India Pale Ale in Van Diemen's Land

The first reference to IPA in Tasmania that I've been able to find is in February 1830, just months after the first known use of the term. Whether this term indicates A genuinely different beer at this stage or merely a different label for beer that was already being brewed, it catches on very quickly.

It's also described as “the best summer drink” which was an important quality to settlers in the colonies I guess since we actually have summers.

Hobart Town Courier, 27 February, 1830

Launceston wasn't far behind Hobart. They had Ind & Smith’s IPA as early as 1833 and overall, seem to have enjoyed a wider variety of IPAs than Hobart did.

By 1840 we’ve got Ind & Smith & Dunbar IPAs to go along with some unnamed India pale ales. IPA is well and truly a thing by this point and comes up regularly in the newspapers.

Launceston Advertiser, 26 December, 1833

Hobart Town Courier, 7 December, 1838

As with all malt beverages at the time, it was very important to praise the medical value of India pale ales. Apparently they had “high tonic properties,” which sounds like a nicely vague kind of thing to say in order to sell it.

Over this time, Ind & Smith seem to be the dominant brand on the market. That is, if the number of advertisements is anything to go by.

Cornwall Chronicle, 11 August, 1852

In 1850 Allsopp gets in on the action and in the 1860s the Scottish breweries really move in on the Tasmanian scene. William Younger's and Dawson Kirkstall’s IPAs are very visible along with appearances from the English breweries Harvey’s and Jeffrey’s. Bass also arrives on the scene during this period.

When looking into the historical side of beer and brewing, the obvious question is ‘what were these beers like?’ And although I haven't found any good descriptions, the ad for Younger’s IPA below mentions the ‘delicacy of aroma’ which is cool to see given the time and distance it had passed on its way to Van Diemens Land. Even though the aroma (and probably everything else) would be quite different from today's crazy hoppy IPAs, it's nice to know that aroma was very important then as well as now.

Cornwall Chronicle, 3 December, 1850

The Mercury, 12 March, 1864

The Mercury, 28 March, 1872

In 1881 we've even got McEwan's IPA. While they started late in the IPA game in Australia, retailers made up for it with an incredible barrage of advertising throughout the 1880s and 1890s. If the number of ads are anything to go by, they dominated the IPA market with Bass IPA a distant second and and one or two others further back.

McEwan's IPA trademark application from 1909. Note the
globe in their branding. Taken from www.ipaustralia.com.au

To round out the gang of Scottish IPAs, Tennent’s IPA was also available in Hobart on occasion. It seems that they were making push to export their beer and it made the journey to Tasmania at least on one or two occasions. Stone & Sons also sent IPA to Tasmania in the late 19th century.

The Mercury, 6 April, 1882

It's crazy how much Scottish IPA was exported to Tasmania - at least 4 breweries were sending their IPA our way. I completely missed those IPAs when I did that post on Scottish ale. Just as well I hedged and called it “A first look…”! There was a real surge of popularity for the style during the 19th century but by the time of Federation, IPA had waned in the public's estimation if the number of newspaper ads is a guide. Still, from the earliest Times IPA was available and popular in Van Diemen's Land.

Next I'm going to look at locally brewed IPAs to see what kinds of things they got up to.

The first reference to IPA. Just.

About this time last year, beer historian Martyn Cornell posted about the first occurrence of the term 'India Pale Ale', 29 August, 1829. It was 6.5 years before the previous known first usage and was notably from a Sydney newspaper. Australia was into IPA before it was cool. We're just a bunch of beard-wearing hipster convicts.

As I was ferreting around in the depths of Trove today I discovered a reference to IPA from 27 August of the same year, just two days earlier. It's the same ad, run in the same newspaper so it's not really moving the needle in terms of the history but I guess it's worth pointing out.

The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser,
27 August, 1829

The ad is a bit unclear as to whether it's advertising an IPA brewed by Taylor or whether it's referring to Taylor's pale ale and an East India pale ale. The former is a possibility with "Taylor's" referring to their stout or porter. Taylor's brown stout (or porter) and pale ale had been advertised together a number of times in the preceding years. Their stout in particular appears so often in colonial advertising that it's conceivable that it could be referred to simple as "Taylor's". However, the latter seems to make more sense grammatically. Check out the post by Cornell for more discussion about it.

This is the kind of ad I'm talking about. From:
The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser,
25 July, 1828

So there you go, a tiny discovery that doesn't change things at all! That's what I'm all about.

Tasting: Playoffs IPA

I brewed this about a month ago as my beer for the NBA playoffs. It totally does what I want it to do and I think I'm going to need to get another batch of this into the fermenter soon because this one isn't going to last long.

It weighed in at 6.5% abv.

Glass full of IPA happiness

Aroma: Citrus, mango, floral and perfume aromas. It's big and hoppy and definitely inviting. There's a malty or honey sweetness to the aroma too.

Appearance: Light orange, I love that colour in a Pale Ale/IPA. There's a bit of haze that ideally wouldn't be there and a decent head that sticks around for quite a while and leaves its mark down the glass.

Flavour: The big citrus, fruit and perfume carry over from the aroma to the flavour with some rye and malt peeking out from behind it. Maybe also a herbal thing going on there too? There's a lingering, resiny bitterness that helps give this beer a bit of character and makes it a pretty complete package. Without it I think it would be a bit too cuddly and aromatic for its own good.

