Ballantine India Pale Ale, Storied 136-Year-Old Craft Beer, Re-Launches in Northeast

Discussion in 'Beer Releases' started by Todd, Aug 14, 2014.

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  1. JackHorzempa

    JackHorzempa Grand Pooh-Bah (3,181) Dec 15, 2005 Pennsylvania
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    In the Oxford Companion to Beer, Dick Cantwell discusses the ‘changing’ of Ballantine IPA as it was moved from Newark to Cranston, RI to Ft. Wayne, IL:

    “The oak tanks in which it was aged gave way to lined Cyprus wood and then Stainless Steel…”

    There is a nice history of Ballantine Brewery here: http://www.callzia.com/BBB/BallantineTastingNotes.pdf

    “These tanks them-selves were unique, in that they were made of oak. Ballantine IPA was aged for a full year in the wood, a technique unheard of today except for the most artisanal microbrewery. The woody character found in Ballantine IPA was as important to the beer's profile as were the hop oils.”

    It is my understanding that until the move to Cranston, RI (Narragansett) where lined Cypress was used, Ballantine IPA was in contact with oak.

    Cheers!
     
  2. mrhartounian

    mrhartounian Initiate (0) Nov 23, 2009 Massachusetts

    My grandfather drank it. Is this the one that had the little puzzles underneath the bottle cap?
     
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  3. mactrail

    mactrail Grand High Pooh-Bah (7,415) Mar 24, 2009 Washington
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  4. jesskidden

    jesskidden Grand Pooh-Bah (3,071) Aug 10, 2005 New Jersey
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    According to Ballantine's former head of Quality Control in their Technical Division (P. Ballantine & Sons, in the post-Repeal era, was proud of their modern, scientific brewery, so old world "brewmasters" did not run the show, scientists did), John Brzezinski, quote in Lew Bryson's All About Beer July, '09 article, ,Brewed Too Soon:
    *Mammut (correct spelling) was a brand of Brewer's Pitch (probably with some additives that allowed it to be used with higher alcohol beers, since the standard pitch used for lager beer kegs apparently had a low tolerance to alcohol, as well as other quantities that allowed it to be easily and safely applied to large vessels like aging casks, etc.) The pitch, a product made from pine trees, itself gave beer a notable slight "woody" flavor. See this long discussion about the flavor of pitch found in Pilsner Urquell at the turn of the last century or George Ehret's quote in his 25 Years of Brewing - in which he writes of pitch's "....peculiar, although exceedingly faint, flavor for which the ordinary pitch is so highly prized by both the brewer and the drinker".

    There is so much mythology and just plain incorrect info on Ballantine and their ales out there, it is often hard to keep up. I laughed when I re-read the link in your post which clams "Falstaff, bought by Pabst in 1975...". Oh, so that's where USA Today got that piece of misinformation - "Pabst has owned the brand since its 1975 acquisition of Falstaff." :rolling_eyes:

    A simple Google would have turned up numerous legitimate and reliable news sources (wire services, NY Times, LA Times, Chicago Tribune) that correctly notes that Pabst was purchased by Falstaff's parent company, Paul Kalmanovitz's S&P Corp. in February, 1985. S&P (which then owned General/Lucky Lager) had purchased Falstaff in 1975.

    Petty correction of a long ago business deal? Perhaps - but, to me, it shows many of these articles continue to simply repeat earlier articles' errors, without doing any original source research or fact checking.:grinning:
     
  5. jesskidden

    jesskidden Grand Pooh-Bah (3,071) Aug 10, 2005 New Jersey
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    P. Ballantine & Sons brewed a number of ales - their flagship, Ballantine XXX Ale, was a very different product than the one under discussion, Ballantine India Pale Ale.
    [​IMG]
    It is in brown bottles- at least, the 12 oz. bottle pictured in Pabst's current ad is.

    The so-called "Crown Tickler" puzzle caps were from the Falstaff/Narragansett era (post-1972), continued after Falstaff was folded into Pabst during the 1990s. All the Ballantine ales from Falstaff (XXX, IPA, Brewers Gold, etc) had the puzzles at some point, as does the current Miller-brewed, Pabst marketed Ballantine XXX Ale.
     
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  6. cavedave

    cavedave Grand Pooh-Bah (4,145) Mar 12, 2009 New York
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    Missed this first time around due to none of my friends drank fine beer back then (hey we thought Molson was fine beer back then). Hope this actually is similar to original, and that some of the other old timers here can comment if it is or isn't. Definitely looking forward to trying it.
     
  7. steveh

    steveh Grand Pooh-Bah (4,030) Oct 8, 2003 Illinois
    Pooh-Bah Society

    It wasn't? :grinning:

    I have fond memories of enjoying the Ballantine XXX when I was first getting into beer, so I'm hoping this resurrection may prove successful.
     
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  8. JimKal

    JimKal Savant (1,149) Jul 31, 2011 North Carolina

    You're right. It was 1969, now a mere 46 years ago and I only remember that it was a Ballantine Ale. If this makes it down to NC I'll give it a try. I really like both of those labels.
     
