History of the American IPA?

If you think my conclusions in regards to the crowd are overstated so be it; but there is a certain segment that they do apply to. And there are some definite trends with those IPAs themselves that are unmistakable; the ones I've had become one-note by the second glass. It seems to be the natural trade-off for such a huge late charge of hops.

 

I had the pleasure of taking a tour at Old Dominion Brewer about 15-20 years ago that was conducted by Jerry Bailey. I was pestering him with a bunch of technical brewing questions which he handled with a patient and deft hand. He asked me where I was from (Philly area) which quickly turned into a conversation about Victory Brewing and Ron. Jerry was indeed a class act. I also enjoyed his stories about the recently conducted upgrade of the Old Dominion Brewery; he is one cost conscious guy!!

Cheers!

 

With my growing prejudice against American hops (and while I agree with the above), I would like to see so-called 'English' IPAs being classified as IPAs proper, and the American versions being called just that: 'American IPAs'...Ah yes, to taste examples of the old proper IPAs, such as those aged for year or so (eighteen months?), dry, somewhat bitter, but with little actual hop 'flavour' (that conforms to the simple tastes of modern drinkers)...

 

We had a beer very similar to that one (Bridge Port) up in NH around the same time (95-96). Paul Davis was the head brewer at Lucknow at the time, I assume he developed the recipe. Later on he went to brew one for Thomas Hooker in CT, I believe.

 

What did I miss? :-)

 

While it came out in 2001, I feel that DFH's 90 minute IPA was very influential in the IPA realm.

 

Interesting though that when they closed down the original brewery in the 60s, my research showed that much of the wood aging (1 year) was either shortened or eliminated. I never tasted Ballantine back in the 70s but I interviewed several craft brewers who did, and all of them indicated that the beer changed a LOT after Falstaff bought them. It may still have been bitter as hell, but everyone I talked to said it changed from what it was in the 60s. And the decline continued gradually after that, until the move to Ft Wayne hastened its demise.
That's my understanding, but am happy to be proven wrong.

 

Rob Mullin was the brewer at the local brew pub and once had Bob Tupper there as the guest brewer at a beer dinner.

 

One note of interest here is that Neil Evans, who restarted the CH Evans Brewery a a brewpub in Albany NY, told me that he thought Genesee 12 Horse was probably the closest comparison to the CH Evans pre-prohibition IPA.

 

Thanks for clarifying that. Though don't feel too bad, as some aren't familiar with the existence of the style as a style.

I have to nod in agreement with @LordCrabapple in that I wish that what are now commonly called British IPAs were simply IPAs, as they deserve to be, and the American IPAs more clearly referred to as American IPAs or perhaps a more differentiating label.

 

Perhaps the better question wouldn't be "History of the American IPA", but "History of the Double IPA". Because the following excerpt sounds more like a happy accident that started what is easily the most popular style and highest regarded among the craft beer community (by rating anyways, for what that's worth).

I think we should be quibbling over who invented the double IPA, which fits the label for "American IPA" far more than something like Celebration or Liberty Ale. Which, despite using American hops, are far more English in their overall character than American, at least by today's standards.

"The first Double IPA is often attributed to Vinnie Cilurzo while at Blind Pig Brewery in Temecula, California. The story goes that he accidentally created Blind Pig IPA when he added 50% too much malt to the mash tun. To correct the mistake he balanced that by adding 100% more hops. The result was Blind Pig IPA, arguably the first Imperial IPA in America. The Blind Pig Brewery is closed now, but the Blind Pig IPA has attained cult status among beer affectionados. Vinnie has gone on to make other cult beers, such as Pliny the Elder. Others attribute the creation of the style to Rogue Ales with their I2PA, originally brewed in 1990. Whoever created the style, hopheads across the world have rejoiced for nearly two decades."

 

This is a fun forum post and I'm quite enjoying the historical read. So which brewer or brewers has the claim-to-fame of the current craze of our love for the citrus/tropical fruit hop flavored American IPAs? Lagunitas Sucks? I'm sure something probably came before that didn't it?

 

Hi Mitch...glad you have weighed in! Bally IPA is close to my heart and was my go-to tipple from 1969 through the '70s and into the early '80s. I lived about 15 miles from the Newark brewery (which closed in '71). At the time, I wasn't aware that Newark had closed because through 1972 and even into 1973, stock of the Newark brew was still available in quite a few of the stores...then it disappeared altogether for a year or two. When it came back, it was certainly the Rhode Island iteration but it really was practically the same (at least until the early '80s) since it was still long aged, and it still heavily dosed with house-distilled hop oils. When the aging time and IBUs were cut back it was fairly obvious. But when it first moved to Rhode Island, the brew remained pretty true to the original.

 

I'm not familiar with the Cruiser, but that's a nice analysis of the SNPA. The real test is how it will maintain your interest through the second and third glass, which I have found that beer to do quite admirably as well.

 

Oh, nothing major (well, as we've previously discussed, some of the label and ad images were mine, taken from my website and given to you by a third party) and not specifically about the "craft era" IPA's - just some minor items about Feigenspan and Ballantine (and Falstaff>Pabst) re: dates, distribution, some of the wording, etc. Ya know, relatively insignificant, trivial little things only picky bastards like myself care about...

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Although the UPI also gets it wrong - while the brewing company P. Ballantine & Sons was then 132 years old, the brewery in the Ironbound section only dated back to the late 1850s, build by the Schalk Bros., who sold their brewery to the Ballantine family in 1879 (in part, to pay off their malt bill), who initially ran it as a separate company, Ballantine & Co., brewing only lager beers.

Ballantine's ale and porter brewery on the Passaic River, which was built in the late 1840s, had closed in 1915 and the next door Malt House a few years later, never to re-open after Prohibition. ​