History of the American IPA?

Not to out Mitch but his creds show he graduated from UC Davis in 84, do the math

 

Thanks! I must have misread a post from the other day. Not the first time and certainly will not the last time.
I do have an interest in the breweries of old especially from the northeast. I remember Ballentine, Shafer (sp?), Schmidt, Reingold, and I am sure there are more.

 

No...see my post about Anchor Liberty Ale - from 1975 - long before Stone was even around

 

All gone, closed during the "beer wars" era of the 1970-1980s. All the brands, save but one, now under the "Pabst" umbrella - Schaefer and Schmidt's of Phila. by their purchasing the bulk of the Stroh-Heileman portfolio in 1999.

Rheingold being the one that got away - sold by Stroh to a contract-brewing group that included the original Liebmann family with help from Joe Owades and since then has gone through several failed attempts at a revival (and probably no longer partially Liebmann-owned). The last version was brewed in Mexico by "US Drinks" [which also marketed Trump Vodka and Willie Nelson's Old Whiskey River Bourbon ] - a sad end (or is it?) to a Brooklyn classic.

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Well, there once were more - NY and PA were among the largest brewing states in the country. Not many pre-craft breweries left - Straub, The Lion, Yuengling, F X Matt and Genesee.

 

Thanks for the info. You bring up names and brands I have forgotten. I went to college somewhat close to Yuengling so I had my fair share of their brew. I still occasionally buy their products. I am reading a book titled Richmond Beer and it states that Yuengling opened a brewery in Richmond soon after the civil war.

 

Garrett Oliver, I once read said that most new IPAs aren't IPAs at all and should be named California Ales.

 

Oh boy, based upon the 'activity' in the thread entitled New England IPAs I can't even imagine at level of 'activity' if somebody started a thread on this topic.

http://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/new-england-ipa.286163/

Cheers!

 

... or "San Diego pale ales." I don't really understand the attraction to this naming convention. I always wondered if Oliver feels the same way now. Is it really less problematic?

 

For the modern era, its was Liberty followed by Celebration. Celebration was seasonal so Bob Tupper had Dominion create Tuppers Hop Pocket Ale which was pretty close to an IPA in the early 90s. Victory HopDevil preceded Stone IPA by about a year. Grants is noteworthy but also a different breed in ABV. Cheers, Jim

 

Jim, thanks for answering the question.

This thread can now be ended.

Cheers!

 

I had Tuppers Hop Pocket Ale way back when good stuff.

 

I think Oliver just thought the beers were different enough from IPAs that they should have their own name.

 

Back in the day Tupper's Hop Pocket Pils was a favorite of mine!!

It was also a favorite of Michael Jackson: http://beerhunter.com/documents/19133-001726.html

Cheers!

 

How can an IPA brewed in the USA be anything other than an American style IPA? Maybe not quite following you. See above, Anchor, SN, and Harpoon.

 

US craft breweries produce English style IPAs. They use British malt, British hops and British ale yeast strains to make these beers.

One example is Berkshire Brewing Lost Sailor IPA: http://www.berkshirebrewingcompany.com/beers/lost-sailor-ipa/

There are other examples.

Cheers!

 

But what eactly does constitute an IPA ? The name has an obvious derivation but just as a 19th century ship was nothing like a present day one neither does a present day IPA have to be like its forebears. Nobody is brewing an IPA remotely like one from 1840 ,fermented to dryness , exposed to Brett , warm aged and using different malt and yeast strains.Even during Victoria's reign they changed , the effect of two World Wars and changing public tastes modified them still further .But they were still named IPA.
Will the real IPA please stand ?

 

Back in the day, John Mallet (Bells) and Ron Barchet (Victory) developed Hop Pocket Ale, then after John left Ron was asked to develop the Pils. Good memories zwickling off the tanks at Old Dominion in the early 90s. Those days also had Rob Mullin (Grand Teton) taking over when Ron left to start Victory. Lots of good brewers started out under Jerry Bailey.

 

It took m a couple of years to figure this out, but I agree with you. The juice bombs are great, but I really like the piney/citrus IPAs now that have a nice compliment of malt (like celebration for example) and a nice clean bitterness.

 

I would say that if it is made in America it is American.