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August 1 has become a beer-drinking holiday of sorts, as it was
declared to be "IPA Day" in 2011. Martyn Cornell has been
specializing in supposed myth-busting regarding the origins of IPA,
so he's had posts each of the last three years that purport to
debunk some of the more common theories of India Pale Ale origins.<br>
<br>
First, the OED: <br>
India, n.<br>
<blockquote type="cite"><span class="numbering"><strong>4.</strong></span>
<span class="subentryInline" id="eid678469"> <span class="lemma"
id="eid678470">India pale ale</span> <span class="ps">n.</span>
a pale amber-coloured beer, with a higher than average alcohol
and hop content, originally to help preserve the beer when
exported to British colonies in the 19th cent.; abbreviated <em>IPA</em>;
cf. <span class="crossReferencePopup cancelled"><span
class="xref"><em>East India pale ale</em> <span class="ps">n.</span>
at <span class="smallCaps">East India</span> <span
class="ps">n.</span> 2c</span></span>.</span>
<div class="frame">
<div class="quotationsBlock" id="eid678481">
<div class="quotation" id="eid132339769"><span
class="noIndent" id="eid160879350"><span>1837 </span> <em><span
class="sourcePopup">Times</span></em> 15 June 2/2 (<em>advt.</em>)
</span> Hodgson's India pale ale.</div>
<div class="quotation" id="eid678490"><span class="noIndent"
id="eid160879362"><span>1872 </span> <em><span
class="sourcePopup">Chambers's Encycl.</span></em> I.
121/1</span> India pale ale differs chiefly in having a
larger quantity of hops.</div>
</div>
</div>
</blockquote>
East India, n.<br>
<blockquote type="cite"><span class="numbering"><strong>2.c.</strong></span>
<span class="subentryInline" id="eid236491377"> <span
class="lemma" id="eid5931658">East India pale ale</span> <span
class="ps">n.</span> = <span class="crossReferencePopup
ajaxDone"><span class="xref"><em>India pale ale</em> <span
class="ps">n.</span> at <span class="smallCaps">India</span>
<span class="ps">n.</span> 4</span></span>.</span>
<div class="frame">
<div class="quotationsBlock" id="eid5931668">
<div class="quotation" id="eid198114731"><span
class="noIndent" id="eid227191415"><span>1835 </span> <em><span
class="sourcePopup">Liverpool Mercury</span></em> 27
Feb. 1/2 (<em>advt.</em>) </span> Hodgson and Co.'s
East India pale ale.</div>
<div class="quotation" id="eid5931688"><span class="noIndent"
id="eid156193366"><span>1876 </span> <span
class="smallCaps">E. Smith</span> <em><span
class="sourcePopup">Foods</span></em> xxxvi. 412</span>
At the present day there may be 10 per cent. [alcohol] in
the strong East India pale ale.</div>
</div>
</div>
</blockquote>
<br>
Three elements are important in the above articles. First, the
original definition which comports with what beer historians have
been saying for the past century or so (but apparently without much
actual documentary support). Second, the mention of Hodgson's &
Co in both contexts. Third, note that 1872 Chambers's fails to
mention "high alcohol". All three of these points are being disputed
by Cornell.<br>
<br>
First, he claims that the original IPAs did not have particularly
high alcohol content for the time--and, looking at the Chambers's
citation, I'm inclined to agree. Furthermore, consider the following
passage from a prohibitionist rant a few decades later:<br>
<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://goo.gl/kZWPj5">http://goo.gl/kZWPj5</a><br>
