International #IPADay & you

And so it begins.

The #IPADay hashtag hit Twitter a few minutes ago, so you’ve got about a month to get ready for the event Aug. 4. Although I’ve signed up as an “attendee” I’m not sure what that means. Can you find a proper India Pale Ale in London? That’s where we’ll be the first week of August, and during visits to Meantime Brewing on Monday and the Great British Beer Festival on Tuesday there’s a chance I might learn something new that I can pass along.

But what about you? This is supposed to be a grassroots movement, so I guess any dang thing you want. The mini-site says, “To participate, share your photos, videos, blog posts, tasting notes, recipes, thoughts with the world on Twitter Facebook, YouTube, WordPress, RateBeer, Foursquare, Gowalla, Yelp, Untappd or any other social media platforms you may use. Use the hastag #IPADay in all of your posts and then see what others are saying by searching the hashtag on google, twitter or other social media resources. Participants are also encouraged to organize ‘real-life’ #IPADay events.”

My suggestion is that this might present an opportunity to learn the difference between India Pale Ale and IPA, particularly if this is really going to be International #IPA Day. The mainstream IPAs so many American beer drinkers are ordering these days would be out of place in nineteenth century Britain or India. That’s fine, but it is silly to pretend any different.

I was reminded of this yesterday after I posted a link on Twitter to a crazy-long story in the San Diego Reader called “Beer Heaven: Hoppy Daze in San Diego.” A nice yarn, but as @thebeernut replied the story contains a paragraph worthy of one of Ron Pattinson’s contests.

IPAs started life as a British export to their troops stationed out in India back in the 1800s. British brewers discovered that if they put lots of hops and alcohol in the beers they were sending out, the strong beer wouldn’t go sour on the four-month voyage around Africa. The alcohol and the hops acted as preservatives. ’Course, then a few India-bound beer ships wrecked on the coast of Scotland, which gave locals the chance to sample the cargo. The secret was out, and IPA has been a staple in the UK, as well as India, ever since.

How many errors can you spot? It might take until Aug. 4 to count them.

Suggested reading
(I know, I keep suggesting the same two books, but these are the reigning champions.)

Amber, Gold & Black: The History of Britain’s Great Beers, by Martyn Cornell

Hops and Glory: One Man’s Search for the Beer That Built the British Empire, by Pete Brown

4 thoughts on “International #IPADay & you”

  1. If I had Pete’s book in front of me, I’d copy his paragraph about his first taste of Goose Island IPA right here!

  2. August fourth is both my mother’s and Barack Obama’s birthday. Just thought you’d like to know.

    As for that account of IPA, you have to give them credit for that business about the Scottish shipwrecks. Where on earth did they come up with that? It’s like a game of telephone. What new corruptions to the old tale await?

  3. The talk around #IPADay lead me to your blog, I enjoy it, I’ve subscribed. I’ve heard the British troops/India story sans the shipwreck several times and just assumed it was true. I’ll be checking out your suggested readings for the real story. If nothing else #IPADay will be educational for me.

  4. Good for you, brewwho. That’s exactly why my tweet about the “event” read: Ask not what you can do for International #IPADay, but what International #IPADay can do for you.

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