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Scotland, more specifically Edinburgh, was one of the first places outside Burton to take up brewing the trendy new IPA style. As early as the 1840’s, Edinburgh brewers were producing IPA for both the home and the Indian markets.
Trying to split apart Pale Ale and IPA in this early period is pointless. Brewers were highly inconsistent in their use of the two terms. In general, IPA was used to describe all early Pale Ales, regardless of their characteristics. Later in the 19th century Scottish brewers generally adopted the term Pale Ale instead, though IPA was sometimes used to denote one particular beer in a range of Pale Ales. Confused? You should be. I’ve been trying to get my head around this for a decade and still struggle.
Here’s confirmation that that early date Scotland was both exporting, and drinking, IPA:
"Large quantities of a light, pale, and highly-hopped variety of ale have been for some considerable time past exported to the East Indies, where it is in high estimation; and is now, also, rather extensively used in summer in this country."
"A Dictionary, Practical, Theoretical, and Historical, of Commerce and Commercial Navigation" by John Ramsay McCulloch, 1844, page 9.
Despite what you may have been told to the contrary, early IPAs were not particularly strong beers, at least by the standard of the day. They were, however, extremely heavily hopped. AT levels that just look plain crazy today. Heavy hopping was very necessary for export versions, if the beer were to arrive in India in good shape.
WH Roberts provides some intriguing analyses of Scottish-brewed IPAs in the 1840’s. Some are surprisingly weak, even ones genuinely exported to India:
Early 19th century IPA |
Year |
Brewer |
Beer |
Price |
size |
package |
FG |
OG |
ABV |
App. Atten-uation |
1844 |
Unknown |
90/- IPA Export, India |
20.00d |
gallon |
bottled |
1007.75 |
1067.6 |
7.60 |
88.54% |
1844 |
Unknown |
84/- IPA Export |
18.67d |
gallon |
draught |
1005.25 |
1060.4 |
7 |
91.30% |
1844 |
Unknown |
95/- IPA Export |
21.11d |
gallon |
draught |
1008 |
1069.4 |
7.8 |
88.48% |
1844 |
Unknown |
90/- IPA Export, India |
20.00d |
gallon |
draught |
1008 |
1066.3 |
7.4 |
87.93% |
1844 |
Unknown |
84/- IPA Export, India |
18.67d |
gallon |
draught |
1010 |
1062 |
6.6 |
83.86% |
1844 |
Unknown |
81/- IPA Home |
18.00d |
gallon |
draught |
1012 |
1059.3 |
6 |
79.75% |
1844 |
Unknown |
60/- IPA Export, India |
13.33d |
gallon |
bottled |
1006.5 |
1053.8 |
6 |
87.91% |
1844 |
Unknown |
60/- IPA Export, India |
13.33d |
gallon |
bottled |
1005 |
1053.8 |
6.2 |
90.71% |
1844 |
Unknown |
60/- IPA Export, India |
13.33d |
gallon |
bottled |
1013 |
1054.2 |
5.23 |
76.00% |
1844 |
Unknown |
90/- IPA Export, India |
20.00d |
gallon |
bottled |
1012 |
1065.6 |
6.8 |
81.69% |
1844 |
Unknown |
95/- IPA Export, India |
21.11d |
gallon |
bottled |
1007.25 |
1067.1 |
7.6 |
89.20% |
1844 |
Unknown |
90/- IPA Export |
20.00d |
gallon |
bottled |
1007.5 |
1068.9 |
7.8 |
89.12% |
1844 |
Unknown |
60/- IPA Home |
13.33d |
gallon |
bottled |
1005 |
1044.7 |
5.04 |
88.81% |
1844 |
Unknown |
60/- IPA Home |
13.33d |
gallon |
bottled |
1004.25 |
1049.9 |
5.8 |
91.49% |
1844 |
Unknown |
60/- IPA Home |
13.33d |
gallon |
bottled |
1006 |
1047.2 |
5.23 |
87.28% |
1844 |
Unknown |
81/- IPA Export |
18.00d |
gallon |
bottled |
1003 |
1061.3 |
7.4 |
95.10% |
1844 |
Unknown |
81/- IPA Export |
18.00d |
gallon |
bottled |
1003.25 |
1058.4 |
7 |
94.43% |
1844 |
Unknown |
