This is a Northwest take on a resurrected beer style that dates back to the British colonial empire of the 1800's. As the story goes, the style was created so that the beer would survive the long journey to India on one of the British East India ships. A beer with more hops and higher alcohol content will go longer before spoiling due to its higher resistance to bacteria and mold growth. Hops have an antibiotic effect that acts against bacterial strains while leaving brewer's yeast relatively unaffected. As a result, IPA has lots of hops.