Reviving a 200-year-old ale recipe made in a teapot

The descendant of a brewer who made the first commercially successful India Pale Ale (IPA) has revived his seven-times-great-grandfather's recipe.

Samuel Allsopp created the beer in a teapot in 1822 after being challenged to make one which would last the six-month sea journey to India.

Allsopp went on to help establish Burton-upon-Trent, Staffordshire, as the world's brewing capital.

Steve Holt, owner of Kirkstall Brewery in Leeds, found the leather-bound brewery ledger containing the recipe and teamed up with Allsopp's descendent Jamie Allsopp to remake what they called "one of the most important beers in brewing history."

Jamie said: "It started off the craft beer revolution. I'm really looking forward to drinking it with publicans and customers. It's going to be fantastic."

Allsopp's India Pale Ale was released in 70 pubs across the country on Friday, including Burton Bridge Inn and The Roebuck Inn, returning the beer to its original hometown.

In the year it was first released, the trade in sending beer to India was dominated by London brewer George Hodgson, but pale ale had become unreliable and unable to make the journey unspoiled.

Jamie, a ninth-generation family member, resurrected Allsopp's in 2021.

Recalling the IPA's history, he told the BBC: "Samuel was asked by the East India Company to brew a beer that would last the arduous six-month journey to India, as all other beers were arriving in bad condition.

"Samuel Allsopp did something hitherto unknown, he upped the alcohol and hop content which both act as preservatives.

"It really dialled it up strongly, and it was a really bitter beer. At the time it wouldn't have been drinkable straight out of the brewery, but after the six months at sea going down the Cape of Good Hope, it mellowed and arrived in India in really good condition."

This journey formed the humble beginnings of the popular ale. To save time and ingredients, Samuel and his head maltster, Job Goodhead, used a teapot to brew the first IPA and helped pioneer a new taste.

After growing into what has been described as one of Britain's great brewing empires, Allsopp's fortunes began to turn and the family lost control of the business in the 1930s.

More than two centuries on, the ledger containing over 100 handwritten recipes, including IPA, Pale Ale, Double Diamond, Stout, Arctic Ale and dozens of forgotten brews, was found in an attic in Leeds.

Jamie added: "Without the recipes I wasn't interested in producing guesswork."

He said he was not looking for "historical interpretations of IPA".

"It had to be the real deal – with the right malts, hops, and style that could make our beer revered once again," he said.

"If we can persuade more people to fall in love with cask again, then we've achieved something far bigger than simply bringing back one historic beer."

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