Star Party IPA

By the 1790’s the British were established in India and needed beer, which was considered a staple in every household. India, however, presented serious problems for brewers. Hot temperatures, poor water and short supplies of basic ingredients made it impossible to brew beer. Attempts to ship beer out of Britain to Calcutta failed. 

George Hodgson of London produced a pale ale of greater strength and bitterness than those he sold in London. The hops helped protect the beer from spoilage, as did the increased alcohol content. Hodgson’s India Ale arrived in Calcutta in fine shape-clear, strong, and bitter, with a big, resinous hop aroma.  The word spread of India Pale Ale and people throughout England and the United States were clamoring for this wonderful new beer. The rage lasted through 1970’s, but lost steam in the 1980’s and became just another name for low alcohol bitters. 

As craft beer has emerged and grown, so has IPA! IPA has helped grow Craft Beer to what it is currently today. There are now many shapes and forms of IPA, but they all share bright aromatic hop aroma of citrus, tropical fruit, and pine.

As research and experimentation within this style progressed, the concept of biotransformation came to the forefront. Biotransformation is the process in which yeast interacts with raw-materials to render precursors, or non-aromatic compounds, volatile. Barley and hops have been shown to be abundant in thiol-precursors. Thiols are sulfur-containing compounds that are highly volatile, having immense aromatic potential at very small quantities. With the use of new genetically engineered yeasts, brewers have the ability to unlock the potential of thiols. These compounds will provide a medley of passion fruit, guava and grapefruit to harmonize thoughtfully with the selected hops.