IPA Shelf Life

Porter was sent at double the volume of IPA.

 

“…all of the hops were added at the beginning of the boil…”

Michael, that was not the case. The first IPA (it was not called an IPA at that time) of circa 1800 was a Pale Ale brewed by Hodgson. That beer was dry hopped. Below is from page 38 of Mitch Steele’s IPA book:

“Hodgson’s beer was dry hopped in the aging casks. This was standard practice for beers of all types, and there are historical references to the hop dregs in the casks of India beer.”

Cheers!

 

I guess I stand corrected, then. I was thinking of the Durden Park Beer Circle recipe for an original Hodgson's India Ale, but then more research has probably been done since that was published.

 

Everything you would ever want to know about IPA freshness [and beer freshness in general] was covered in great technical detail by professional brewers in this discussion: http://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/old-ipas.177842/