W. H. H. Murray. Prohibition vs. License. A Review of Ex-gov.
Andrew's Argument for License. New York: 1867. p. 21<br>
<blockquote type="cite">Dr. Pereira says, speaking upon this point
(an alcoholic advocate, by the way): "For this reason I recommend
the<span class="gtxt_body"> <span style="font-style:italic;">weakest
</span>table beer to the healthy, because even <span
class="gstxt_hlt">India pale </span>ale (one of the lightest
ales) is injurious <span style="font-style:italic;">as </span><span
style="font-style:italic;">diet.''</span></span></blockquote>
<br>
It is quite impossible for an India Pale Ale to be "one of the
lightest of ales" and "higher than average alcohol" at the same
time. On this point, I actually agree with Cornell. Original IPA was
about 6-6.5% ABV, which is substantially lower than most English
ales of the period, barleywines and stouts (which clocked at up to
10% ABV or perhaps even higher), but comparable to most porters,
which was the drink of choice of British troops. A part of Cornell's
argument is based on the "myth" that IPA was originally intended as
the alcoholic beverage for troops in India, as a replacement for
regular pale ales and porters which would go sour during a long
voyage. Cornell cites no sources as evidence, but claims that the
troops, in fact, continued to drink porter as their drink of choice
well into the late 19th century and the IPA, as a more complex
drink, was intended for higher social classes, officers and
civilians, in the colonies. I have no idea if the high-society claim
is true, but it's without a doubt accurate that IPA was being
distributed not just to India but to other colonies (more on that in
a bit).<br>
<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://goo.gl/YsNhm">http://goo.gl/YsNhm</a><br>
<blockquote type="cite">Myth 2: "IPAs started life as a British
export to their troops stationed out in India back in the 1800s."<br>
<br>
Fact: Pale ale was around from at least the 17th century and pale
ales were being exported to India from at least the 1780s, if not
before. And they weren't drunk by the troops, either those of the
East India Company's forces or the later British Army forces in
India, who much preferred porter, and continued drinking porter in
India right through to the end of the 19th century. The pale ales
exported by Hodgson, Bass, Allsopp and others were drunk by the
middle and upper classes among the Europeans in India, the
military officers and the "civil servants", the civilians who
worked for the East India Company, trading, administrating and
collecting taxes.</blockquote>
<br>
Two iconic names stand out here--Hodgson and Bass, both associated
with IPA from the earliest known distribution of India Pale Ale.
More specifically, Hodgson is usually identified as the first brewer
to have used the name (nominally East India Pale Ale, as can be seen
in OED citations above), while Bass had become the top British and
global brewer and purveyor of IPAs a bit later (although the brewery
is quite old by then). Here's where the claims become Cornell (2008)
vs. Cornell (2011). Wiki follows Cornell's 2008 book (Cornell,
Martyn. Amber, Black and Gold Zythography Press: 2008--I am using
Wiki as a proxy, as I don't have a copy of the book handy).<br>
<br>
<blockquote type="cite">Among the earliest-known named brewers whose
beers were exported to India was George Hodgson of the Bow
Brewery, on the Middlesex-Essex border. Bow Brewery beers became
popular among East India Company traders in the late 18th century
because of the brewery's location and Hodgson's liberal credit
line of 18 months. Ships transported Hodgson's beers to India,
among them his October beer, which benefited exceptionally from
conditions of the voyage and was apparently highly regarded among
its consumers in India.[7] Bow Brewery came into control of
Hodgson's sons in the early 19th century, but their business
practices alienated their customers. During the same period,
several Burton breweries lost their European export market in
Russia because of new tariffs on beer, and were seeking a new
export market for their beer.<br>
<br>
At the behest of the East India Company, Allsopp brewery developed
a strongly hopped pale ale in the style of Hodgson's for export to
India.[8] Other Burton brewers, including Bass and Salt, were
anxious to replace their lost Russian export market and quickly
followed Allsopp's lead. Perhaps as a result of the advantages of
Burton water in brewing,[9] Burton India Pale Ale was preferred by
merchants and their customers in India.</blockquote>
<br>
Three years later, Cornell is less interested in Hodgson:<br>
<br>
<blockquote type="cite">Myth 1: "IPA was invented by a brewer called
George Hodgson from Bow, in East London."<br>
<br>
Fact: Hodgson was the best-known of the early exporters of pale
ale to India. But there is no evidence at all that he "invented" a
new beer style. Pale ale was already being brewed in England
before Hodgson. And the beer Hodgson brewed wasn't called "India
Pale Ale" until more than 40 years after he is first recorded as
exporting beer to the Far East. Indeed, there is no evidence that
IPA was "invented" at all. It looks more likely the style
developed slowly from existing brews as "Pale Ale prepared for the
India market", and was eventually, around 1835, given a new and
separate name, East India Pale Ale.</blockquote>
<br>
The reality is a bit simpler. The few extant references identify
"East India Pale Ale" only. The earliest "India Pale Ale" tag, so
far, is from 1837 an still refers to Hodgson's brew. The original
moniker is not surprising. The East India Company was an economic
monolith with full trade monopoly in India. If Hodgson was indeed
making his highly hopped variety of pale ale for the East India
Company's export to India (and beyond), it would have made perfect
sense to name the brew "East India Pale Ale" if not in England, then
abroad, where East India Company was responsible for distributing
it. Contrary to Cornell's later claim, this actually strengthens
Hodgson's case as the original purveyor of this brew or, at the very
least, the one to have named it. East India Company lost its trade
monopoly in the Government of India Act of 1833, so by 1837 it made
absolutely no sense to still refer to the type of brew as "East
India Pale Ale". My opinion is that it was not the case that the
beer was named after its intended export target, but after its sole
purveyor, the East India Company and once the East India Company was
no longer responsible for the trade, the word "East" was simply
dropped. So the name, while still possibly related to the survival
on long voyages, may be related to India only peripherally.
