Menu

You Only Think You Know the History of the IPA

You Only Think You Know the History of the IPA
Credit: Getty Images

So you love IPAs — join the club. The IPA has become the dominant form of craft beer in America, and, increasingly, throughout the world. But tell us, what's your preference: English or American? Wet-hopped or dry? imperial or session? Galaxy or Mosaic hops? The point being, you don't know as much about the most popular style in America as you think. Enter Josh Bernstein's comprehensive new book, Complete IPA: The Guide to Your Favorite Craft Beer. Bernstein, a long-time beer-focused contributor to Men's Journal, runs through the many IPA styles, regional interpretations, and the complete history of the hop-forward brew. Here, excerpted from his book, is a sample of Bernstein’s informed take as he runs through the oft-told story of the IPA’s birth in India under British brewers — a story that, it turns out, it's completely wrong. -Tyghe Trimble[2][1]

MORE: The 25 Best American IPAs[3]

Let’s begin by shooting a hop-tipped arrow straight through the misshapen heart of a misconception. If you fancy IPAs, you no doubt have heard that they originated in the heady days of the British Empire. To safeguard their beers during long, hot, roiling voyages to India, brewers preserved their ales with elephantine amounts of hops. On the subcontinent, the bitter ales wet thirsty soldiers’ whistles, becoming the swig of colonial India, then Britain, and eventually the world. Right?

False. It’s the Tooth Fairy masquerading as truth.

Yes, bittered ale went to India, but so did the everyman’s hop-rocked porter. Affluent Europeans, high-ranking officers, and civil servants all drank highly hopped pale ales, and huge hop charges were old news by then anyway. Brewers shipping beer to India and the Caribbean were hopping mad by the 1760s.

STILL MORE: The 20 Best Imperial IPAs[4]

Pale ales appeared in the seventeenth century as the advent of kilns fueled by coke—a cleaner kind of coal—let maltsters produce paler malts. As the years poured on and exports intensified, so did hopping, leading to touts for “pale ale prepared for the East and West India climate.” (Let’s pause here to acknowledge a likely antecedent: October beer, an eighteenth-century favorite of the landed gentry. The pale, well-hopped beer was brewed in the fall, intended to mature on country estates for several years.)

Our tale really takes root in Burton-on-Trent, a small town in the West Midlands of England. Using the proceeds from selling his ale transportation business, William Bass established his eponymous brewery there in 1777.

In time, Bass and other brewers there earned a reputation for their Burton Pale Ale, strong, sweetish, and lighter than the prevailing brown ales and porters. Burton-on-Trent brewers did brisk trade with Russia and other Baltic nations until 1822, when war and embargoes prompted Russia to ban British imports, including ale.

The brewers needed an economic lifeline, and the East India Company threw it to them. Among other goods, the EIC had been boating the hoppy pale ales made by George Hodgson’s Bow Brewery of London to India. The arrangement worked just fine—until the money-hungry Hodgson puppet-mastered supply, creating fake shortages and fluctuating prices to undercut competition or increase profits. When Hodgson tried creating his own importing business, the EIC tapped Burton-on-Trent breweries to make the pale, bittered beer.

Affected by the area’s plentiful gypsum deposits, Burton water’s heightened levels of calcium and sulfates enhanced beer clarity, dried it out, and honed its bitterness. Bass, Allsopp, and other Burton brewers refined the mash bill, and around the 1840s East India pale ales marched headlong into history.

But that of course was just the beginning.

ALSO: How Vermont Became the New IPA King[5]

A Short History of IPAs

The India pale ale-which reportedly first saw print in an 1835 issue of the Liverpool Mercury-had become big business overseas and. to a lesser extent, in Britain. {Domestic IPAs had lower hopping rates because brewers needed smaller preservative hop loads for intranational trips.) But the beer didn't leap to global domination. IPA's rise sits on the same timeline as the pilsner, the Czech lager that upended the way the world drank and nearly drove the IPA into the past.

