What is East India Porter?

Always a good one,  East India Porter. And a lovely beer, if you're lucky enough to find one. I very briefly tell the style's story.

 

Let's Brew Wednesday - 1910 Barclay Perkins East India Porter

Here’s just about the end of tradition of brewing Porter especially for the Indian market. East India Porter being the Black Beer equivalent of IPA. The main difference from domestic Porter being heavier hopping. Though, by this point, the gravity was also higher.

As usual, there are loads of coloured malts. Specifically, brown, black and amber. Though there are a few idiosyncrasies about the grist. The oddest is the presence of oats. As this wasn’t parti-gyled with an Oatmeal Stout, the oats must be intended for this beer. Was some of it sold in India as Oatmeal Stout?

Then there’s the sugar. Which, for some reason is No. 2 invert rather than No. 3. Why would that be? Perhaps the colour would be too dark with No. 3 sugar.

Four types of hops this time around. Some foreign ones, too. Namely, Hallertau from the 1910 harvest and Sonoma from 1909. With East Kent from 1909 and 1910. With the latter also used as dry hops. 

1910 Barclay Perkins East India Porter
pale malt	8.00 lb	57.66%
brown malt	1.50 lb	10.81%
black malt	1.25 lb	9.01%
amber malt	0.75 lb	5.41%
flaked oats	0.375 lb	2.70%
No. 2 invert sugar	2.00 lb	14.41%
Cluster 150 mins	1.75 oz
Hallertau 90 mins	1.75 oz
Goldings 60 mins	1.75 oz
Goldings 30 mins	1.75 oz
Goldings dry hops	1.00 oz
OG	1064
FG	1012
ABV	6.88
Apparent attenuation	81.25%
IBU	93
SRM	40
Mash at	149º F
Sparge at	170º F
Boil time	150 minutes
pitching temp	59º F
Yeast	Wyeast 1099 Whitbread Ale

Let's Brew Wednesday - 1935 Cairnes Single Stout

Moving forward a decade and a bit, there have been quite a few changes to Cairnes best-selling beer.  The most obvious being to the strength. Throughout the late 1920s and early 1930s the gravity was slowly whittled down 1º at a time. Interestingly, Double Stout remained at the same strength.

Another change is the addition of a relatively small amount of flaked maize. The other elements – roast barley and caramel – remain the same. Though the proportions have been fiddled with a little. There’s almost double the amount of roast barley, but less caramel. A little less than a quarter of the roast barley was added to the copper rather than the mash tun. Presumably to boost the colour.

The rate of attenuation is even lower than in 1923, just 65%. Leaving it just over 3% ABV. Even weaker than a standard English Mild of the period. And similar to the slowly fading away London Porters.

A single type of hop was employed, Oregon from the 1943 harvest. The combination of higher-alpha American hops and a higher hopping rate leave the calculated bitterness much higher than in 1923, at 55 IBU. 

1935 Cairnes Single Stout
pale malt	7.00 lb	78.87%
roast barley	1.25 lb	14.08%
flaked maize	0.50 lb	5.63%
caramel 2000 SRM	0.125 lb	1.41%
Cluster 120 mins	1.00 oz
Cluster 60 mins	0.75 oz
Cluster 30 mins	0.75 oz
OG	1037
FG	1013
ABV	3.18
Apparent attenuation	64.86%
IBU	51
SRM	33
Mash at	150º F
Sparge at	170º F
Boil time	120 minutes
pitching temp	59.75º F
Yeast	Wyeast 1084 Irish ale

East India Porter

The more I learn about East India Porter, the more I realise that it's a much neglected object of Study.

For a start, it seems to have existed as a thing for longer than India Pale Ale, a term to which the first  known references only date from the 1820s. Pale Ale was exported to India earlier than that date, it's true, seemingly before the term India Pale Ale was coined.

