years ago I had bengle lancer on cask and it was amazing, I wish I could find it again.

Really interesting video fellas, nice one. Great choice on Bengal Lancer too. I"m surprised you didn't mention the orange zest that I always get in Bengal Lancer, it's a huge part of the flavour from my experience.

Great stuff as always, love an Orval!

Great follow up to the Now IPA video, cheers guys!

Love Martyn's short histories of IPA's and most of his thoughts I totally agree with. But I hope I can make a small addition as a brewer of 43 yrs. The other reason for the success of exporting Pale Ale to India that had been brewed in Burton-Upon-Trent was the high sulphur content of the water. In Martyn's explanation he lists clarity ( normally XS Calcium in the liqour) and spriz? ( lots of carbonate in the same) but the sulphur (normally present in brewing liquor as CaSo4 or gypsum) is possibly the best bacteriostat here and is the reason why Burton beers of all styles suffer from the 'Burton Stench'. So the IPA's from Burton had extra natural preservatives in them than beers brewed in ............Sheffield? Yes......they did and that is probably why the Burton brewed beers mostly survived the boat trip to India without going sour. Burton Stench can be very mild and that is just a slight whiff that you can detect in a well kept pint of Pedegree or Adnams Best . It can also enter the 'Bad Egg Zone' and that is H2S........rotton eggs!!!!! and nobody that I know likes this. Ok my point..........Burton got a reputation for brewing the best beers based on the fact that the IPA's they produced lasted all the way to India but sometime's all that additional flavour from the natural preservatives may diminish the flavour and the moreishness or the drink.

And sadly, Hazy Little Thing, for the first time in Sierra Nevada’s history, now out sells their former most produced beer, Pale Ale.

Try the Kona Brewing Hanalei Island IPA!

As an American beer drinker, I have to say that I'm rather tired of IPAs. You must understand that I go to the supermarket now, and the shelves are coated in varieties of IPA, often with unnecessary "fruit" variants of questionable character. This is probably still novel to Europeans, but they have quite done it to death here. I can scarcely refer to the industry as craft any more, especially knowing that the major contribution to the recipe was a unique variety of hop. While I will never look askew at the finer classics in the style like Lagunitas or Dogfish 90 Minute, I just pace the beer aisle these days and grimace. I feel much more at home at an alcohol emporium where I spend considerably more time at the European import section, typically the shelves with the Belgian beers. It's time for craft brewers in America to invent something new, and I don't mean a peanut butter IPA with pickle juice or a raspberry seltzer.

Thanks great video. Did one myself not long ago but i am just an amateur on you tube lol thanks. Love all your videos

Great content! Huge fan!

Good job! Interesting…, after sampling hundreds of “IPA’s” I keep coming back to Sierra Nevada Pale Ale. Now I have to scare up some Orval😳

I always tell people if they like grapefruit juice they may like an IPA.

Hi Guys, Thanks for another great show. Are you going to release your British IPA recipe. We can’t buy it down here in Australia

What was the second bottle of beer drunk?

Fantastic video! Did the Brett come from the barrels? Or was it the primary fermenting yeast? Or just mixed in with some Sac strain?

He forgot to mention one notable bit of trade the East India Comany dealt in: slaves.

P.S., I found a bottle of Brasserie d'Orval Trappist Ale. I found it eerily reminiscent of my first home brews. Actually quite good, very complex with layered flavors and aromas. If it’s close to the original India Pale Ales those colonials were pretty lucky. Fortunately German immigrants made English imports unnecessary here…🍺

Cool stuff

I’ve always had the assumption that beer back in the day almost had to have Brett in it because there was no way (to my knowledge) that you’d be able to keep everything sanitized like brewers are able to today with Star San and other products. I also assume most beer was pretty oxidized as well.

India has a tradition of brewing that goes back to 1200BCE, so it was a bit of coals to Newcastle, although the first breweries began in the 1830s. I wonder if the hops were imported or grown locally? I'm guessing pales were the most popular

Beer bottles sitting in bright sunshine. Dollars to doughnuts that's what is causing the liveliness.

Are you drinking it warm / room temp?

I believe the link that connects the early nineteenth century pale ale brewed for India and Sierra Nevada is Ballantine of Newark, NJ. Ballentine was probably the last brewery in the U.S. true to British brewing tradition (in contrast to the predominant German and Czech tradition) and Sierra Nevada's founders have admitted as much. (Even Hunter Thompson was a devotee of Ballantine.) Sadly, these insanely hoppy beers brewed by Ballentine--so unlike anything else on the market--were no longer available by the mid-70s.

Don’t forget the legendary Russian River Pliny the Elder (north or San Francisco) - it’s been ranked by many as the best example of an America IPA. You guys must try it!

I live in Newark, NJ, USA. I get IPA's made in California, the Northeast US and from a hyper local (Newark Local Beer) everything is "hoppy", bitter and almost tastes warm (not sharp). At the moment, I am happily ensconced in Florence, Italy (2 more weeks of 5). The beer here can be quite nice. There is a craft brewery a few blocks away that makes a couple of really delicious ales. Most of it is bland and disappointing

Your bloody steering wheel is on the wrong side of the damn car! 🙃😁🍻

In America , IPAs are basically a carrying device for the most fowl citrus rinds they can find. I can handle the hops, but why does have to taste like I’m chewing on an orange rind.