Clear, crisp, and refreshing, the pilsner bubbled worldwide, but in Britain-according to Mitch Steele in his IPA treatise-the pilsner had a reputation for being a "ladies' drink." To compete. British brewers in the late 1800s started making lower-alcohol "running ales" served fresh and in casks brimming with live yeast. IPA popularity declined, hastened by ABV taxes and the temperance movement. As a result, the brewing recipe grew weaker and less lavishly hopped.

Stateside, though, prominent northeastern brewers—including C. H. Evans in New York's Hudson Vally; the Frank jones Brewery in Portsmouth, New Hampshire; and Ballantine in Newark, New Jersey—continued the IPA tradition. They used Burton techniques, such as lengthy ripening in wood, and developed a domestic market ... that Prohibition nearly obliterated. After the failed experiment ended, so did all the traditional IPA breweries, except Ballantine. They carried the IPA torch until 1972, when Falstaff Brewing bought Ballantine and dulled its IPA recipe. Pabst bought Falstaff in 1985 and discontinued the Ballantine IPA in 1996.

When the American craft beer movement first fizzed to life in the late 1970s and early '80s, the landscape was brimming with cold, yellow lagers. To set themselves apart, Anchor Steam, Sierra Nevada, and other early independent breweries used the then-new Cascade hop-floral, citrusy, and unlike anything else. Anchor Liberty Ale and Sierra Nevada Pale Ale broke new gustatory ground (although rumor holds that Sierra Nevada's yeast strain descended from Ballantine yeast). Bitterness and flavor were taking root.

In 1989, the Great American Beer Festival awarded its first medals in the IPA category, and by the late 1990s IPAs became growth engines for brewers nationwide, from Portland, Oregon's BridgePort to Brooklyn Brewery. Newly developed hop varieties, such as the citrusy Centennial and the piney Simcoe, unlocked exhilarating realms of aroma and flavor. To curry attention, brewers sent ABV and IBU counts skyward in their double and triple lPAs. Experimentation didn't dead-end there. The unstoppable IPA now serves as an all-purpose flavor delivery vehicle, tweaked with wild yeast, heaped with wheat, filled with citrus, or aged in ex-bourbon barrels. Led by West Coast breweries, the bitter assault became a resounding triumph. According to research company IRI, IPA sales accounted for nearly 30 percent of the money spent on craft beer in 2015.

The onetime import has become an export. American-style IPAs are awakening taste buds in Buenos Aires, Barcelona, and Beijing. Hops, recipes, and brewing advice all lie within the click of a button. Beer trading allows IPAs to reach locales that normal distribution channels don't. Increased international travel brings drinkers to far-flung breweries, where a single sip can spark inspiration and a business plan. In this new beginning, brewers worldwide are molding the formula to suit their own climates and cultures. For example: Great Leap Brewing in China flavors their Ghost General Wheat IPA with Tsingtao Flower hops, while Italy's BrewFist suffuses its Space IPA with grape must. Malleable and ever-changing, the IPA has become a prize that can be created and re-created anywhere in the world, and it continues to spread like a fever that everyone wants to catch.

Excerpted from Complete IPA: The Guide to Your Favorite Craft Beer[6] by Josh Bernstein. 

Read more...

The Perfect Whiskey Highball

Credit: Photograph by Irwin Wong

Japanese bartenders can turn the preparation of any cocktail, even a simple whiskey highball, into a meaningful ritual. Here's the very precise way New York bartender Frank Cisneros made whiskey highballs during the year he worked at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Tokyo.

RELATED: Why Japan Does the Art of the Cocktail Better Than America[1]

1. Use Nikka Coffey Grain or Hakushu 12-year-old whiskey. Place the bottle to the left of your working area, label facing out — a sign of respect for the drinker.

2. Using tongs, place four cubes of clear ice into a highball glass.

3. Gently and silently stir ice to chill the glass.

4. Hold back cubes with bar spoon and pour out water from melted ice.

5. Measure 2 oz whiskey into a jigger; pour from behind the glass over the ice.

6. Fill the remainder of the glass with the highest quality soda water. (Look for low mineral content and no added sodium.)

7. Stir 5 to 7 times, as quietly as possible. Serve without a garnish or straw.

Read more...