Mouthfeel: Medium bodied and low-medium carbonation. It should carbonate a little more as it's only been in the bottle for a couple of weeks but even now it's got a decent mouthfeel. It's just nicely dry, pretty much exactly what I like in an IPA. The bitterness isn't out of control but definitely leaves its mark on the tongue and helps the dry perception.

Overall: The hops are so inviting and the flavour is just right, smooth and fruity but the rye and bitterness give it a little kick that lingers pleasantly and then calls for more. It's dangerously drinkable. I wasn't very satisfied with my Galaxy Pale and in general my Pales and IPAs have been a bit one dimensional, lots of hops and not much else. This beer has no shortage of hops but also carries enough malt flavour to make it a more complete beer. It makes me feel like I'm back in Seattle again. I'll be interested to see how this one turns out next time with hops that are more fresh and with some attention paid to the water chemistry.

Now, back to this LAL-OKC game...

Brewday: Playoffs IPA

I'm not generally organised enough to brew for particular occasions, even brewing things appropriate to the season is more accidental than planned. However, I'm looking for opportunities to brew now that I'm able and the NBA playoffs are fast approaching. My aim was to brew an appropriate beer to drink while watching the Grizzlies and Spurs make deep (hopefully) playoff runs.

The Grizz are the fun team to watch again this postseason

I wanted to brew a beer that's about as subtle as Chris Andersen's tattoos and I have lots of hops that need to be used so the Playoffs IPA was born.

Weighing and crushing grain

I used 2.8kg pale malt, 500g rye and 150g crystal (120 ebc) for the grain of this 11.5l brew. I've been wanting to use rye and I'm hoping it'll contribute a nice spicy character and full mouthfeel. The hops are Amarillo, Citra and Columbus. All big and bold and hopefully they'll play nicely together. Up to this point I've mostly done single hop beers as I'm still very much a beginner and learning about the different varieties and what they contribute to a beer. However, this time I was feeling up for a big hit of American hops so I chucked them all in. Additions at 60 min, 10 min and dry hopping to 70 IBUs with an OG of 1.062.

Raising the temp for mash out

The brew itself was mostly easy enough. Mashed in at 65'C and raised the temp to 75 for mash out. It's now in the fermenter with a dose of US-05 and we should be drinking it sometime in the first week of playoffs. Perfect. I will drink it and imagine I am there.

Playoffs IPA on its way!

Belgian Pale

We had a holiday in Seattle in September last year. Seattle is one of the dream destinations for someone who's into craft beer. There are apparently around 150 microbreweries in Washington state and with Portland just a few hours down the road it was really difficult to try everything we wanted to in 3 short weeks.

The highlight for me was Fremont Brewing. I bumped into Matt, the owner, standing out the back and he was great. He showed me around the place, gave me a taste of all of his delicious beers and gave me a bottle of their Bourbon Barrel Abominable Ale. I managed to fit it into our luggage for the trip back and it's now waiting for a suitable occasion to be consumed. 

The Pacific Northwest is obviously famous for doing obscene things with hops. I'm pretty sure it's illegal to open a brewery there unless you offer an IPA. It was great. So the first thing I did when we got back to Tasmania was brew a session IPA and a Black IPA. The session or Baby IPA was like a chainsaw. There was nothing subtle about that one, it was face meltingly bitter and had a huge, raspberry and passionfruit aroma. I think it may have caused lasting damage to the tastebuds of everyone who tried it. In a good way. The Black IPA was delicious and probably had slightly wider appeal, probably my best brew to date.

However, the longer lasting impact of our US holiday was that it pushed me in the direction of Belgian beers in general and farmhouse styles in particular. I had my first ever saison courtesy of Fremont Brewing and I had a Monk's Flemish Sour Red Ale on tap at Beveridge Place. I also tried a couple of beers from Upright Brewing (on Matt's recommendation) that left me wishing I had more time in Portland. We have very limited access to these kinds of beers in Tas (it's only thanks to Cool Wine that we have access to any of them) so if I want to drink these kinds of beers I'm going to have to brew them myself.

So, after all that preamble, my first step in the direction of brewing some interesting Belgian-style beers is a simple Belgian Pale. The recipe is a small, 11.5l batch adapted from Brian Strumke's (of Stillwater) recipe posted here. Due to a mix up with the yeast I had Wyeast 3725 Biere De Garde on hand instead of the 3522 I was planning on using. I'm not too sad about that, I'm quite excited to see how the 3725 turns out. 

Recipe on Hopville. 

OG: 1.048

FG: 1.010

IBU: 24

2kg Pilsner malt 

250g Wheat malt

90g Munich malt

7g Saaz @ First wort hop

7g Hallertau @ 60 min

16g Saaz @ 10 min

5g Saaz @ 0 min

5g Hallertau @ 0 min

Wyeast 3725 Biere De Garde

8/2/12 - Brew day. Bron's first all grain effort, she did it like a pro.

9/2/12 - Pitched the yeast, there was activity within a few hours. The temps were on the low side (~20'C) but the bulk of the fermentation was done in 2 days.

13/2/12 - Fermentation nearly finished, sample smells/tastes delicious, spicy, clove, tiny bit of banana, light and reasonably dry. Noticeable bitterness. Very cloudy.