Furthermore, by the other companies had caught on and were brewing
similar beer for export.<br>
<br>
What this means is that while Hodgson likely did not _invent_ the
style of beer that has become known as India Pale Ale, he was
certainly responsible for its naming and, therefore, the indirect
association with India. The style had become popular and highly
imitated, but likely not before the name change sometime between
1833 and 1837. Burton ales (see below) simply named their own
similar wares "pale ale"--a label that Bass had preserved for nearly
another 150 years (although the last English labels on Bass bottles
clearly read "India Pale Ale", before AB/InBev moved the production
for North America to the US).<br>
<br>
Cornell did find a couple of important references. First, he
antedated the OED 1835 citation by almost a month by finding the
same ad in the same paper (Liverpool Mercury) but on January 30
rather than February 27. The actual text of the ad (not listed in
the OED citation which gives only the title) is of particular
importance.<br>
<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://goo.gl/COUz0I">http://goo.gl/COUz0I</a><br>
Hodgson and Co.'s East India Pale Ale<br>
<blockquote type="cite">J. Wilson, from HODGSON and CO.'S, London,
begs leave to call the attention of Merchants, Private Families
&c. to the very superior ALE brewed by this well-known House,
to which he is Sole AGENT. The very desirable qualities of keeping
in any climate, and not bursting the bottle, have long enabled it
to maintain the high character it possesses, as peculiarly suited
for Eportation. Being brewed from the finest East Kent Hop, it
contains a particularly find tonic property, and is consequently
much recommended by the faculty, even to invalids.<br>
No. 2, Mersey Chambers, Old Churchyard, Liverpool.<br>
</blockquote>
<br>
Cornell, who posted the clipping on March 29, 2010, keeps railing
against the supposed theory "prevalent in the US" that Hodgson
"invented" the style. But this is actually not important at all.