My oldest East India Porter recipe - brewed originally by old friends Barclay Perkins - dates from 1805. But the term has been around longer than that. As this proves:

"ENGLISH AND IRISH ALES, INDIA PORTER, &c.
T PIDGEON, No. 30, Cusse-street, respectfully informs the Public, that his stores are constantly stocked with the following articles, of genuine quality and prime order:

	Per Doz.		Per Doz.
Bellingham Ale,	7 7	East India Porter,	5 5
Windsor do.	5 5	English do.	3 9h
Fermoy do.	5 11h	Andrews’s Pale Butt	5 11h
Appledore do.	5 5	Double Spruce Beer,	2 8h

Four dozen English Porter, at 3s. 6d. per dozen.
Wines usual of best quality, for ready money only."
Saunders's News-Letter - Thursday 08 March 1804, page 2.

It's interesting to note the price differential between ordinary London Porter and East India Porter: 45.5d to 65d. That's around 50% more. But I know from the 1805 Barclay Perkins records that the gravities of the two types of Porter were the same, the only difference being hopping. The India version had around double the hops of the domestic one.

India Porter was already around in the 19th century:

"TEA WAREHOUSE
WADE and MARSHALL, of the Earl Macartney indiaman, 16, Dame-street, have received from the east India Sales, per the Suir and Eliza, from London, fresh of Teas, Sugars, Spices, and other articles, which are of the finest flavour and quality, the lowest terms for ready money. They have also supplied themselves with a quantity Dr. SOLANDER’s SANATIVE ENGLISH TEA, which has been so highly improved his experience, acquired in his voyage round the world with the celebrated Captain Cooke, and which is approved and recommended by physicians of the first eminence in England, the most pleasing and powerful restorative in all  Nervous Disorders. Their Family WHISKEY is remarkably fine flavoured, old, and well worth the attention of private families —very fine old Claret — Port — White Wines — and East India Porter, in wood and bottle — with all kinds of foreign Spirits. N. B. Wholesale purchasers will meet with encouragement, and find it their intercit to apply."
Dublin Evening Post - Thursday 09 March 1797, page 3.

That's a slightly confusing advert. Were they shipping the Porter back from India?

And here's the oldest reference that I've found so far:

"East India Porter, in high order 8s. 6d. per Doz. BEST LONDON PORTER, in Wood and Bottle.
Town and Country Retailers supplied the most liberal Terms, WILSON’S WINE-VAULTS and London Porter-Stores, No. 13, GRAFTON-STREET, Dublin."
Dublin Evening Post - Thursday 19 January 1792, page 3.

Not many details there, unfortunately.

My guess is that the term East India Porter is older than 1792. The way it's referred to implies a consumer would know what it was.

British beer exports 1862 - 1872

It's funny the places you find evidence. Like this about what type of beer was being exported.

What kicked everything off was finding figures for British beer exports in the Brewers' Guardian. I collect all sorts of statitics, but especially stuff like this that show how much British beer was being exported to various parts of the globe.

They tell me a few things directly. Like that British exports to the USA were rising sharply, those to Australia in decline, those to the West Indies and India fairly stable. Except for a blip in 1870 when considerably more beer was shipped to India.

But because the figures include value as well as volume, there's other information than can be indirectly gleaned. Why not see how much the beer exported to various locations cost per barrel. It's easy enough to work out.

I know from other sources that the majority of beer shipped to the West Indies was either Stout or Strong Ale. Which means that the average price per barrel should be relatively high. The same should also be true for Australia, where a lot of stronger beers were shipped. I'd expect a list in terms of the average price to look like this, in descending order:

West Indies
Australia
USA
India

British beer exports 1862 - 1872
	1862		1863		1864
	barrels	declared value	barrels	declared value	barrels	declared value
India	159,140	£445,801	152,588	£429,564	165,037	£498,449
Australia	153,145	£563,907	166,418	£645,716	124,556	£506,691
British West Indies	21,014	£75,220	22,100	£79,393	26,887	£104,037
United States of America	7,780	£31,446	7,644	£33,053	9,830	£43,681
Other countries	123,748	£479,280	142,881	£558,512	164,176	£670,304
Total	464,827	£1,595,654	491,631	£1,746,238	490,486	£1,823,162
	1870		1871		1872
	barrels	declared value	barrels	declared value	barrels	declared value
India	216,663	£576,960	161,859	£492,885	167,597	£522,593
Australia	89,808	£369,741	80,511	£324,061	88,184	£359,701
British West Indies	23,402	£89,007	28,013	£106,243	27,199	£102,491
United States of America	29,512	£148,409	36,402	£181,195	44,360	£223,579
Other countries	161,814	£697,556	176,335	£749,389	194,616	£876,219
Total	521,199	£1,881,673	483,120	£1,853,773	521,956	£2,084,583
Sources:
"Sessional Papers, House of Lords, Vol. VII, Accounts and Papers", 1864, pages 20-21
Brewers' Guardian, Volume 3, 1873, page 13
Brewers' Guardian, Volume 3, 1873, page 14

