Going that extra sea mile for authenticity

If I'm not drinking wine, my beer preference runs to the heavily-hopped. India Pale Ale (IPA) is traditionally one of the beers that is made with lots and lots of hops. It was also transported thousands of miles (in its most traditional form). In their quest for an authentic IPA, BrewDog is taking their brew to sea:

A Scottish brewery claims to have produced the first authentic India pale ale (IPA) in almost 200 years by ageing the beer aboard a trawler in the North Sea.

BrewDog, a Scottish micro-brewery based in Fraserburgh, has used an original recipe to produce the ale, which was traditionally matured during the 100-day sea journey from Britain to India.

While many brewers still produce IPA on land, BrewDog’s owners James Watt and Martin Dickie decided to make the beer the old-fashioned way.

The pair prepared eight oak barrels which spent seven-and-a-half weeks aboard the Ocean Quest, a mackerel trawler captained by Watt, who is also a fisherman.