If there's a beer style that pisses me of, it's English IPA. Because it only has the most tenuous connection to any beers brewed in the UK bearing the name. In reality, it's a recerse-engineerd American IPA, with tweaks to make it English. Basically, reducing the hopping or using English hops. And not based on IPAs brewed in the UK at all.
1.050º to 1.075º, 5% to 7.5% ABV, is what the BJCP guidelines say the strength should be. How many examples do I have that fit those parameters? Not one, either bottled or draught. Though the classic one, Red Triangle/White Shield, is missing. Though, at 1052º, even that only just scrapes in.
What do the three draught beers called IPA have in common? Bugger all.
The one with the longest pedigree is Younger's. They'd been brewing one since at least 1851. Though that version was a good bit stronger at 1068º and 6.5% ABV. Which would fit comfortably in the English IPA guidelines, ironically enough. Especially as it was Scottish. It's the strongest of this set. And also the best value. It's only 0.5p per pint more expensive than Greene King's, but with a gravity 8º higher.
Charrington IPA I've drunk loads of times. The stuff was all over London. Though I don't think I ever tried the London-brewed version. Just the one from Cape Hill. It was an OK Best Bitter, when looked after well. Not a patch on London Pride, mind.
And Greene King IPA is, well, a beer that is now pretty common. I don't know if you got it all in London when I lived there.It was mainly confined to East Anglia.
| Draught IPA in 1972 | ||||||||
| Brewer | Beer | Price per pint (p) | º gravity per p | % ABV per p | OG | FG | ABV | App. Atten-uation |
| Younger, Wm. | IPA | 13.5 | 3.22 | 0.34 | 1043.5 | 1008.2 | 4.59 | 81.15% |
| Charrington | IPA | 15.5 | 2.61 | 0.25 | 1040.5 | 1011.2 | 3.80 | 72.35% |
| Greene King | IPA | 13 | 2.71 | 0.28 | 1035.2 | 1006.7 | 3.70 | 80.97% |
| Average | 14 | 2.85 | 0.29 | 1039.7 | 1008.7 | 4.03 | 78.15% | |
| Source: | ||||||||
| Daily Mirror July 10th 1972, page 15. | ||||||||
| Bottled IPA in 1972 | ||||||||
| Brewer | Beer | Price per half pint (p) | º gravity per p | % ABV per p | OG | FG | ABV | App. Atten-uation |
| Truman | Ben Truman | 10 | 4.37 | 0.48 | 1043.7 | 1006.9 | 4.80 | 84.21% |
| Worthington | E | 9.75 | 4.83 | 0.42 | 1047.1 | 1015.4 | 4.10 | 67.30% |
| Ind Coope | Double Diamond | 9 | 5.27 | 0.47 | 1047.4 | 1015 | 4.20 | 68.35% |
| Courage | John Courage IPA | 9 | 5.29 | 0.56 | 1047.6 | 1009.2 | 5.00 | 80.67% |
| Average | 9.4 | 4.94 | 0.48 | 1046.5 | 1011.6 | 4.52 | 75.14% | |
| Source: | ||||||||
| Daily Mirror - Tuesday 11 July 1972, page 9 | ||||||||
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9 comments:
I don't think I ever tasted a beer in the UK called an IPA (pre-craft beer) which I could tell apart from a bitter
Rye river brew a “IPA” using English hops. It seems pale ale,East India Pale Ale and India Pale Ale were interchangeable.
Oscar
Wouldn't a lot of 19th century english IPAs have fit within the guideline?
Isn't that what the BJCP was going for more than current ones?
Hi Ron,
On your calculations of degrees P per p and %ABV per p, I believe you need to do some corrects to compare draught and bottled beer. Your price for draught beer is per pint, bottled per half pint. So for instance Wm Younger is 13.5p/pint & the price of Double Diamond would be 18p if you got a full pint. Younger gives you ~4.6% abv for that pint; whereas Double Diamond gives you 4.2% abv per pint. It’s pretty obvious that Younger is more abv at a cheaper price. (4.6%/13.5p =.341% per p compared to 4.2%/18 = .233% per p).
Hope that helps.
Mark Klinger
I don't understand this post well. What do BJCP guidelines (recently 2021) say about British beer brewed and labeled in 1972? I think the guidelines were set up in 1985 for homebrew initially. I don't think any commericial brewer considers the guidelines when labeling a beer. It's more of a marketing thing.
No need to publish this comment.
Rob,
a lot wouldn't fit the guidelines. Some of the ones shipped to India were surprisingly weak.
Which BJCP category is more egregiously ahistorical? IPA or Mild?
Gonna start a brewery that serves authentic recreations of WWII era IPAs and Victorian XXXX.
Your memory seems correct. According to the 1975 CAMRA pamphlet Real Beer in London, Greene King only had a couple of pubs in London, one being the Builders' Arms in Barnet.
Something quite dramatic must have happened (the Beer Orders perhaps). I first visited London in about 1991 and there was Greene King beer in quite a few places, but I never saw Charrington IPA.
"English IPA" is, however ironical, definitely an American beer style. It's nothing new that established terms are used to market new inventions. Confusing for those who care but a lot easier to sell to those who don't.
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