International IPA Day 2025

Today is IPA Day 2025 (daysoftheyear), when we celebrate India Pale Ales, indeed, celebrated on the first Thursday of August every year now, and how IPAs have been influenced by craft brewers, and hops, from the USA. IPAs were originally brewed to be transported by boat on the long trip to India from Britain in the 18th century, thus had plenty of strength and plenty of hops as a preservative, to help survive the long journey. The idea of IPA Day has its origins in 2011, the brain child of American beer enthusiast and author, Ashley Routson*, who I send my thanks to for making me also take advantage of this day every year in Britain too, cheers!

With thanks to Pints and Panels (website) for the image above, the evolution of the IPA, from a slightly darker English hoppy beer transported to India, to the later U.S. craft brewery influenced paler versions, or, as I prefer to call them, APAs. I know where I'm going to imbibe later on, so may just report back on my IPA Day ales sometime very soon, cheers m'dears! 🍺

*Ashley Routson, The Beer Wench's Guide to Beer: An Unpretentious Guide to Craft Beer.

International Beer Day Today & IPA Day Yesterday!

Kent Prohibition

Yesterday was IPA Day 2023 (daysoftheyear), as I suggested in my blog, and a day to celebrate India Pale Ales, and how they've been heavily influenced in recent times by craft brewers and hops from the USA. IPAs were originally brewed in England in the 18th century to be transported by boat to India, hence the name and, consequently, they had plenty of strength and were heavily hopped as a preservative, so that the beer could survive the long journey. The origin of IPA Day was 12 years ago in 2011, and the brain child of the American beer enthusiast and author Ashley Routson, who has written an excellent beer guide* and to whom I have to thank for making me also take advantage of the day over here in Britain, cheers m'dear!

To celebrate I didn't drink what I thought I would, as mentioned in my blog, as the Citra ran out the night before! Instead I had the even more impressive ale pictured above, from the same brewery (Kent), but their stronger Prohibition (4.8%). This excellent pale ale has a big fruity aroma and taste, tropical as well as the citrus/grapefruit flavours expected (although I still haven't been able to discover what hops are used), refreshing, and a great dry bitter finish. This encapsulates how IPAs have been influenced by brewers and hop growers working over the other side of the Atlantic, and creating what are often called American Pale Ales over here.👍

Random Archive Image😉

And today, as the first Friday in August, it's International Beer Day (website), and has been the first Friday in August since 2013, although from 2007-12 it had been on August the 5th, confused?!? Now, just remember the first Friday in August! Another celebratory day created by another American, Jesse Avshalomov, at his local bar in Santa Cruz in California in 2007, you have to love those Americans for suggesting I celebrate beer regularly, cheers! 

The purpose of the day is to gather with others and enjoy a few beers, indeed, to celebrate the variety of beers, and to celebrate those who brew, manage, and serve beer to us, not to forget the wonderful pubs and bars where we drink. As Simon Difford suggests, let's raise a glass "to Beer, a drink that brings the world together." (diffordsguide) 🍻

* Ashley Routson, The Beer Wench's Guide to Beer: An Unpretentious Guide to Craft Beer (2015), Voyager Press, Quarto Publishing Group. My Review.

'The Beer Wench's Guide to Beer' Review

I first mentioned Ashley Routson, self-proclaimed (I'm not being sexist) Beer Wench, and her 'guide' 7 months ago (blog) because of her invention of IPA Day, that was first celebrated back in 2011. I said I would order a copy of her book The Beer Wench's Guide to Beer: An Unpretentious Guide to Craft Beer, which, as you can see above, I have in my possession.

I did mean to write a review of this book a while ago, but, well, I do get mixed up with other stuff too, including my other blog (Steve on Hastings), a wee bit of work here and there, visiting friends and family, not to forget following football and failing at playing in minigolf competitions, anyway, I didn't write the review before. So I've re-read The Beer Wench's Guide to Beer and can confirm that it certainly is An Unpretentious Guide to Craft Beer. The book was first published back in 2015, but I've not seen anything written by her for a few years. She was originally from the wine trade, I do believe, but her experience in tasting follows through to her beer journey very well.

Although it's subtitle is An Unpretentious Guide to Craft Beer, it is a well-written guide indeed, a slim (256 pages) but very informative softback publication. Ms Routson explains how she became interested in beers and its different styles and where they come from, her Eureka! moment when she discovered IPAs and Centennial hops, and Belgian beers. Early on I discovered why beers should be in green or brown bottles, and I own up that I didn't know beforehand how UV light effects beer in the bottle, and she goes on to explain and discuss the different styles of beer, the difference between lagers and ales, providing examples of each style to try. Because this is a book from across the Atlantic, many of those beers aren't available in Britain, but for obvious European styles, European beers are mentioned, as you would expect.

So, among many others including beers brewed in the USA, for English ales she includes beers from Meantime Brewery, Fuller's and Wychwood; for lagers she includes Pilsner Urquell, Spaten Premium Lager and Radeberger Pilsner; for Belgian beers she picks Westmalle Tripel (readers and friends will be aware this is my favourite Belgian beer) and the uniquely (for Trappist beers) dry-hopped Orval, her favourite, "arguably the best beer on the planet" she enthuses!

In my early days visiting Belgium, in the 1990s, I used to always panic when entering a bar and looked at their beer menus with numerous beers included, and immediately plumped for Orval as first beer of choice. But my favourite, as I state above, is Westmalle Tripel, although I'm happy to drink all others, purely for research purposes, of course; even drinking Stella in Belgium, it is certainly better than what you get over here, actually, a bit like drinking Guinness in Ireland! 

The Guide goes into the brewing process and the 4 essential ingredients of beer, that are malted barley, hops (above image of Hukins hopfield), water and yeast (yes, other ingredients are sometimes used too, but they're what's needed). She explains mashing, the wort, boiling, cooling and fermenting, and even mentions how some brewers Burtonize the water used, that is certain minerals are added to help try and replicate the water found in Burton upon Trent; something we used to do when I worked at Kelham Island Brewery 20 years ago.

She also adds a chapter about respecting beer and how to serve beer, the best glasses to use for each style, and tasting and evaluating beers. The later chapters include how to pair different beer styles with different foods, using beer in cooking, and suggests recipes and beer cocktails (!). In conclusion, Ms Routson certainly provides a more than unpretentious guide, this book is an easily read 'guide' and packed with easily digestible information. It would be good to be in touch with her sometime to swap information and discuss how brewing, craft beers and cask ales have developed in more recent years, oh well, likely not to be, cheers!

Postscript:

I always seem to be apologising for not writing many blogs, but, as my brother would say, I am a wee bit of a bampot... My last 2 notebooks have both been in the back pocket of trousers that were placed in the washing machine and I have lost notes going back months 😒

I must try and do better, stay safe folks!