Why India last? Because I know much of the beer sent there was Porter, which was relatively cheap. The figures bear this out. The average price of the beer sent to India was between 53 and 62 shillings per barrel. No way most of that could be IPA. Because even in Britain, a barrel of IPA cost 60 shillings a barrel:

Allsopp price list from 1871

You can see my other predictions were a bit out. The most expensive beer was sent to the USA, followed by Australia with the West Indies only in third place:

British beer exports price per barrel 1862 - 1872
	1862	1863	1864	1870	1871	1872
India	56.03	56.30	60.40	53.26	60.90	62.36
Australia	73.64	77.60	81.36	82.34	80.50	81.58
British West Indies	71.59	71.85	77.39	76.07	75.85	75.36
United States of America	80.84	86.48	88.87	100.58	99.55	100.80
Other countries	77.46	78.18	81.66	86.22	85.00	90.05
Average	68.66	71.04	74.34	72.21	76.74	79.88
Sources:
"Sessional Papers, House of Lords, Vol. VII, Accounts and Papers", 1864, pages 20-21
Brewers' Guardian, Volume 3, 1873, page 13
Brewers' Guardian, Volume 3, 1873, page 14

What was being sent to the USA that was so expensive?

Not sure why the average price per barrel generally increased between 1862 and 1872. Any suggestions?

Brewing at Stone (part two)

Right, time to describe the rest of my brew day at Stone Liberty Station.

Or rather describe the beers I drink with lunch. I kick off with the First Anniversary Ale. A beer, as it names suggests, brewed to celebrate the first anniversary of Liberty Station. It's dark and hoppy. They jokingly called it a black something or other*. Can't remember what, because, as I told you last time, I'm not taking notes. And my memory isn't what it was. It's fairly like a Black IPA.

I follow it up with a Go To IPA. One of the new breed of Session IPA.I quite like them, especially when, as today, all be boozing all day long. But they seem to really antagonise the more fascist end of beer geekdom. Why? Because in their narrow world an IPA had to be at least 6.5% ABV. Anything below that is an imposter. Like the wonderful 1839 Reid IPA (one of the recipes in my excellent new book), which only just scrapes over 5% ABV. Those dumb Victorian brewers.

Go to IPA is very drinkable and isn't messing up my head too much. What with the heat I've got even more of a thirst than usual. I take one with me back to the brewhouse, where Kris has delayed the boil so I can do my hop throwing in bit.

When it's time the bung in the pellets, there's a nice head on the wort. It's even more impressive after the addition. Like the froth on the top of a cappucino. What are the hops? A load of Goldings. This is an India Porter, after all. In needs some company for its long journey.

We're brewing 10 US barrels and Kris will brew another 10 tomorrow. That's one conical's worth.

There are just two hop additions, at 90 and 60 minutes. That's what it says in my recipe, but it's just a guess. Few brewing records give details of hop additions. None I've seen from the 19th century. I made an educated guess, based on what brewing text books of the day recommend. Could be totally wrong. But as they weren't interested so much in aroma, more in preservative qualities, early additions make sense.

Grant from ChuckAlek gets to make the second and final addition. While his intern Kaleb gets to rake the spent grain out of the mash tun. I know which of the two I'd prefer.

Before I know it, four o' clock has rolled around. When my book signing is due kick off. It's in the garden. On the way to lunch I'd been surprised to spot a couple of punters out there. Anyone sensible was inside with the air conditioning.

