Quick Question: When was Goose Island IPA first released?

It was one of the first beers on tap when they opened in 1988.

 

I think Goose IPA was the first thing I had ever seen labeled "India Pale Ale," and I had to look up what it meant.

 

It was ironic it won the medal in 2000, because its discontinuance had been announced.
Brewing staff had to scramble to re-slot it on the schedule.

 

According to Josh Noel's book, Barrel-Aged Stout and Selling Out, the bottled IPA brewed in late '90s "...was wholly different (from the brewpub IPA), intended to define the style for an entire city."

Although, about the earlier brewpub version Noel claimed "It was a style virtually unknown in Chicago..." but records show that Ballantine India Pale Ale was available in the metro area, and was at the time being brewed "next door" to IL in Falstaff's Ft. Wayne brewery at the time.

Musta been way back when it still had a definition?

 

What are you talking about? IPA is a pretty clearly defined style. It's a clear or hazy or somewhat cloudy golden or yellow or orange or black or really any color ale that is made from the typical Reinheitsgebot ingredients of hops, barley, water, and yeast, unless they put wheat or oats in it, and which may include vanilla, lactose, fruit, candy, spices, or probably an entire g****mn pie or cake if Mikerphone has its way. You see, hops are a preservative, and these beers have hops in them in order to survive the journey from England to India without spoiling, although they sometimes explode in your fridge.