Pale ale from India?

I had always wondered why an India Pale Ale was named after India when it was clearly a British style. Beer doesn’t deal well with heat, so India was an unlikely source of a new beer style (at least, pre-refrigeration).

As it turns out, the heat is the key, but not for the reasons you might think. Since it was difficult to brew beer in the hot weather of much of India, a beer was needed which travelled well and held up to the heat. After all, beers brewed in the UK travelled almost six months around the horn of Africa and back up, through a broad range of weathers and temperatures. As both hops and alcohol are preservatives, the India Pale Ale ended up with a high hop content and a slightly higher alcohol content than many other British ales just to survive the journey in drinkable shape.

Interestingly enough, given the technology to brew whatever beers they wanted to, the brewers of India, like much of the world, have chosen to brew lagers rather than ales. Equally interesting, the IPA has been embraced by beer lovers here in the US, which had converted almost wholly to light lagers. If you’re interested, Wikipedia has more on the history of IPAs.

Thanks to beer smarts, the beer trivia game, for the short answer and the inspiration for this post.

Creative commons, from Wikipedia