History of the American IPA?

The introduction of Stone IPA in '97 is, as far as I know, what the set the staple of the bitter, piney, "West Coast style" IPA.

 

Ballantine India Pale Ale was brewed and marketed until the mid-1990s, having been brewed by Falstaff - which bought the Ballantine labels in 1972 - in Cranston, Ft. Wayne and finally in Milwaukee at the Pabst brewery (closed in '96). Pabst was bought by Falstaff's owner, S&P Corp. in the mid-1980s - making Pabst's recent PR that often discounts or ignores the Falstaff's versions of BIPA somewhat amusing.

Also to be taken with that same grain of salt most beer promotional material deserves, their recent claim that "Ballantine IPA was the only American-made beer that successfully continued the tradition of the 19th century IPAs after the repeal of Prohibition" is nonsense (well, I suppose their out is the use of the word "successfully") - there were at least 2 dozen other IPA's from various US brewers in the post-Repeal period, and well over 50 "Stock Ales" - a broader "style" which included India pale ale by that period in US brewing. Some brewers used the terms interchangeably.

Of the latter beers, both Genesee 12 Horse Ale and Rainier Ale were still being brewed into the "craft era". Rainier had been dumbed down/"malt liquored" considerably over the years (in the 1970s when still brewed by Rainier it still maintained some semblance to an strong, hoppy amber ale. Sadly, Genesee's ale was much reduced in ibu's and abv by the '70s and, by the end of that decade, was sadly reformulated into a "Canadian" style golden ale.

It is pretty well established that the first "craft" beer labeled "India Pale Ale" was Bert Grant's India Pale Ale in 1983 from his Yakima Brewing & Malting Co. It was 5% abv and had 50-60 ibu's using Galena hops for bitterness and Cascade for aroma. Michael Jackson wrote that it had "...an immense hop character, especially in its long finish..."(Pocket Guide to Beer, 1st ed. [1986])

Stone's Mitch Steele's IPA contains much info on the IPA's of the US craft era (and a couple of errors ).

 

SN Celebration has to be thrown in the mix as well. In fact,there were quite a few hoppy beers that didn't self identify as IPAs but could have been considered one in the early 90s. If you were home brewing beers like that, you essentially had to enter them as an IPA, so you gradually started to see the style pop up on commercial versions.

The much maligned (among the modern geekerie )Harpoon IPA was among the first of those, and on the west coast Bridge Port was another. These were from 1994 to 1995.

The funny thing about the time period was that many BJCP judges viewed IPA as an English style, so the new category of American IPA was eventually added. Today, too many people see the English style as irrelevant.

 

If you were new to IPAs (or "craft" beer in general) and someone gave you some IPAs brewed with say Galaxy/Mosaic/Citra...etc., would you choose that, or the IPAs brewed with Fuggles and East Kent Goldings?

 

I'd take a piney /citrusy one over either of them. These tropical fruit bombs are nice from time to time, but put too much emphasis on immediate impact and have little to no real complexity to be all that interesting in the long run. I get your point, though, that the newer "craft " drinkers are conditioned to value immediate impact over all else.

 

There's a blast from the past I'd nearly forgotten. What a great beer, had it in Portland at the brew-pub my first time around those dates... pretty sure Jackson was in-house enjoying it too!

 

Mitch Steele wrote a book called "IPA" that gives a good history of the evolution of IPA, from it's origins to what it is today. It's a good read.

 

Harpoon was the first brewer I had experience with that had an IPA as their flagship beer. Arguably SNPA is an IPA as well however. Harpoon remains a well made, arguably English style IPA, it isn't trying to be a DDH Trillium offering. Fresh from the Brewery its a darned good beer really.

Even Free State Brewing in Lawrence, KS was making Copperhead Pale Ale (called an IPA on BA) back in 1991. So I am sure a lot of people were making them around that time.

 

Here you go

Anchor Liberty Ale

http://www.anchorbrewing.com/beer/liberty_ale

First brewed in 1975 - 40 years ago this year

As far as I know, first single hop / dry hopped IPA on the market (Cascade hops), and still an amazing beer!

 

OP was referring to the style American IPA, right? Not IPAs that happened to be brewed in US. Some of the posts above don't seem to be discussing examples of the American IPA.

I don't have the answer but I do recall seeing growth of them after Stone IPA hit the market in the 90's. I also remember drinking Bell's Two Hearted and others late 90's.

Now that I think of it, I thought that Stone normally got credit for this... no?

 

I always enjoy your insights. You need to teach an online course in beer history. Now I know why I enjoyed that Genesee 12 Horse Ale.

 

I agree with @BeerVikingSailor with his post about Anchor Liberty Ale.

I think Mitch Steele discussed this well on page. 144 of his IPA book: “Although Anchor never officially called Liberty Ale an IPA, it was the first American IPA in every sense since Ballantine IPA, which by 1975 was a shell of its former self.”