What is important is Hodgson's virtual monopoly in supplying East
India Company with pale ale almost to the passage of the Act of
1833. In fact, Cornell unwittingly cites a document that supports
this contention in the very same post!<br>
<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://goo.gl/hecD3">http://goo.gl/hecD3</a><br>
<blockquote type="cite">But Hodgson's reputation was not universally
high: an anonymous correspondent in the New Monthly Magazine in
1830 wrote, in a piece called "Sketches from the Ganges":<br>
<br>
<blockquote type="cite"> A great schism is now raging among
the inhabitants of the City of Palaces [Calcutta] in re "pale
ale". Hodgson has had time whereof the memory of man runneth not
to the contrary a privilege as exclusive in articulo cervisiae
as some other privileges which it is not necessary for me to
particularize. For a long time he abused our good nature or
imposed upon our credulity; at last Alsop (no bad name, that,
for a brewer) discovered that we were waxing wroth and that our
virtue of endurance was getting fatigued by exercise. He heard
us from the other side of the Atlantic and responded in the
transmission of, certainly, a most heavenly compound. Hodgson
discovered instanter that it wouldn’t do to send us sometimes
very indifferent beer, sometimes very bad beer, and sometimes no
beer at all.</blockquote>
<br>
That would be Allsopp rather than Alsop, of course.</blockquote>
<br>
Although Cornell's purpose in citing this passage is ostensibly to
show that Hodgson had competition, it actually shows that Hodgson
still had an East India Company monopoly in 1830, only 3 years
before the Company lost control of trade. The bottom line is that
referring to Hodgson's beer as "East India Pale Ale" makes perfect
sense.<br>
<br>
Cornell goes further off the rails with his new discovery of an
Australian clipping from 1829--a marvelous antedating that fails,
however, to buttress his historical argument. Cornell's clipping is
from the Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertisier of August
29, 1829.<br>
<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://goo.gl/B7xQZD">http://goo.gl/B7xQZD</a>
[text]<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://goo.gl/iXb10j">http://goo.gl/iXb10j</a>
[image]<br>
<blockquote type="cite">On Sale at the Stores of A. B. Spark,<br>
Rum, brandy, and geneva in bond; <br>
Taylor's and East India pale ale;<br>
Madeira wine in pipes and hogsheads;<br>
...</blockquote>
<br>
Cornell follows with another clipping, from The Colonial Times,
Hobarth, February 19, 1830<br>
<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://goo.gl/rsmgos">http://goo.gl/rsmgos</a>
[image]<br>
Taylor's Brown Stout.<br>
<blockquote type="cite">Taylor & Co.'s Brown Stout, East India
Pale Ale, (the best summer drink), and prime XXX Ale, for SALE at
No. 1 on the Wharf, (Australian Company's Stores.)--Apply there to<br>
JAMES GRANT.</blockquote>
<br>
For some reason, Cornell (perhaps under the influence of the very
same pale ale) believes that all the beer mentioned in these ads
comes from Taylor's & Co. I believe this interpretation to be
simply wrong. There are three marks identified in the second
ad--Taylor's, East India and XXX (a strong Mild Ale, as someone
pointed out already, so not low ABV either). And the 1829 ad quite
likely refers to the very same Taylor's brown stout and the very
same East India Pale Ale and not, as Cornell supposes, "whatever
interpretation you put on that 1829 ad, Taylor Walker’s still
(currently) takes the prize for the earliest named beer to be called
an IPA (oh, all right, an EIPA – same difference)". Cornell explains
his reasoning,<br>
<br>
<blockquote type="cite">We can be fairly certain that the EIPA in
the 1829 ad wasn't Hodgson's, the best-known of the hopped pale
ales exported to the East before 1830, because the Bow brewery's
beer was highly admired and regularly praised, and would have been
specifically named by anybody selling it: another Sydney
newspaper, the Monitor, complained in April 1828 that "Colonial
beer" was "not so good as" Hodgson's pale ale, and adverts in
Australian newspapers for Hodgson's pale ale from at least 1823
called it "celebrated" and "highly esteemed". (Though a "Letter to
a Gentleman in London" printed in the Australian newspaper in
Sydney on Wednesday 16 July 1828, talking about being served
Hodgson's and Taylor's beers on board ship on the five-month
voyage out to the colonies, complained that these were "names that
I had never heard of when in London".)<br>
<br>
East India pale ale, brewer unnamed, continued to be advertised in
newspapers in Sydney to 1831 (including one mention of "India fine
pale ale in casks". Then in October 1832 the Sydney Herald carried
an ad for "Barclay and Perkins' East India Ale", in hogsheads,
showing that another big London porter brewer, like Taylor Walker,
was now in the India pale ale business. (In November 1833 the
Herald printed a notice for "Thirty-five Hogsheads of 'Taylor's'
BROWN STOUT fifteen ditto of ditto East India Pale Ale".)</blockquote>
<br>
It seems, Cornell draws exactly the wrong conclusion on completely
flimsy evidence. In fact, if Hodgson's indeed held an East India
Company monopoly at least through 1830 (as he cited earlier), then
the 1829 and 1830 citations refer to that very same Hodgson's pale
ale. All that the next ad shows is that Hodgson no longer held the
East India Company monopoly in 1832. By 1833, the exclusivity was
gone all together, as it was the Company that lost its trading
monopoly and not just its suppliers. The real question is how the
1832 Australian port ad matches up against the known 1835 citation
in Liverpool that still mentions Hodgson's East India pale ale.
