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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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