66/- IPA Export |
14.67d |
gallon |
bottled |
1004 |
1054.4 |
6.4 |
92.65% |
1844 |
Unknown |
90/- IPA Export, India |
20.00d |
gallon |
bottled |
1010.25 |
1070.1 |
7.6 |
85.38% |
1844 |
Unknown |
90/- IPA Export |
20.00d |
gallon |
bottled |
1009 |
1067.3 |
7.4 |
86.62% |
1845 |
Unknown |
81/- IPA Home |
18.00d |
gallon |
draught |
1006.5 |
1053.8 |
6 |
87.91% |
1845 |
Unknown |
81/- IPA Home |
18.00d |
gallon |
bottled |
1006 |
1054.8 |
6.2 |
89.06% |
1845 |
Unknown |
81/- IPA Home |
18.00d |
gallon |
bottled |
1005 |
1058.6 |
6.8 |
91.46% |
1845 |
Unknown |
81/- IPA Home |
18.00d |
gallon |
bottled |
1005 |
1060.1 |
7 |
91.68% |
1845 |
Unknown |
81/- IPA Home |
18.00d |
gallon |
bottled |
1005.25 |
1058.8 |
6.8 |
91.07% |
1845 |
Unknown |
90/- IPA Export |
20.00d |
gallon |
draught |
1012.25 |
1062.7 |
6.4 |
80.45% |
1845 |
Unknown |
90/- IPA Export |
20.00d |
gallon |
draught |
1012.25 |
1064.2 |
6.6 |
80.93% |
1845 |
Unknown |
90/- IPA Export |
20.00d |
gallon |
draught |
1012 |
1062.4 |
6.4 |
80.77% |
1845 |
Unknown |
90/- IPA Export, India |
20.00d |
gallon |
bottled |
1010.5 |
1068.5 |
7.4 |
84.68% |
1845 |
Unknown |
60/- IPA Export |
13.33d |
gallon |
bottled |
1004.25 |
1048.4 |
5.6 |
91.21% |
1845 |
Unknown |
60/- IPA Export |
13.33d |
gallon |
draught |
1004.25 |
1048.4 |
5.6 |
91.21% |
1845 |
Unknown |
63/- IPA Export |
14.00d |
gallon |
draught |
1005.5 |
1049.6 |
5.6 |
88.91% |
1845 |
Unknown |
81/- IPA Export |
18.00d |
gallon |
bottled |
1003.75 |
1058.9 |
7 |
93.63% |
1845 |
Unknown |
63/- IPA Export |
14.00d |
gallon |
bottled |
1003.25 |
1055.2 |
6.6 |
94.11% |
1845 |
Unknown |
90/- IPA Export |
20.00d |
gallon |
draught |
1007.5 |
1068.9 |
7.8 |
89.12% |
1845 |
Unknown |
90/- IPA Export |
20.00d |
gallon |
draught |
1007.75 |
1069.2 |
7.8 |
88.80% |
1846 |
Unknown |
90/- IPA Export |
20.00d |
gallon |
draught |
1006 |
1054.8 |
6.2 |
89.06% |
1846 |
Unknown |
90/- IPA Home |
20.00d |
gallon |
draught |
1006.5 |
1055.3 |
6.2 |
88.25% |
1846 |
Unknown |
90/- IPA Export |
20.00d |
gallon |
bottled |
1005 |
1052.3 |
6 |
90.43% |
1846 |
Unknown |
65/- IPA Export |
14.44d |
gallon |
bottled |
1005.25 |
1062 |
7.2 |
91.53% |
Source: |
“Scottish Ale Brewer”, by W.H. Roberts, Edinburgh, 1847, pages 171 and 173 |
The weakest IPA exported to India was just over 5% ABV. That’s not even a strong beer by modern standards. It’s interesting that they go all the way from 60/- to 90/-. The latter is very rare as a beer designation. Though weirdly it popped up again in the 1920’s to describe a low-gravity (low 1030º’s) bottled Pale Ale. More recently it’s been used for Strong/Scotch Ales.
The IPAs William Younger was brewing a few years later look remarkably similar to those analysed by Roberts.
William Younger Pale Ales 1851 - 1853 |
Year |
Beer |
OG |
FG |
ABV |
App. Atten-uation |
lbs hops/ qtr |
hops lb/brl |
1851 |
XP |
1060 |
1018 |
5.56 |
70.00% |
20 |
5.15 |
1851 |
XXP |
1072 |
1018 |
7.14 |
75.00% |
24 |
8.18 |
1852 |
XP |
1056 |
1018 |
5.03 |
67.86% |
20 |
4.66 |
1852 |
XXP |
1067 |
1017 |
6.61 |
74.63% |
24 |
8.20 |
1853 |
XP |
1056 |
1015 |
5.42 |
73.21% |
20 |
5.14 |
Source: |
William Younger brewing record held at the Scottish Brewing Archive, document number WY/6/1/2/5. |
The text above is another excerpt from my tone-setting tome on the history of Scottish beer. Way better than any other book on the subject.
http://www.lulu.com/shop/ronald-pattinson/scotland-vol-2/paperback/product-23090497.html
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