I'm set up at the back of the garden. Most importantly next to the bar and in the shade. It's still roasting, even out of the sun. Stick an apple in my mouth and you can have roast pork for tea.

I've plenty of time to consider my own mortality as, books arranged enticingly on the table, I sweat in a garden deserted save for the staff. At least I've a beer in my hand - more Go To.

Around 16:45, with brewing done, the others join me. Grant wants to try his own 1832 Brown Stout, but it's not on until 17:00. He decides to wait.

It's worth waitng for. A Lovely beer, full of chocolate notes, but finishing with a persistent bitterness. That's what you get from large early hop additions. A bitterness that lasts all the way to next christmas, without ever jumping up and slapping you around the face.

As the sun drops lower and the air cools a little, more are tempted outside. But none of them pay much attention to my little book stall. The signing is supposed to end at 18:00. My first sale is 5 minutes before that. I decide not to shut up shop but to carry on as long as anyone is showing interest.

I'm relieved when Mitch turns up. He's not been able to do much in Escondido. The police wouldn't let him anywhere near the brewery. But at least the fire hadn't reached it either.

We chat and drink and eat and occasionally I sell a book. It's even quite pleasant, once the sun is down.

"It's a day.", I say eventually. I'm back in my hotel by 22:00.

Next time I'll be going to a museum and some breweries. Quite a few breweries. Including the main Stone plant in Escondido. If it's still there.




* Imperial Black Kolsch.

Imperial Black Kolsch

Imperial Black Kolsch

Imperial Black Kolsch

Stone Liberty Station
2816 Historic Decatur Rd #116‎,
San Diego, CA 92106
http://www.stonelibertys


ChuckAlek Independent Brewers
2330 Main St, Suite C
Ramona, CA 92065
http://www.chuckalek.com/ 

Brewing at Stone

Given how little time I spent in San Diego - just three days, really - it's no surprise that I crammed things in.

First, it's disclosure time. Stone and ChuckAlek paid my travel expenses and for most of the food and beer I consumed whilst in the US. For which I'm very grateful.

The two breweries are at about exactly opposite ends of the industry. Stone has two 120-barrel brewhouses, ChuckAlek a 1-barrel system; Stone started in 1996, ChuckAlek last year. That they are working together on a project says much about the camaraderie of the San Diego scene.

ChuckAlek have a series of one-off Porters and Stouts called, er, Archive Series. There's a new one each month. The recipes are interpretations (in varying degrees of strictness) of ones in Porter! and the Home Brewer's Guide to Vintage Beer. (Sorry, couldn't resist some tarting.)

Grant from ChuckAlek picks me up at 9 am. We're off to brew. A reasonably (but not stupidly) early start. Just as well. I only arrived at 5 pm yesterday, after a refreshing 16-hour journey. It's a wonder I know which month it is. I'm feeling quite chipper, oddly.

We're brewing at Stone Liberty Station, a brewpub in San Diego itself (the main brewery is in Escondido) which opened exactly 12 months ago. It's housed in a former US Navy training complex to the West of the city centre. With its cloisters, there's an oddly monastic look.

When we arrive the restaurant is empty, save for an army of staff, getting it ready for the lunchtime siege. The place is huge. Not quite on the scale of Munich's Hofbräuhaus, but not far off. The main room seats over 400 and there are several smaller ones, plus a big courtyard garden. That's one of the reasons we have trouble finding our way into the brewhouse: the place is just so damn big. They even have a courtyard with two bocce pitches.

Kris (Ketcham, the man in charge of brewing at Liberty Station) is already looking hot when we peer inquiringly through the window. He, literally, points us in the right direction. We have to go outside and around the back. He's already started the preparatory work.

I'm glad I checked the weather forecast before leaving Amsterdam. Usually, it's a pleasant low 20's celcius in San Diego in May. But an unseasonably early appearance of the Santa Ana winds has bumped the temperature up into the high 30's. Way too hot for me.  Really low humidity is the only consolation.

The Santa Ana is to blame for the wild fires which have spring up around the city. Once again I'm glad to live in rain-soaked Holland.

