Cascadian Dark Ale? Don’t even get me started. There ain’t no such animal, and never has been. The name itself is naught but an attempt to hijack a style that originated in New England and attach it to PAC Northwest beer lore. Black IPA? That is not happening either. IPA is India Pale Ale, and how can you be black and pale at the same time? No, India Dark Ale is the best name for this style of beer, and New Amsterdam Brewing, a contractor out of New York that had their beer made at FX Matt in Utica, New York, was the first to coin it.

The style itself originated circa 1994 at the Vermont Pub and Brewery with a beer named Blackwatch IPA. New Amsterdam IDA (India Dark Ale) gave the style a name, and better distribution. Both of these beers were more akin to an English IPA in hopping rates than an American one, but the stage had been set.

From the label of IDA:

This is our Brewmaster's favorite ale, the first of its kind ever released to the public: truly original New Amsterdam I.D.A. Brewed with six malts and three varieties of hops, our top-fermented dark ale contains Victory Malt, Black Malt, Northern Brewer hops & Cluster hops.

I took these notes on the beer on September 13^th, 1996.

I picked up a few new brews from New Amsterdam, the New York Contract brewer today and they were both interesting…..

On the unconventional side was the India Dark Ale. I could see myself drinking a LOT of this beer. The hop character of an IPA upon which the name is a play of words is not present, but the beer is loaded with roasty, chocolatey malt notes and rich, almost Scotch-ale like sweetness. A good example of an excellent contract brewed beer.

I recall the hop bitterness emerging more as the beer warmed, though again it was still more of an English-style IPA.

India Dark Ale is nothing new, and as much as I enjoy beers like Stone Sublimely Self-Righteous (which gets credit often for the first example of the style but is really a double IDA anyway), that’s just not the case. This is where it all began folks. I know because I was there.

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