With the economy in the toilet, hopefully we’re going to bring a silly spark to your day and make you laugh for a few minutes. Enjoy!

Content from the episode includes: This episode is special, it’s the first episode where we stick with a light theme of finding something in your fridge to drink and talk about it. While we intended to handle Scotch one of our co-hosts was sick so we found an alternative plan: drink beers.

Imagine this… you’ve discovered a new regions across the ocean in a world that used to be considered flat. Three hundred years after such discoveries we were challenged to find a way to keep a beer from spoiling after long voyages across the open seas to warm climates of the southern atmospheres.

What do you do? You drink beer faster before it spoils and fall off course with a drunken crew of sailors? Or, do you find a way to keep your beer stable and free from spoiling on long journeys. A bit of both I presume.

This is the reason IPA was born, to preserver the wild oceanic rides into the open blue seas.

“Before refrigeration and pasteurization, the brewer’s only weapons against spoilage were alcohol and hops. Alcohol and hops provide an unfriendly environment for microbes, preventing the growth of the bacteria that cause sourness. Therefore high alcohol content and high hopping rates could protect beer from the souring associated with long storage times.” (wikipedia)

Fill your beer with hops that withstand the test of time packed with some nice alcohol and you’ve got your best protection from spoilage. The trip from London to Bombay India was once done by boat…slowly and your civilians and military personal at the destination point demanded beer from their home country. There would be great money if you could fill their demands and standard style beers just weren’t cutting it. What you didn’t want was a flat, musty sour beer and brew masters had figured out the key of IPA.

George Hodson at Bow Brewery in East London is credited with the first recipe for India Pale Ale.

“Hodgson took his pale ale recipe, increased the hop content considerably, and raised the alcohol content. The result was a very bitter, alcoholic, and sparkling pale ale that could survive the challenges of travel and shelf life in India. IPA reached India in an enjoyable condition and Hodgson’s success became legendary. Hodgson began shipping Hodgson’s India Ale during the 1780s. By 1784 advertisements were appearing in the Calcutta Gazette for “light and excellent” pale ale.” (wikipedia)

Now, that’s a real man of genius if I ever saw one! Following this discovery brewers invented another pale ale that would survive the trip to Russia and it was known as Imperial Pale Ale. Since then, the two styles have become one in the same, both containing more hops and more alcohol to survive long trips.

This was a huge step in beer history, “in 1750, about 1480 barrels left England for India—in 1800, 9000 barrels were exported, an increase of over 500% in annual shipments.” Bass Ale soon copied Hodgson’s recipe to make their own brew along with many other competing breweries.

Many years have passed and British India Pale Ales are not really using the same recipe they once did because the distance from country to country isn’t the same with modern technology. Buying an IPA while in London seems a bit reverse of the original concept because it was designed for export. The drink doesn’t have the same traveling to do and thus it has less time to ferment and grow to its true recipe. Thus, many IPA’s have less hops and alcohol as their forefathers did to compensate for the shorter distances of travel.

More irony? India doesn’t produce any India Pale Ales. India tends to make stronger Lagers with an 8% alcohol by volume, nothing like a standard IPA in its content and creation.

Next time you order up an IPA take a second to think about how it came to be, the need for people in far off shores to have a tasty beverage like their counterparts in London. Cheers!

I was taken by surprise when I was able to screw off the cap, not something I’d expect from a micro-brew style beer. However, not having a beer opener on me it was a pleasant surprise indeed. JW Dundee’s American Pale Ale is 5.3% alcohol by volume and JW Dundee says this about their beer:

“A wonderfully balanced true pale ale. Cascade, Tomahawk and Amarillo hops create a citrusy aroma with a smooth, crisp finish. A subdued malt character nicely compliments the hop complexity and produces an orangey amber hue. ” (jwdundee.com)

What we’re talking about here is a hoppy beer with very little bitter aftertaste. The use of cascade and amarillo hops may be why this is considered an “American” pale ale (besides being brewed in New York). A cascade hop is a citrus-like hop developed at Oregon State University in 1956 and probably adds the potent citrus flavor to the brew.

To add a bit of bitter they’ve worked in a Tomahawk hop which is categorized as a bitter hop. However, unlike some stronger bitter beers this Pale Ale is subtle in its bite. A newbie beer drinking trying to find a smooth hop flavored beer should be urged to try DW Dundee’s American Pale Ale.

After pouring it, I was welcomed with a 1-inch foamy head and invited with small bubbly carbonation. If you don’t want to be burping all night, you may want to cut down your intake of this Pale Ale. The color is a rich gold which makes the beer look like a high breed microbrew IPA. The complex attack of hops and hint of caramel will make any beer love gitty.

This isn’t the greatest India Pale Ale I’ve consumed but it’s well worth its lower cost and is a great introduction for new beer tasters. The higher alcohol content is due to the name, IPA, as India Pale Ale style beers usually are stronger due to the history of why the British invented such a beverage, but that’s another story…

JW Dundee’s American Pale Ale is an Everyday Drinkers recommended beverage, buy it, try it and enjoy. Cheers!

The Shipyard Export Ale is a great choice if you’re not so sure about ‘flavored beers’ because it has a very clean taste with minimal hoppy flavor.  Export Ale is 5.1% alcohol by volume, no too shabby, and goes down easily so beware of over-consuming this tasty drink. If you really want a little spicy hop flavor, I highly suggest the experience, try a Shipyard Fuggles IPA because it’s a much more potent style beer (for the pallet) but not overboard like a standard fuggle style brew.

A fuggle is a late 19th century English hop “considered by some to be less refined than Goldings, others prefer its juicier, more woody character” (wikipedia) and it definitely has a distinctive taste over other hops you’ll find in beer.

If you’re looking for a slightly more malty beverage I suggest a Shipyard Brown Ale (an ale we’ll be covering in Episode 2 of the Everyday Drinkers podcast). Shipyard defines their Brown Ale as having a “sweet finish” with hint of chocolate and maple.

For those that aren’t big beer drinkers by like to try new microbrews to test the waters, try an Export Ale, you can’t go wrong.