The story of IPA

In the glory days of The Empire strong hoppy Ale was developed to be delivered to the thirsty troops in the Colonies.  A Pale Ale was sent to India (thus IPA).  Walking past Plonk in the Fyshwick Markets they were selling a 6-pack of various styles of IPA put out by 4 Pines brewery of Manly.

They are described as the "Bastard children of the British Empire".

The 1st Bastard was an English style.

Very tasty and a little dangerous at 6% ABV.  The bitterness or hoppiness as measured by IBU is 47, which according to wikipedia is not high for an IPA.  I reckon its a lot better than a "session beer"as suggested on the 4 Pines site.

The 2nd Bastard was an American style.  I guess Custer was a bastard!
The blurb on the label says that "Just like America it will fight you!"  At 6.3% ABV it would probably win!  Also IBU 70 so seriously hopped.  An excellent brew.

The third bastard was a NZ style.  Apparently James Cook brewed some Ale in NZ on his second voyage.  This was a very refreshing drop, much lighter in colour, ABV and IBU than the two preceding samples.  Still good
Astonishingly, the label doesn't include an image of a single sheep!

Somewhat after the Captain Cooked a brew in NZ Governor King ordered some brewkit to get away from rum as the currency of Australia.  So the 4th bastard is an Australian style.
A somewhat heavier style than NZ - it was after all replacing rum - at 5% ABV and 32 IBU.  Again a rather fruity taste, which is not a bad thing.

The 5th bastard is, surprisingly, a Belgian style.  Apparently the Belgians kept the Poms happy with beer in the first Great Unpleasantness, but  the naughty Germans stole the Belgians brewing kit in the second Episode.  So the Brits imported their own and shared it with the locals.  So the chocolate munchers (4Pines words, not mine) reverse engineered it and now make an excellent Pale Ale.
Note the Flying Fortresses and style of the helmet.  Definitely not WW1.

Not very hoppy at 19 IBU but 5.6% ABV means treat with caution.  Not at all grapefruity, but if one was into tasting wheel bullshit some hints of aforementioned chocolate were evident.  Very pleasant.

The final stage is well removed from NAHB (New Age Hippy Bullshit) about tasting wheels but the basic 4 Pines Pale Ale.  An excellent drop: the best thing - some might say the only good thing - to come out of Manly since Steve Menzies.
OK: Mattai is pretty good, for a Kiwi.  But this is very nice beer: a good level of hops IBU 35 and enough alcohol to watch (5.1 ABV).  Also much tastiness.  I was reminded more of a Yorkshire Red than some of the others in the series, but definitely a good note to finish on

Comments

Ian Fraser said…
Read with keen interest; many thanks!

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