Ken Grossman. not Steve Grossman, founded SN. Steve is Ken's brother and he does work for the company, but he is not the founder.

The movement in flavor from the British IPA to the American IPA wasn't just the hops, it also was heavily impacted by the different yeast strains as well. Otherwise, a very informative video. Thanks

Sierra Nevada brewery campus in Chico,CA is a spectaclar destination

In London over Christmas (from australia) where are peoples go to craft breweries and pubs?

What's the point in voting for a thumbnail if you just go with the option that loses?

Liberty ale by Anchor Steam was available for purchase in 1975 that was the first American IPA

I haven't watched it yet but in your doco, The Time is Now, do you talk about October Beers and their morphing/influence/link to the history of IPA's? "Brett eats all the sugars..." I'm not sure Brett eats "all the sugars" that saccharomyces can't, but eats a varying percentage of those fermentable/unfermentable sugars (attenuation), depending on the strain. I also think those different strains of Brett have varying abilities regarding the type of unfermentable sugar they can consume.

Isn’t Martyn just repeating what is already in Pete Brown’s book Hops and Glory?

Interesting stuff! Great work, thank guys. So why did the rank and file get porter while the officers got pale ale? Cos it was nicer or more expensive to produce? Just social convention? Something else?!

Dry hopping was used much earlyer in 'Saison beers'. These beers had natural yeasts, who were not named yet. 'geuze beers' are as old and also have natural yeast, later named as Brettanmyces Lambicus and the Brett yeast you refer to... Check your stories!

Just checking to see if I can comment here. It would appear that I am cancelled from commenting in the Italian Pilsner video.

10:10 sorry, what did you say...𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 blanket?

What is the diference between tavern and a pub?

Suggest that you speak to Adrian Tierney Jones or look at the writings of Michael Jackson (particularly his last "Top 200 Beers in the World" WRT "Trafalgar IPA, as brewed by Freeminer Brewery.

After hearing about it’s imperialistic roots, I thought about banning IPAs from my palate, but then as the song goes, “I stopped thinking”.

Not sure about the YT algorithm, but y'all get more views than my simple reviews do.

Sierra Nevada is still the gold standard for me, and responsible for the 'microbrew revolution' that changed the entire beer landscape in the states.

Steve Grossman? So close to Ken. Does Sierra Nevada’s Celebration Ale (now IPA) make it over?

Quality content

Nice

Absolutely fascinating .... Almost made me proud to be British. Superb lads.

So the modern american IPA is different from the modern british IPA... Did I get it right?

Great news, not only was IPA a British invention, American IPA was also a British invention. Humming rule Britannia 🇬🇧

Ken Grossman not Steve

When's the video on India porters 😉

Ken Grossman

Here in Nova Scotia, we have a skunk water brewery that makes a beer they call an IPA. It is Keith's IPA. It is not an IPA, it is horrible. It's more a lager, a horrible lager...

I’m a little disappointed in Martyn (or your editing.) when asked what was distinctive about the historical IPA brewing process, all he came up with is adding more hops. Hoppiness, while part of the story, is only part of the story. While Martyn did mention brett, he didn’t tell us where it came into the distinctive process of brewing historical IPA. The IPA brewing process didn’t start with brett in primary fermentation. It was not primarily brett flowing through the Burton union systems and the like. That was Saccharomyces. But the brewers were very worried about this primary fermentation not going completely dry in Britain and then resuming with explosive results when the beer was in the holds of ships and in warmer climates while on the passage to India. So, the brewers stored the newly brewed beer in vented casks stacked in vast yards for months before shipping. When they were sure that the primary fermentation had gone as far as it was going to go in the English summer, it was then sealed up and sent to India. The brett picked up from the storage and/or shipping casks then produced the secondary fermentation underway that brought the beer into condition. In other words, it was not just adding more hops, but also this particular aging process that was distinctive to the historical IPA brewing process. Plenty of modern brewers have latched onto the adding of more hops in a profusion of varieties, but pretty much nobody at any commercial scale does anything like the distinctive aging process of historical IPA. The result is that we have many beers that emphasize fresh hoppy character, while essentially no modern IPAs have the aged character and mixed fermentation of historical IPAs. It is not just the use of different hop varieties and the lack of brett that place modern beers worlds apart from historical IPAs, but also the lack of aging that was so integral to the historical IPA brewing process.

Unfortunately Ballentine is no longer but...really the original American IPA.

Pretty sure the Brett went in just via cross contamination and not on purpose. Nice insight. Cheers

Wow I've googled for the East India Company mentioned here. This was like todays Google but with its own army. Here's a video about EIC I've found and it's very interesting: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-zPIhMJGWiM8.html

Guys, I’m now seeing so many “dark mild”, ESB, and other English/British centric beers in my local bottle shop all from local breweries in New York State. Just got one last night from ever grain brewing company out of Pennsylvania called “the quarry”, an “English style dark mild” so, I guess if you want great English/British beer you need to come back to New York 🍻👍🏻❤️😋

Watching from India! Definitely no IPAs here... only 8% lagers (Tuborg/Kingfisher/Budweiser)

There's absolutely no proof that October Beer was the precursor of IPA. IPAs were often Öctober brewed"because that was the best time for brewing beers meant to be aged. But that dind't make them October Beer.

What about New England IPAs?!

Orange sherbet.

All that info with no recipe .