  9. steveh

    steveh Grand Pooh-Bah (4,030) Oct 8, 2003 Illinois
    Pooh-Bah Society

    Can you describe the difference (I know, after all these years)? I can vaguely remember the character of the XXX; definitely bolder and different from other beers of the day -- I can recall some unattenuated malt and herbal or earthy hops in the XXX -- not necessarily bitter, by today's standards, but definitely more prominent for the day.
     
  10. JackHorzempa

    JackHorzempa Grand Pooh-Bah (3,181) Dec 15, 2005 Pennsylvania
    Pooh-Bah Society

    JK,

    Thanks for participating in this thread discussion.

    A couple of questions for you:

    In that article I noted:

    “The IPA uses four different malts and eight different hops, as well as hop oil to finish it off. American oak chips are used in the process, harking back to the oak and cypress barrels used for the original beer.”

    Did Ballantine IPA ever use eight different hops?

    Greg Deuhs made the decision to age on oak chips: do you think he was unaware that the oak tuns were lined with pitch (mammut)?

    Cheers!

    Jack
     
  11. kneary13

    kneary13 Initiate (0) Jan 30, 2010 Massachusetts

  12. jesskidden

    jesskidden Grand Pooh-Bah (3,071) Aug 10, 2005 New Jersey
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    As far as I've ever read, Ballantine used only domestic hops (in fact, they claimed to have pioneered contracting for hops with California hop ranches) - would there even have been 8 different domestic hop varieties available in the US during their heyday of the 1940-50s? :grinning: Ballantine XXX Ale, of course, was heavily advertised, and even labeled, as being brewed with Brewer's Gold but I'd imagine they used a number of other hops, as well.

    Pabst Master Brewer Greg Deuhs has been answering some of my questions and, with his permission, I'll quote what he's written. On hops:
    The beer is also all-malt (unlike anything I've ever read about the post-Repeal Ballantine India Pale Ale - which used corn grits as adjunct, as did the other P.B.&S. beers).
    As for the "wood aging", I think Pabst is aiming at a version of BIPA that is expected by it's former drinkers (before we all die off) and one that will appeal to modern craft beer drinkers. So, they chose not to be slaves to "authenticity" and follow some exact formula from 19whatever. (They also don't have those recipes, anyway).

    Lots of the old BIPA drinkers tasted the wood aging, whether it was there or not. Let's face it, there was not a lot of other beers to compare it to, so since the label said "Aged in the Wood One Year" some of those unique and intense flavors were attributed to the wood by some. Here's what Pabst is doing at Cold Spring:
     
  13. motomo

    motomo Initiate (0) Nov 28, 2007 Illinois

    So, through an unlikely interaction on another beer-centric forum, I had two of the 750ml bottles delivered to me this morning. I have absolutely no affiliation with Pabst other than some emails traded with them yesterday in response to a post i made. I believe that I am the first person other than Pabst, distributors, and the WILK beer buzz radio show to have them!


    [​IMG]
     
  14. puboflyons

    puboflyons Grand Pooh-Bah (4,225) Jul 26, 2008 New Hampshire
    Pooh-Bah Society

    Guess I will have to run down to Boston one of these fine days to pick it up. Too bad New Hampshire is not on the list.
     
  15. dennis3951

    dennis3951 Initiate (0) Mar 6, 2008 New Jersey

    My father drank both and would tell people the IPA was the XXX squared. This was when Ballantine being brewed in Newark. I did drink the IPA once or twice back then. What I remember most about it was you could smell it across a table and it was way to bitter for my taste.
    Years later when I gave Dad a bottle of SNPA the drink his face lit up . He said it tasted like the old Ballantine IPA.
     
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  16. jesskidden

    jesskidden Grand Pooh-Bah (3,071) Aug 10, 2005 New Jersey
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    He discusses it at the 11:30 mark, during this interview.
     
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  17. Bitterbill

    Bitterbill Grand High Pooh-Bah (6,772) Sep 14, 2002 Wyoming
    Pooh-Bah Society

    I had both the XXX and IPA back in the day, on my numerous trips to Fort Collins CO, when they were brewed by Falstaff, and I have to say, I much preferred the XXX. It had a unique out of balance taste that hit my taste buds just right.
     
  18. beerluvr

    beerluvr Pooh-Bah (1,826) Jan 2, 2001 Canada (ON)
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    This is great news! I sure miss Ballantine's IPA...drank many sixes of it in the 80's.
     
  19. TheNightwatchman

    TheNightwatchman Initiate (0) Mar 28, 2009 Pennsylvania

    Sounds like I won't have a problem finding some here in PA. I'll definitely give it a try.
     
  20. steveh

    steveh Grand Pooh-Bah (4,030) Oct 8, 2003 Illinois
    Pooh-Bah Society

    I'm almost sure the XXX I drank was brewed from the Falstaff days of Indiana.
     
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