It's like the IRA only instead of Irish it's Indian. Instead of Republican it's pale, and instead of an army it's ale.
I think he means it's the type of pale ale similar to the type they used to brew for the Indian market in the 18th/19th century.
IPA just means its full of ****e to enable it to survive the long ship journey out to the subcontinent. It is basically jammed with hops and thats what the hipsters think beers must taste like to be "craft" now. then the amount or variety of malts used to brew determines the other portion of texture.
A lot of that is just myth though, there were some changes to the brewing techniques but non export beers were very similar. IPA varies greatly some are really nice and some terrible, stick to the yank stuff if you want a good one as they have been doing IPA forever and have it sorted whereas the UK stopped making it and are now jumping on the banwagon of the popularity.
please log in to view this image You can get this in Tesco, it's a Californian IPA and is superb. Firestone Union Jack IPA is another good one but you'd have to order online, California again as it happens.
no they didn't just stopped being so popular so the variety lessened and traditionally it was a bottled beer rather than draught.