Grant grinds the malt. I'm relieved not to be asked to hunk the sacks about. Sweaty work. It's English malt - from Crisps. Though the sacks of coloured malt also bear the name French and Jupps.

"That's very appropriate," I mention, "they used to supply London brewers with black and brown malt. It's quite possible that the original contained malt from the same source." I'm full of useless crap like this."I'm pretty sure they were the last maltsters to make brown malt the scary way."

"Why did they stop?"

"Too many fires."

I realise I've forgotten to tell you what we're brewing. It's one of my favourite beers. For educational purposes. To bludgeon an historical point into a bloody mess. That much more Porter went to India than IPA. Barclay Perkins East India Porter from 1867.

Grant's intern Kaleb turns up to help. I get to play, too - some paddling in the mash tun. The easy bit at the start, when it isn't too thick. It's quite a hands-on brewery. One of the reasons Kris was glad to transfer here from the main brewery.

It reminds me of something. My last foray into brewing at Colonial Williamsburg. I got to do some paddling there, too. Despite a couple of centuries of technological advances, brewing's core remains constant.

Once we've finished mashing in (at 153.9 F), Kris fetches us a blueberry and basil Kölsch straight from the filter. Slightly strange. It's a nightmare beer for Kris. Blueberry seeds clog his equipment.

"It's not very Kölsch convention compliant." I suggest. It's taken as the joke it is.

A worried Mitch Steele, head of brewing at Stone, turns up later than planned. He'd been stuck at the brewery until late, wild fires closing off his route home. Not that he's able to give us his full attention. A fire is within two miles of the main brewery. Every minute or so an email about the situation in Escondido bleeps into his phone.

We try an English IPA from ChuckAlek, which Grant has brought in a growler. Pretty good stuff. I wish I could remember which hops are in it*. I'm not taking notes, you see.

Mitch is bombarded with emails as the fire races towards the brewery. I'm surprised he can concentrate at all.

In the grant, the wort looks as black as tar and nearly as viscous. Even in a thin tube, it's pretty much opaque. Brilliant. It tastes great: like oversugared espresso, but more fun. I'm sure I'll love it. If I get to taste it. That's one of the downsides of cooperating on beers in distant lands. I don't always get to try the finished product.

When the wort is safely warming in the kettle, we go for lunch. Ribs and fish taco for starters, lobster roll for my main. Very nice. Not that you needed to know that.

Mitch continues to nervously check his emails. The fire is within a quarter mile of the brewery, he tells us. His relative calm impresses me. Worry trousers me would have struggled to follow the conversation. Or speak coherently. Hell, I struggle to speak coherently at the best of times. Or listen properly, my family would say. Bit of an attention deficit on my side.

Mitch gets a phone call: police have ordered the evacuation of the brewery. His meal finished, he hurries off.

This what had been happening around the brewery:



The sequence ends when the brewery was evacuated.

I'll leave you with those frightening images. Next time I'll be doing my hop thing before roasting at gas mark nine for two hours in the garden.




* Grant tells me the beer is called Trading Co. EIPA and the hops are Admiral, a newish British variety.



Stone Liberty Station
2816 Historic Decatur Rd #116‎,
San Diego, CA 92106
http://www.stonelibertys


ChuckAlek Independent Brewers
2330 Main St, Suite C
Ramona, CA 92065
http://www.chuckalek.com/

Apologies for the lack of photos of the brewhouse. I somehow forgot to take any.

Beer in India in the 1860's

More about India. Though I'm pretty sure some of the information in this source is incorrect.

Like this statement:

"Malt liquor at home is a very different affair to the strong-bodied ales and porters brewed for the Indian market. To preserve these beverages through the voyage they must be brewed strong, and with an excess of fermentable matter in them. Unless malt liquor be perfectly sound, it is apt to derange the digestive organs, and predispose to disease. In ordinary Medical practice in India nothing is so common, as to hear that a "bottle of beer not quite sound," has been the cause of the attack of diarrhoea, or dyspeptic symptoms. Very few persons, who engage in sedentary occupations, and who take but little exercise, can drink beer without suffering from subsequent discomfort in the shape of disturbed nights, bad dreams, flatulence, and often bilious purging and a feeling of prostration for the whole of the next day. Beer drinking amongst the better classes, officers, merchants, &c., may be said to be falling into disuse, and in nine cases out of ten, to the manifest improvement in the health of those who abandon the practice."
"Madras Quarterly Journal of Medical Science, Volume 6" edited by Howard B. Montgomery, 1863, page 404.