Cheers!

 

Stone, Blind Pig et. al. would be part of the third wave, imo.

1st is Liberty, Grants, Celebration. The pioneers.

2nd is the initial craft boom era. Harpoon, Bridge Port, many brew pubs.

3rd would be after the substyle is recognized by the BJCP and others (mid to late 90s ).

 

I don't know how old Mitch is, but he's certainly dead wrong about BIPA being a "shell of it's former self by 1975". Falstaff may have made a few tweaks along the way, but the quality and character of BIPA was actually pretty well maintained until at least the early to mid 1980s. It really took a nosedive near the end of the Narraganset period and was a different beer when Narraganset closed and production was moved to Ft. Wayne.

Ironic, too...if they had maintained the character of the Newark and early Narraganset versions, it could have competed very well with the best of the craft efforts that were then appearing.

 

From Michael Jackson's "Beer Companion":

"Anchor is justifiably proud to have introduced [Liberty] as early as 1975, because that places it first among the new generation of American ales, ahead of the microbrewery movement. [...] Unlike most British ales (which tend to have a small proportion of invert sugar), Anchor Liberty is an all-malt brew. [...] The most important difference, though, is hop character. [...] Anchor Liberty positively blossoms with American hops [...] British influence and American pride have in the years since continued to mingle on the West Coast [...] These elements have been the parents of a whole generation of new American ales [...]"

From Terry Foster's 2nd Ed of "Pale Ale":

"Although considered by many to be an IPA, Liberty Ale actually represented a new style of the beer. This was because it was aggressively hopped with American Cascades which gave the beer a very distinctive, floral character. [...] Liberty Ale could be regarded as simply carrying on the Burton tradition - recall that Bass used considerable amounts of American hops in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. However, these hops would have been mainly from the East Coast, probably New York (as would those Ballantine used originally). Also, they probably would have been more like English hops, such as Northern Brewer and Bramling Cross, although as I said earlier in the chapter, their black currant flavor was not English. They would almost certainly not have been anything like Cascades, which was not developed and grown in the American Northwest until well into this century. It is the use of American hops, and Cascades in particular, that defines the new American IPA style, even though many such beers are truer to the original than modern English beers under that name, American IPA has become a style all its own or at least a substyle of pale ale, for Liberty Ale was followed by others in a similar vein. In 1981, brewer Bert Grant took a step in a different direction, with an IPA from Yakima Brewing Company. This beer supposedly was based on historical data and brewed in the style of an original IPA. [...] Also in 1981 came the founding of the Sierra Nevada Brewing Company and the subsequent production of its pale ale."




So, while Liberty Ale wouldn't be confused with some newer American IPAs that provide a very different experience (so much so, that some don't view Liberty as an IPA), that doesn't mean that it doesn't represent an American break from tradition. Of course, the name (Liberty) and origin itself symbolizes this - as a commemoration of Paul Revere's ride... and with it's inspiration coming from Maytag's investigations of British ale.

 

As always, people who have different preferences are foolish and wrong.

 

Brought back some fond memories (and some not so fond). Forgot about the Falstaff brand. Did not know until the other day that Ballentine was still in business. I would like to try their IPA if I can find it.

 

I have no idea how old Mitch Steele is. I personally have never tasted Ballantine IPA of the past (I have only tasted the new version which is available now) so I have no opinion of Ballantine IPA of 1975 vs. other time periods.

I sent to Mitch Steele both a bottle of contemporary Ballantine IPA and the version of Ballantine IPA brewed by Smuttynose which was labeled as Cluster’s Last Stand (based upon a recipe formulated by Bill Pierce and published in BYO magazine). Mitch posted about his impressions of those two beers:

“Thanks to Jack for sending me samples. I also did a side by side tasting and found my impressions to be very similar to Jack's. I like both beers, but they are quite different. The Ballantine tastes pretty updated as far as the hop profile. It's a good IPA, with layers of different hop flavors, one I wouldn't hesitate to order. The Cluster's Last Stand tastes as I remember...a bit of a throwback to the early hoppy craft beers-which makes it fun.”

http://www.beeradvocate.com/communi...-pabsts-ballantine.217032/page-2#post-2965688

Cheers!

 

Uh, "Ballantine" - the brewing company - is not still in business. They closed in 1972. Their brands were then purchased by Falstaff and came under the Pabst umbrella when parent company S&P Corp. folded all their beer brands (Falstaff, Naragansett, Pearl, General/Lucky (and many others), Ballantine, etc.) under the better know "Pabst Brewing Co." by the late 1990s.

By that time the other Ballantine beers (Ballantine Lager Beer, IPA, Bock, Munich, Twisted Red Ale, Brewers Gold Ale, etc.) were gone, leaving only Ballantine XXX Ale as the (barely) surviving beer, until the recent revival of the IPA and Burton ales by Pabst.