There are two possibilities--either the "East India" moniker had
already become a style by then, or Hodgson's was still identified
for a few years by its long-term trading partner, even though
Hodgson's no longer held the monopoly. Both of these interpretations
are far more plausible than Cornell's concoction that simply does
not reflect the standard syntax of such ads.<br>
<br>
In another post last week Cornell softens a bit but repeats the same
claim.<br>
<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://goo.gl/GjoamG">http://goo.gl/GjoamG</a><br>
<blockquote type="cite">Unfortunately the ad didn't say who the
brewer was, buy another advertisement in an Australian newspaper a
few months later, the Colonial Times of Hobart in Tasmania on
Friday, February 19 1830 lists "Taylor's Brown Stout, East India
Pale Ale (the best summer drink) and XXX Ale for sale". "Taylor's"
almost certainly refers to Taylor Walker of the Barley Mow
brewery, Limehouse, by the Thames in London, which can thus take
the laurels as the first named brewer of a beer specifically
referred to as IPA.</blockquote>
<br>
The problem with this claim is that it supposes that an 1830 brewery
would be known for multiple very different beer styles--a brown
stout and an IPA. It would further necessitate that the same brewery
was responsible for the XXX Ale as well--an even less likely
proposition. Reading the Hobarth ad as listing three marks rather
than one makes far more sense.<br>
<br>
Cornell makes further overgeneralizations:<br>
<br>
<blockquote type="cite">The earliest use of the term India Pale Ale
appears to have been in Australia</blockquote>
<br>
All we know is that the earliest printed reference found so far
comes from Australia. It certainly does not show that "the earliest
use of the term" was in Australia. While Cornell is skilled in
brewing history, his handle on language history is less certain.<br>
<br>
In fact, Cornell contradicts himself further in discussion of
"Burton brewers" (of which Bass was dominant, followed by Allsopp
and Worthington).<br>
<br>
<blockquote type="cite">The rise to fame and power of Burton upon
Trent's great brewers, such as Bass and Worthington, as brewers of
India Pale Ale was at least in part because of a Russian import
ban.<br>
The Burton brewers' biggest market until the very early 1820s was
the Baltic region, and in particular Russia, where they sold a
strong, dark, sweet brew called Burton Ale. When the Russians
banned imports of ale (but not stout or porter) in 1822, Burton's
brewers were persuaded to replace this lost market with India, and
to start brewing a pale, bitter beer for the first time.</blockquote>
<br>
Note the convoluted argument here. The Burton brewers were known for
ale. Once they lost the Russian contract for ale, rather than
continue selling stouts and porters, they refocused their attention
on ale to be sold in India. In other words, these brewers were known
only for one kind of product--ale, just as Taylor's was known for
one product--stout. It makes little sense that if Burton brewers did
not make ale then a stout brewery would become known for its pale
ale. In fact, it was likely one of Burton breweries that was
responsible for the above-mentioned XXX Ale. Brewers of porters and
brewers of ales had been wholly separate in England for over 200
years and there is no indication that any of them had crossed over
into the other's territory by 1830.<br>
<br>
To sum up, Cornell's _evidence_, despite his argument, points to the
fact that Hodgson's & Co. held a contract with East India
Company for brewing pale ales which they (or the company or other
merchants) named after the Company. As Hodgson's grip on the
contract loosened, so had the name, eventually losing its "East"
part and becoming simply "India Pale Ale" (soon adopted by other
brewers of the same overhopped style). This argument does not credit
Hodgson's with _inventing_ the style but merely with _naming_ it.
The name East India Pale Ale clearly existed by 1829 and, at that
time, can be found in Australia. The point when the name contracted
to just India Pale Ale remains elusive, but the OED 1837 citation
remains the earliest known so far.<br>
<br>
VS-)<br>
<br>
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