Beer History Storyline
India Pale Ale
Follow IPA from British export brewing and imperial trade through decline, American reinvention, and today’s diverse hop-driven interpretations.
Chronological milestones
Sources and further references are available on each individual event page.
1642
Coke-Fired Malt Production Enables Pale Ale Brewing
1703
First Recorded Use Of The Term Pale Ale
August 12, 1780
Samuel Allsopp Is Born
1790s
George Hodgson Establishes Pale Ale Exports to India
1800s
Bow Brewery Dominates The East India Pale Ale Market
1820s
Samuel Allsopp Wins A Major India Pale Ale Contract
August 29, 1829
Earliest Known Newspaper Reference To India Pale Ale Appears
1830s
Burton-on-Trent Emerges As The Center Of India Pale Ale Production
February 26, 1838
Samuel Allsopp Dies
1840s
Bass India Pale Ale Becomes A Global Export Brand
1850s
India Pale Ale Becomes Fashionable in Victorian Britain
November 17, 1869
The Opening Of The Suez Canal Reshapes The India Pale Ale Trade
1910s
World War I Accelerates The Decline Of Traditional India Pale Ale
December 9, 1937
Fritz Maytag Is Born
1950s
Traditional India Pale Ale Fades In Mid-Twentieth-Century Britain
November 11, 1954
Ken Grossman Is Born
April 18, 1975
Anchor Brewing First Brews Liberty Ale
November 15, 1980
Sierra Nevada Pale Ale Sparks The American Hop Revolution
July 1, 1982
Bert Grant Opens America's First Post-Prohibition Brewpub
1983
Grant's Brewery Releases One of America's First Modern India Pale Ales
June 23, 1994
Vinnie Cilurzo Brews Blind Pig Inaugural Ale
1997
Russian River Brewing Company Is Founded At Korbel
1999
Russian River Brewing Company Introduces Pliny The Elder
2003
The Alchemist First Brews Heady Topper
2004
Double India Pale Ale Becomes A Recognized Beer Style
2007
Schneider Weisse and Brooklyn Brewery Create Hopfenweisse
April 2007
BrewDog Launches Punk IPA
2009
Sierra Nevada Launches Torpedo Extra IPA Featuring the Hop Torpedo
2013
Amarsi Establishes BrauKunstKeller In Germany’s Early Craft IPA Scene
January 2014
Other Half Brewing Opens in Brooklyn
March 2016
Maisel & Friends Launches Hopfenreiter
December 2016
Fuerst Wiacek Begins Commercial Brewing At Camba
2017
Sudden Death Brewing Is Founded
2018
Le Ketch Opens In Sainte-Flavie
2018
Blech.Brut Is Founded In Bamberg
March 20, 2018
New England India Pale Ale Achieves National Recognition
2019
TankBusters Is Founded as a Polish Contract Brewery
2020
Cold IPA Emerges As A New Interpretation Of India Pale Ale
2022
Sudden Death Opens Its Own Brewery in Lübeck
2025
Zum WØL Wins World's Best IPA At The World Beer Awards
April 18, 2026
Christian Tille Wins Home Brew Bayreuth 2026
September 4, 2026
First Hopfenreiter Day Marks the Release of Hopfenreiter #11