Happy IPA Day! 5 India Pale Ales Brewed in the Upstate

South Carolina and the Upstate have seen rapid growth in the craft beer industries, from laws being tweaked to make it easier for breweries to connect with customers through tastings to new beer stores and breweries coming to the Upstate.

Today is IPA Day, a celebration of the India Pale Ale.

What is an India Pale Ale? For many beer drinkers, IPA equals “hoppy.”

But according to Beer Advocate, the IPA style of beer was born when England appointed its first governor to India. That opened up beer trading in India and the surrounding region. Pale Ales were sometimes problematic to ship to Asia, so brewers began experimenting with way to create brews that could survive long ocean voyages. One way of doing this was to “heavily hop” the beer, as hops produced acids that help preserve the beers.

Thus the India Pale Ale was born.

The style category covers a wide variety of hop, alcohol and levels, and Beer Advocate says very few IPAs of today resemble what an Englishman would have quaffed in order to beat the tropical heat. Apparently, American IPAs are known for pushing the IPA-envelope.

Many Upstate breweries make their own IPAs. Here are five local IPAs and where to find them.

Greenville's Thomas Creek Brewery offers a Chocolate Orange hybrid IPA brewed from malted chocolate wheat and flavored with orange peel and cocoa nibs.

They also offer Class Five American-style IPA and their “dangerously drinkable” Up the Creek IPA.

In addition to area grocery stores and the brewery itself – located at 2054 Piedmont Highway in Greenville, you can find Thomas Creek brews at a number of area stores and bars, including Rivals in Powdersville, Hickory Point #11 on Highway 153, Breakers on Sheffield Road in Easley.

Quest Brewing is the new kid on the Greenville beer scene – the brewery opened earlier this summer at 55 Airview Drive in Greenville.

Among their brews is Ellida IPA, which they call a “Viking ale brewed with loads of hops.”

Click here to see where you can find Quest Brewing products in our area.

RJ Rockers of Spartanburg offers a Rockhopper IPA “for the hophead in all of us.” You can often find RJ Rockers' brews in area grocery stores. See here for a list of distributors.