Cannabis-Infused Beer Was Just Approved for Sale

General Washington's Secret Stash is infused with cannabinoids. Credit: Courtesy Dad and Dudes

No, it won't get you high. But rest assured, the alcohol still works. 

Dad and Dudes Breweria[1] of Aurora, Colorado, has received approval from the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau to sell its General Washington's Secret Stash IPA brew, which contains cannabinoids (CBDs) — but no THC — in all 50 states. “Cannabinoids are a miracle compound, and I thought it would be a responsible choice to put them into beer,” explains Dad and Dudes co-owner Mason Hembree. “They are an antioxidant and neuro-protectant that have a lot of health benefits.”

Why Are IPAs So Bitter?[2]

Dad and Dudes has had the brew on tap (under the codename Cannabeer) for more than a year — serving up the CBD-infused recipe in Colorado, where marijuana is legal. Co-owner Mason Hembree and the rest of the Hembree family have been working with the federal government for the same amount of time to get the approval to sell out of state. The TTB required a complete analysis of the ingredients, recipe, and process before it would give formula approval for the Hembrees’ patent-pending process used for infusing the ale and the beer itself. Now that they’ve got the green light, anyone in the U.S. can imbibe in an extra-buzzy IPA.

“We had to find the perfect time in the brewing process to add the CBD to the beer,” Hembree says. “If you add it too early it denatures when we refine the beer because the compound attaches to the brewing yeast.” After the patent on the brewing process is approved, Dad and Dudes will own the rights to the art of combining suds and buds. Each keg of the brew, renamed General Washington's Secret Stash, contains 500 milligrams of cannabinoids, about 4 milligrams per pint.

But for Hembree, bringing cannabis-infused beer to the masses is about more than inventing a new or healthy niche in the craft beer scene. It’s about making a political statement. “Cannabis should be removed from government scheduling completely,” he says. “Even the hemp plant is not legal at the federal level. It’s just stupid.”

That doesn’t mean Dad and Dudes isn’t having fun with the project. The inspiration for the name, General Washington's Secret Stash, came from a stoner classic Dazed and Confused. Inspired by the character Ron Slater’s monologue[3] about President George Washington’s greatest accomplishments, Hembree wanted to use the beer’s label to nod to the fringe subculture who hail Washington as a hemp advocate since he grew it on his Virginia farm and is thought by some to have smoked marijuana. “He was a rebel leader, and this beer is a rebellious idea,” Hembree says.

With its process down and distribution spreading, Dad and Dudes is looking to expand its CBD brews. At the Great American Beer Festival, October 6–8 in Denver, the brewery will be serving five cannabis-infused beers at the, including an IPA, a double IPA, a cream ale, and a Berliner Weiss. 

References

  1. ^ Dad and Dudes Breweria (www.breweria.com)
  2. ^ Why Are IPAs So Bitter? (www.mensjournal.com)
  3. ^ Ron Slater’s monologue (www.youtube.com)
...
Read more...

5 Ways to Make Perfect Salmon at Home

Credit: Eugene Mymrin / Getty Images

By now it's no secret that salmon is incredibly healthy, but what some forget is that it's also extremely versatile and satisfying. The key, as with all things, is in the preparation.

Making a great salmon steak starts at your local fish market or grocery store. You want to look for salmon that has a vibrant color all around. “Remember to check the back side of the fish. At times, this side is frost-burned from sitting on the ice for too long, says Bahama Breeze[1] Executive Chef Peter Olsacher. “The salmon you're looking for has a firm texture and no off odors. Don’t be afraid to poke it to check the firmness.”

Always ask your fish vendor for a center cut. “That's the cut where the filet is the thickest and best. Cuts around the tail are typically long and thin. Stay away from those!” says Olsacher.

Here are five methods for cooking your salmon, all of which will provide outstanding results.

