I saw a few recent articles on Ron Pattinson’s blog that discuss some low-gravity IPA’s that were available in England in the early-to-mid 20th century. There was a recipe posted for 1957 Whitbread IPA that was brewed down at 1.036/3.9% ABV. It’s interesting that Session IPA’s have become a big thing in the past few years in the US, when they were apparently no big deal a century ago in the UK.
I think I’ll be taking a shot at the recipe in this article: Shut up about Barclay Perkins: Let's Brew Wednesday – 1957 Whitbread IPA I’ll probably use 1469 or 002/1968 instead of 1099, and I might push the hops closer to the end of the boil to get a bit more flavor/aroma, but otherwise I’ll keep it close. Should be interesting.
I am sure most of you are aware that Mr. Pattinson has a book out called “The Home Brewer’s Guide to Vintage Beers”. I have the book for a couple of years now and cannot recommend strongly enough. I have brewed several recipes from this book with excellent results.
If this brew turns out well, I just might have to do that. I find myself on is blog every month or two and end up going straight to the “Let’s Brew Wednesday” articles. I have about two lifetimes’ worth of Brewer’s Caramel on hand, so I really ought to brew more of his recipes just to make a dent in that.
Thanks for posting this Eric. I am trying to use up my hops I have on hand lately. I used up my American IPA hops last batch and this weekend I’m planning on using what’s left which is a lot of fuggles EKG and a couple other English varieties. I think I’ll do this recipe and a stout.
I’ve had IPAs in England that were under 4% in recent times, but it sounds like beers are getting bigger over there. Caledonian of Edinburgh makes Deuchars IPA at 3.8% and it’s excellent. There might be a recipe in Graham Wheeler’s book, I’ll have to look when I get home.
The whole crux of Ron’s articles was basically that these were just another IPA at the time. Just like other styles, some were stronger and some were smaller. Breweries often brewed multiple beers within a style, and apparently IPA was no exception.
I just jumped this to my serving keg and took a gravity reading/taste sample. My sample was still pretty yeasty, but otherwise damn tasty. I can’t believe how good this beer is for 3.5%. The IBU’s are spot-on for a beer of this size - I don’t think I’d want to go any more bitter.
I have the keg in my keezer to crash for a few days, but then I will be bringing it back out to serve at cellar temps. If I had a cask setup, this would be a killer beer for it.
Yes, American IPA is completely different from British IPA. Most British IPAs served in pubs are just the same as regular bitter or best bitter. The " IPA" tag is more of a marketing gimmick that a denoter of style. I drank pub IPA for many years without knowing it was supposed to be different from bitter.
I have not been fortunate enough to drink beer of any sort in a proper English pub, but it’s certainly on the bucket list. That said, this particular recipe has a firmer bitterness than any bitters/ESB that I’ve tried. Not enamel-stripping American IPA-like at all, but it does have a nice bite to it.
Yes IPAs are probably meant to be a bit more bitter than special bitter or best bitter and a lot more bitter than mild. However there’s so much variation in draft British beers that I never really noticed the difference. I can definitely tell mild apart from other beers as it’s so much less bitter, and special/best tend to be stronger (4.2-4.5%) than regular bitter (3.5-4%), which can sometimes taste watery.
These days things are changing as US style hops are very popular and there are lots of new pale ales and golden ales that use them. British hops tend to have far less aroma/flavour but character from the yeast makes up for it a bit. Also the water often has high mineral levels - probably more sulphate that typical US pale ales.
The acreage of hops grown in England keeps dropping, last I saw it was about 2000 acres, which makes me concerned about the supply of some hops I like. What is your feeling about the future supply of EKG?
Interesting question but I can only guess at the answer. It will take a while to disappear as lots of British beers rely on it. I do think newer hop varieties are steadily displacing older hops in commercial beers though. Maybe it will dwindle in supply to the point where it’s an heirloom variety with rarity value.
It’s much easier to brew with new-world hops as the flavors are so powerful. It takes genuine skill to make good use of more subtle flavours.