IPA India Pale Ale Everyone Is On This Wave

I'm not into drinking beers now days, just turned 53, doc says to keep beer out of my system because my gout can flare up. Holy shit, I don't want that evil swelling of my foot any more, screw that! But let's talk about IPA's, shall we? This acronym stands for India Pale Ale, this style of brewed beer is very popular amongst beer enthusiasts. Beer drinking is more like wine now, well sort of. Did you go into your liquor store lately and look at all the different brands of brew there is? And a lot of em are labeled IPA. Some guys are just buying it because it's the in thing. Ask any of em, "Hey what's the difference between that can of Bud Light, and that IPA six pack you just bought?" More than likely that guy will say something like, "Oh man, it has more flavor, it's just different, yeah, that's it, it's different."

OK, I am not an expert on beers, all I know is, there's like hops and barley in there right? There's lagers, and ales. Porters, and Stouts. Too much. Well, I read some stuff on this IPA craze, so let's get to know this thing that's so popular.

What is a pale ale? Pale ale originally denoted an ale that had been brewed from pale malt. The pale ales of the early 18th century were lightly hopped. Hops are the flowers of the hop plant. They are used as a flavoring and stability agent in beer, to which they impart bitter, zesty, or citric flavors.

What is malt? Malt is germinated cereal grains that have been dried in a process known as "malting". The grains are made to germinate by soaking in water, and are then halted from germinating further by drying with hot air. Malting grains develops the enzymes required for modifying the grain's starches into various types of sugar, including the monosaccharide glucose, the disaccharide maltose, the trisaccharide maltotriose, and higher sugars called maltodextrines. It also develops other enzymes, such as proteases, which break down the proteins in the grain into forms that can be used by yeast. Depending on when the malting process is stopped one gets a preferred starch enzyme ration and partly covered starch into fermentable sugars. Malt also contains small amounts of other sugars, such as sucrose and fructose, which are not products of starch modification but were already in the grain. Further conversion to fermentable sugars is achieved during the mashing process. Malted grains are used to make whisky, malted shakes, malt vinegar, confections  such as Maltesers and Whoppers, flavored drinks such as Horlicks, Ovaltine, and Milo.

What is barley? It is a member of the grass family, is a major cereal grain grown in temperate climates globally. It was one of the first cultivated grains, particularly in Eurasia as early as 10,000 year ago. Barley's been used as animal fodder, as a source of fermentable material for beer and certain distilled beverages, and as a component of various health foods.

So seriously why IPA? Back a few centuries ago, England was sticking their Union Jack all over the world. So if you look at your map, Google it. Look for Northern England. Now look for India. So the beer is brewed in Norther England, it has to be shipped to India. Several thousand miles, on ships without any type of refrigeration. Feel me on this? OK you aren't a moron after all. So to stabilize the beer, so it could weather any storm, and a very long journey, the brewers added more hops than usual to help preserve the beer on its way to India. So we got some freeking pale ale that is headed to India. Hence India Pale Ale. All this shit is folks, is the brew has more hops in it. So that's why it has more of a flavor to it. It's like packing some Coke or Pepsi with more sugar for some odd reason, and you're shipping that soda from Hawaii to Africa. All the IPA is, is a more hoppy beer, basically.

According to the Beer Advocate, this IPA Julius is one of the top IPAs

Brewed by:

Tree House Brewing Co.

Massachusetts, USA

treehousebrew.com

Style: American IPA

Alcohol by volume (ABV): 6.80%

Availability: Rotating

Notes/ Commercial Description:

Bursting with 1.6 oz per gallon of American hops, Julius is loaded with notes of passionfruit, mango, and citrus. At 6.8% alcohol, it is refreshing and freakishly drinkable.

Summary: This is too much shit! Good luck with your IPA endeavor man! Just give me a freeking green bottle or a Bud Light, if I drink. My gout takes precedence over enjoying beer. Don't want to be limping all over the place.

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