The Secret History of Pale Ale

The Secret History of Pale Ale: We will learn about the true history of pale ale, from its 17th century origins to its dominance, decline and rebirth, with all the myths debunked and the errors corrected, including the truth about IPAs past and present and the real story of the Great IPA Shipwreck. With Martyn Cornell from Zythophile.

Transcript

2. The Secret History of Pale Ale Martyn Cornell Amsterdam Saturday August 20 2016
3. It has always been possible to make pale ale
4. It has always been possible to make pale ale The earliest written description of how to make malt and brew beer is the Hymn to Ninkasi, inscribed on a Sumerian clay tablet and dated to around 1800BC … A floor maltster today would recognise the techniques undertaken by those Sumerian maltsters thousands of years ago … Grain was steeped in water, then it was spread out on a floor and finally the malt was dried in the sun. Merryn Dineley, Brewer and Distiller International February 2016
5. Sun-dried malt was pale – and the beer made from it was pale too ‘Drying in the sun … occurs in Western Norway, the Telemark and Nordland. [The malt] was spread out on rugs, or on furs. The children had to watch it, so that the sparrows would not eat the grain. In the past the malt was dried on stones in the sun. The sun-dried malt produced a very pale ale.’ Odd Nordland, Brewing and Beer Traditions in Norway, 1969
6. Grain-drying area, Ses Tanquettes farm, Majorca, Spain
7. But medieval drinkers preferred the ‘nut-brown ale’ From Piers Plowman by William Langland, written circa 1370-90
8. Early in the 15th century hopped ‘beere’ arrived in Britain … … but many preferred to still drink unhopped ale “Ale for an Englysshman is a naturall drynke, beere a naturall drynke for a Dutche man, of late days much used in Englande to the detryment of many Englysshe men; for the drynke is a cold drynke; yet it doth make a man fat and doth inflate the bely, as it doth appear by the Dutche mens faces & belyes.” Andrew Boorde (c1490-1549)
9. Even at the start of the 17th century ale was usually unhopped “The generall use is by no means to put any hops into ale, making that the difference betwixt it and beere, that the one hath hops the other none.” Gervase Markham, The English Huswife, Containing the Inward and Outward Virtues Which Ought to Be in a Complete Woman, 1615
10. But ale – and beer – remained generally brown until the first use of coke to dry malt, around 1642
11. However, references are few “Here Cool are Charred and then call’d Couk, wherewith they Dry Malt, giving little Colour or Taste to the Drink made therewith.” Christopher Merret, “surveyor of the Port of Boston”, in a paper called “An Account of Several Observables in Lincolnshire”, presented to the Royal Society in 1695-97
12. The first use of the expression ‘pale ale’ in English is not until 1705 From a catalogue of books sold at the Ring in Little Britain, London by G Conyers, published 1705
13. Pale ale was a country drink, and London drinkers stuck to brown ale and beer “Obadiah Poundage”, writing in the London Chronicle in 1760 about developments in the London malt beverage trade circa 1710, during the reign of Queen Anne
14. London’s biggest brewers still made brown beer, soon known as porter, but some started making pale ale Stamford Mercury 18 July 1723 Newcastle Courant 22 January 1726
15. By now ale was made with hops, but not as many as went into beer William Ellis, The London and Country Brewer, 1736
16. However, by the 1740s pale ale was being exported to India Daily Advertiser, London, October 26 1742
17. Was it highly hopped? By 1762 brewers knew this was necessary Michael Combrune, The Theory and Practice of Brewing, 1762
18. Every Man His Own Brewer, 1768
19. By the 1780s (and probably before) pale ale was regularly exported to India Calcutta Chronicle March 23 1788
20. East Indiaman armed merchant ship
22. But it was never called ‘India Pale Ale’ Public Ledger and Daily Advertiser, Friday 11 January 1822
23. First use of the term India Pale Ale was in Australia in 1829 Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser Saturday, August 29 1829
24. By which time Hodgson’s of Bow was losing its hold on the IPA market
25. First use of IPA in Britain was 1835
26. But IPA had only a small market in Britain until after the Great Storm of 1839
27. When India Ale from a shipwrecked East Indiaman went on sale in Liverpool Liverpool Mail, Thursday 31 January 1839
28. When the railway connected London and Burton in 1840, brewers built depots in the capital
29. But pale bitter ale remained an upper-class drink
30. But pale bitter ale remained an upper-class drink ‘The subject of my little song is one I hold most dear It supports our constitution, and it will for many a year. John Bull, indeed, would be defunct, or else look very queer If Bass and Co should cease to brew their glorious bitter beer. Allsopp, Bass and Salt, they each deserve a monument, So give them while you’re here – Three cheers for Bass, and Allsopp too, And their glorious bitter beer.’ Tom Maclagan, 1864
31. And it was not until the 1960s that it finally overtook mild to become the most popular beer in Britain