It's pretty easy to check that claim about Ales and Porters being stronger for the Indian market. Here are Barclay Perkins standard Porter, TT, and East India Porter, EI. The gravity is pretty much identical. The attenuation is a little more in EI. The big difference, unsurprisingly, is the level of hopping.

Barclay Perkins Porter in 1856
Date	Beer	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation	lbs hops/ qtr	hops lb/brl
25th Apr	TT	1060.7	1018.0	5.64	70.33%	12.72	3.10
25th Mar	EI	1060.9	1016.0	5.95	73.74%	17.05	4.68
Source:
Barclay Perkins brewing record held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number ACC/2305/1/542

Pale Ales in the 1860's
Year	Brewer	Beer	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation
1862	Allsopp	Pale Ale	1067.1	1008.6	7.74	87.18%
1862	Allsopp	Pale Ale	1071.9	1009.3	8.30	87.07%
1862	Allsopp	Pale Ale	1088.4	1008.6	10.66	90.27%
1862	Allsopp	Pale Ale	1070.8	1007	8.47	90.11%
1869	Allsopp	Pale Ale	1064.16	1010.4	7.18	83.82%
1869	Allsopp	Pale Ale	1068.45	1013.5	7.19	80.32%
1862	Bass	Pale Ale	1067.8	1014.3	7.04	78.91%
1862	Bass	Pale Ale	1069	1017.2	6.80	75.07%
1862	Bass	Pale Ale	1069.5	1016.9	6.91	75.68%
1862	Bass	Pale Ale	1063.2	1012.4	6.69	80.38%
1862	Bass	Pale Ale	1066.9	1015.6	6.74	76.68%
1869	Bass	Pale Ale	1065.89	1010.2	7.33	84.50%
1869	Bass	Pale Ale	1065.41	1012.5	6.96	80.87%
1869	Bass	Pale Ale	1066.67	1011.8	7.20	82.33%
1869	Bass	Pale Ale	1067.03	1013.2	6.81	80.31%
1865	Whitbread	PA	1061.8	1012.7	6.49	79.37%
1866	Whitbread	PA	1061.8	1016.1	6.05	73.99%
1866	Whitbread	PA	1068.4
1867	Whitbread	PA	1063.2	1015.8	6.27	75.00%
1867	Whitbread	PA	1063.2	1017.7	6.01	71.93%
Sources:
"The lancet 1853, Volume 2", 1853, page 631.
British Medical Journal August 28th 1869, page 245.
Whitbread brewing records held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document numbers LMA/4453/D/01/030, LMA/4453/D/01/031, LMA/4453/D/01/032 and LMA/4453/D/01/033.

Now let's look at Pale Ales. A little trickier, as I don't have domestic and export versions from the same brewery. But I do have ones from Bass and Allsopp, plus domestic Pale Ale from Whitbread. I'll be honest, I'm not sure if the Bass and Allsopp beers were intended for domestic use or export. One of the Allsopp beers is a bit odd, the one with an OG of 1088º. OI wonder it that's really a Burton Ale that's got mixed in with the Pale Ales. That one aside, there's not a huge difference in gravity between the Burton Pale Ales and Whitbread's. Though the ABV of the Burton beers is a little higher - 6.75 to 7.3% as opposed to 6 to 6.5% - than Whitbread's.

This observation is slightly less contentious: the better off were switching from beer to wine.

"Dining not long since with a large mess party at a station in the Mofussil, where ice had been recently introduced, we were much struck by the change of habits and customs. Looking down the mess table, the sight of a beer glass was the exception instead of the rule, as it used to be ten years ago. Most of those present drank claret and water, or plain iced water, but out of a large party of nearly fifty, there were not half a dozen beer drinkers.

