Ale: Strong Pale Ale

American style strong pale ale has its origins in what is known as Indian pale ale (IPA), an English beer style developed in the early nineteenth century. It was brewed with a high alcohol content and high hop flavor in order to survive shipping to English colonies, particularly those in India, where large numbers of civil servants and troops thirsted for fondly remembered English brew. Today IPAs are sold as premium beers, and those brewed outside the Burton area treat their water to simulate that of the gypsum salts of Burton water.