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Monday, 18 May 2020

Spot the IPA

To emphasise the difficulty, nay, impossibility of splitting apart UK Pale Ale and IPA in the 20th century, I thought up a little game. It's called spot the IPA.

The table is of various beer brewed in 1938 and 1939. Some were called as Pale Ale and some were called IPA. Can you tell which is which?

The IBU value is my calculation, based on the recipe. Got gospel, but at least a general indication of the bitterness level.

If you want to take part, just post a comment with your IPA selections.


Spot the IPA
Beer OG FG ABV app. Atten-uation IBU SRM
A 1044 1013.5 4.03 69.32% 30 6.5
B 1053 1018.5 4.56 65.09% 38 7
C 1037 1008 3.84 78.38% 36 7.5
D 1048 1012 4.76 75.00% 29 8
E 1055 1012 5.69 78.18% 22 4
F 1042 1010 4.23 76.19% 16 3
G 1039 1010 3.84 74.36% 33 5
H 1045 1010.5 4.56 76.67% 48 6
I 1050 1014.5 4.7 71.00% 26 8
J 1051 1012.5 5.09 75.49% 43 6
K 1047 1010 4.89 78.72% 30 7
L 1042 1014.5 3.64 65.48% 32 7.5
M 1038 1011.5 3.51 69.74% 30 7
N 1047 1012 4.63 74.47% 39 5
O 1038 1009 3.84 76.32% 21 8
P 1047.5 1011.6 4.75 75.58% 22.5 7
Q 1053.5 1013.5 5.29 74.77% 30 6
R 1047.5 1009.5 5.03 80.00% 27 6

12 comments:

  1. UselessLogic18 May 2020 at 11:50

    I'm going to guess perceived bitterness was the driver here and say H is absolutely an IPA. G, J, M, and N are likely IPAs as well.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Mr B Fastard18 May 2020 at 12:28

    I may be a heathen,but how can an IPA be less than 5% ABV ?

    E,J,Q ,R are my uninformed guesses as IPA's with the rest Pale Ales

    Good quiz.

    ReplyDelete
  3. A Brew Rat18 May 2020 at 14:42

    All of them. You have already made the case that there was no difference between pale ales and IPAs, just what the brewery wanted to call them.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Mike in NSW18 May 2020 at 20:07

    After the War some of the weakest beers were labelled as IPA. For example Scottish and Newcastle Breweries IPA on draught was their lowest gravity beer and pretty much a "grandad's beer".

    As for Greene King IPA, it's a run of the mill ordinary bitter at 3.6%.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Marquis19 May 2020 at 00:09

    Historically IPA was just about the weakest beer from a brewery. This continued after the weakening of beer during WW1.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Chris Pickles19 May 2020 at 01:43

    If there is a pattern then the ones with the highest attenuation to be the IPA's?

    So C E F H K O and R

    ReplyDelete
  7. StuartP19 May 2020 at 04:06

    I'll go for everything attenuated > 75% as IPA.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Unknown19 May 2020 at 04:34

    I agree in part with the first two comments.From what I've read from Ron on IPA, most beers labelled "IPA" at this time tended to have lower OGs, higher attenuation and higher BU numbers than "Pale Ales". However,Brits have never really been style Nazi's like we yanks. So C ,maybe H,K?,M and N?

    ReplyDelete
  9. Sen_Repris19 May 2020 at 07:48

    A,B,L,M. I think I have seen something written about IPA’s from the mentioned period of time. Probably wrong.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Yann19 May 2020 at 10:24

    D, E, F, I, O, P, R is my guess.
    Cheers,
    Yann

    ReplyDelete
  11. robc22 May 2020 at 12:48

    CGHJN

    ReplyDelete
  12. A Brew Rat26 May 2020 at 10:07

    Well, Ron, how about ending our suspense?

    ReplyDelete