Last week, the creator of the IPA (India Pale Ale) admitted that his invention wasn’t “great”.
Johnny ALEward was born in a rural part of India to two Cork parents. To say he was born with the gift of the gab was an understatement.
Aleward developed a love for a big dirty bag of cans from a young age when he moved back to Ireland in the mid-2000s. “Ah yeah I’d mill a bottle of Devil’s Bit in the local skatepark with the boys so I would”.
Aleward then pursued a passion for the cans in his 20s where he decided he’d make his own beer! He hit a problem when he started though. “I wasn’t sure what the measurements were to make this new beer I was working on so I ended buying loads of random bits in bulk. I later found out that I had ordered waaaay too many hops. So I said ‘ah fuck it. I’ll make something out of it’”.
The results of Johnny Aleward’s decision to make something out of his accident was that he invented the first IPA. When life gives you hops, make IPA.
“It’s not great”, he admits. “But sure look, what kind of business man would I be if I couldn’t market this as something new and cool. I decided ah fuck it. I remember those skater boys down in the skatepark where I used to drink were mad for the strong beer so I said ‘Ah look I’ll call it something they’d drink like Punk Pooch IPA. And sure didn’t they only mill into it?? This is all off the record isn’t it?”
This interview was not off the record.