PLUS: Ryan Dungey's Grilled Salmon[2]

Roast

Like with any meat or vegetable, salmon’s flavors come alive when roasted. “I love a good Whiskey Barrel Roasted piece of salmon," says Strip House Corporate Executive Chef Michael Vignola. "The salmon is nailed to the whiskey barrel stave and slow roasted." Buy the best salmon you can. Vignola suggests either Faroe Island or King Salmon when in season — and make sure you soak the staves in water at least two hours prior. Vignola advises to take it slow so that the staves can properly permeate the fat of the salmon. And don't forget to season aggressively: “Fattier fish like salmon can handle the punch of seasonings from cayenne to coriander,” says Vignola.

Poach

Poaching is incredibly healthy and can pack in serious flavor. Chef Michael Bryant of Cliff’s Edge[3] restaurant in Los Angeles has a simple method: Bring to a boil some stock (or just water) flavored with peppercorn, celery, onion, thyme, bay leaf, and a bit of salt. Turn down to a simmer and leave it alone for 30 minutes so the flavors can fully develop. Turn the heat down to low and drop salmon in broth. Let cook for 30 minutes.

Sous vide

For a uniquely buttery texture, consider this method, which is quickly gaining in popularity among home cooks. You just season the fish with salt and pepper and place it in a sealed bag with a little olive oil. Seal it and cook it at 43 degrees Celsius (a little less than 110 degrees Fahrenheit) for 45 minutes. You'll need a sous-vide machine, though. Chef Bryant recommends the Oliso Smart Hub[4].

RELATED: Simple Slow-Baked Salmon[5]

Grilled

The easiest way to prepare salmon at home is to use your grill. Get your gas or charcoal grill to medium heat, season the fish with salt and pepper, and rub lightly with cooking oil. Cook for two minutes, then turn 45 degrees for diamond grill marks. Cook for another two minutes, then carefully flip the fish and let it cook for another four minutes, or until you've reached your desired internal temperature (145º for medium or slight pink in center). Simple. 

Stovetop

When it's cold outside, feel free to use your stove: Get a frying pan good and hot, season the salmon and place it curved side down in the pan. Let it sear for about a minute, then reduce the heat to medium and continue to cook for another three minutes. Flip the salmon and cook for another two minutes, then add a tablespoon of butter and baste, while cooking, for another two minutes. Once your desired temperature is achieved (145º for medium or slight pink in center), hit it with some lemon juice and serve, topped with an additional tablespoon of butter.

References

  1. ^ Bahama Breeze (www.mensjournal.com)
  2. ^ PLUS: Ryan Dungey's Grilled Salmon (www.mensjournal.com)
  3. ^ Cliff’s Edge (www.cliffsedgecafe.com)
  4. ^ Oliso Smart Hub (www.oliso.com)
  5. ^ RELATED: Simple Slow-Baked Salmon (www.mensjournal.com)
...
Read more...

The Spiciest Chip in the World Can Now Be Purchased... One Chip at a Time

When word came a couple days ago that the newly crowned Spiciest Chip in the World[1] was being released by gourmet chip purveyor Paqui[2], the internet worked itself into a bit of a tizzy — and understandably so, given the extreme novelty factor of the chip, dubbed Carolina Reaper Madness, being sold in a package of one.

ALSO: 14 New Ways to Do Chicken Wings[3]

Named for the Carolina Reaper pepper that features prominently in the spice blend that adorns it, the chip comes extravagantly packaged in a coffin-esque, Grim Reaper–clad box, and then further encased in a condom-like wrapper. “Fear the reaper,” it warns. 

To build on the already remarkable marketing at play here, Paqui has issued the #onechipchallenge[4], which is exactly what it sounds like: participants are asked to post a video of themselves eating the chip, or a photo of an immediate reaction. In exchange, they get a free bag of (less spicy) chips. The results have been pretty much what you'd expect[5], though we're especially partial to this one[6] from the Today Show's Tamron Hall. 

The chip costs $4.99, and you probably should not buy it!

References

  1. ^ Spiciest Chip in the World (paqui.com)
  2. ^ Paqui (paqui.com)
  3. ^ ALSO: 14 New Ways to Do Chicken Wings (www.mensjournal.com)
  4. ^ #onechipchallenge (paqui.com)
  5. ^ pretty much what you'd expect (www.youtube.com)
  6. ^ this one (www.today.com)
...
Read more...