A friend of ours, who has spent many years in the Straits Settlements, informs us that the European community there have almost entirely discarded beer, as unsuited to the climate, and have taken to light French wines instead. In the Presidency town of Madras, the use of beer has greatly diminished of late years. In the dining room of the Club, for one person who may be seen taking that beverage, there will be two or more, who give the preference to "claret cup," or some of the light wines.

The change in habit is more observable in the better classes of society than elsewhere, for the reason that agreeable substitutes for beer are more within their reach, than is the case with the artizan or soldier."
"Madras Quarterly Journal of Medical Science, Volume 6" edited by Howard B. Montgomery, 1863, pages 404 - 405.

Typical posh bastards, drinking French wine in preference to good, honest British beer.

British troops in India and Porter

More from "Report of the Commissioners Appointed to Inquire Into the Sanitary State of the Army in India". This time looking at a specific type of beer, Porter.

You may recall me banging on at every available opportunity about Porter being imported into India in greater quantities than IPA. Here's confirmation than drinking Porter was a regular part of the life of an ordinary soldier in India.

Soldiers were issued with a daily ration of Porter in some units:

Lieut.-Colonel Gall—, The usual beverages are spirits, porter, and arrack. . . .  The usual issue is one quart of porter and one dram; the latter may be exchanged. Porter is cheapened to encourage its use in lieu of spirits.
"Report of the Commissioners Appointed to Inquire Into the Sanitary State of the Army in India", 1863, page 225.

A quart was reasonably generous, given the strength of it (between 5.5% and 6% ABV):

India Porter and Stout
Year	Brewer	Beer	Style	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation	lbs hops/ qtr	hops lb/brl	boil time (hours)	boil time (hours)	boil time (hours)	Pitch temp	max. fermen-tation temp
1855	Barclay Perkins	EI	Porter	1061.5	1016.0	6.02	73.98%	21.01	4.47				66º	81º
1856	Barclay Perkins	EI	Porter	1061.8	1016.0	6.06	74.10%	21.03	4.57				66º	81º
1856	Barclay Perkins	EI	Porter	1060.9	1016.0	5.95	73.74%	17.05	4.68				65º	80º
1853	Whitbread	Expt. India Beer	Porter	1062.3	1018.3	5.83	70.67%	20.23	5.58	1.5	1.5	2	64º
1853	Whitbread	Contract India Beer	Porter	1059.6	1018.6	5.42	68.84%	20.31	4.95	1.5	1.5	2	64º
1854	Whitbread	Contract India Beer	Porter	1057.9	1015.0	5.68	74.16%	19.62	4.64	1.5	1.5	2	64º
1854	Whitbread	Contract India Beer	Porter	1058.4	1014.7	5.79	74.88%	19.58	4.57	1.5	1.5	2	64º
1854	Whitbread	Expt. India Beer	Stout	1072.0	1022.2	6.60	69.23%	19.33	6.42	1.75	1.5	2	64º
1854	Whitbread	Expt. India Beer	Stout	1071.2	1019.9	6.78	71.98%	18.90	5.93	1.5	1.5	2	64º
Sources:
Barclay Perkins brewing record held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number ACC/2305/1/542.
Whitbread brewing records held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document numbers LMA/4453/D/09/047 and LMA/4453/D/09/048 .

Note that Whitbread also brewed a Stout for export to India.

Here's more evidence of soldiers receiving Porter as part of their rations:

Brig.-Gen. Russell—, . . . . Every effort was made to draw men from the canteen, which was kept as far as possible from the place of amusement. The men preferred going thither and getting their porter fresh to having it brought to them at dinner.
"Report of the Commissioners Appointed to Inquire Into the Sanitary State of the Army in India", 1863, page 227.

Finally, something that flies in the face of all received wisdom about India and beer:

Dr. Dempster—, . . . .  Advises pure water or slightly acidulated drinks only in general, but in some cases pale ale, i.e., for weak persons after several years' residence.   . . . . It is difficult to keep ale imported from England. Porter keeps better.
"Report of the Commissioners Appointed to Inquire Into the Sanitary State of the Army in India", 1863, page 229.

Yes, that's right. Dr. Dempster reckoned Porter lasted better in the heat than IPA.