The originators, not the imitators

Originally posted by solidfunk
Quad - La Trappe Quadrupel seems to be the first to use that name. Abt seems like a split between St. Bernie 12 and Westy 12

Didn’t St. Bernardus only start brewing after their contract with Westy ended? I’d give the Abt style to Westvleteren. From their website, it looks like Bernardus was set up in the 40’s and only started brewing independently in 1992:

http://www.sintbernardus.be/geschiedenis.php?l=en

Originally posted by solidfunk
originators of each style, or at least the oldest known (and still bottled/sold) example of the style.

I think the originators are difficult to identify. The latter - oldest still produced - is a more likely candidate. Though, I am unsure how we could tag them since beers/brewers end.

IIRC, Westmalle Tripel was the first widely available golden tripel. Before that the style was darker.

I believe it is well-documented that Greg Noonan in Vermont brewed the first commercial American Black IPA
http://www.bostonmagazine.com/restaurants/blog/2013/04/22/liquid-diet-the-new-black/

Originally posted by pellegjr
American beer - Budweiser

Budweiser was introduced in 1876. Pabst was started in 1844. Miller in 1855. Coors in 1873. Budweiser loves it when people think they were the first.

But getting back on topic, the first American Pale Ale would be Sierra Nevada Pale, according to that West Coast IPA article, although didn’t New Albion come first? http://www.ratebeer.com/beer/new-albion-ale/417564/

Originally posted by David_Deas
The exception is the Westy 12 which I think is just a Belgian strong ale. I don’t think quadrupel is actually a real category of beer.

Agreed, this article is always a must read when discussing belgian styles": http://www.ratebeer.com/Beer-News/Article-758.htm

La Trappe did not invent a new style, at most they invented a new name.

Originally posted by solidfunk
Sweet stout: not sure this is definible, but Oatmeal stout at least is Samuel Smith’s Oatmeal stout.

Oatmeal stout had been around for long before Sam Smith made theirs. What had happened was that Oatmeal stout had died out, and Sam Smith revived it. What is true, however is that Sam Smith’s Oatmeal stout became the template for all Oatmeal stouts, in the same way that Guinness didn’t originate Stout, but became the template for modern stout, and Fuller’s ESB (a premium bitter) became the template for ESB, and Courage didn’t originate Imperial stout, but Courage Imperial Stout became the template for Imperial stout.

Brewers will always imitate successful beers. Always have, always will. (They don’t imitate unsuccessful or unpopular styles!) So when we talk about the "originator" of a style what we are really saying is the brand that others copied because it was the most famous or most successful or best known. Fullers ESB was a beer style that had been brewed for many years in the UK by every British brewery. Some link it back to IPA, others link it to Burton Ale. But it was the first to be imported into America, and so became famous in America, and homebrewers copied it, calling their brews ESB .

Tracing back to the original brewer who first made a style is not always possible for the older styles, though we can point to the brewer who made a style famous. Modern styles should be easier to identify, though again it is likely that what we will identify is the brand that first became successful rather than the brand that originated a style. Often styles emerge slowly as part of general drift in one direction, and to take one particular brand and say that was the first is like slicing through moving water. We can easier identify the brand that was successful and copied than the brand that was genuinely the first to put together all the elements of the style.

Bert Grant was important in the development of a number of modern American beers. He is the inventor of Scottish Ale, and quite possibly IPA (as those styles are identified and understood in America - we all now associate IPA with American hops, and few people would think Fullers ESB is an IPA, though most beer historians feel it is a direct descendent).

Most of us regard Sierra Nevada as the first American Pale Ale, though - again - Bert Grant was making a Pale Ale with Cascade hops before SNPA, and Anchor Liberty Ale was made five years earlier than the first appearance of SNPA. But it is SNPA that was the big success, and is the one that is copied.

Perhaps an easier and more realistic task would not be to look for the "originators" but for the "templates" - those beers which pinned down and identified a style, and which became so successful that other brewers copied them.

Originally posted by SilkTork
Bert Grant was important in the development of a number of modern American beers. He is the inventor of Scottish Ale, and quite possibly IPA (as those styles are identified and understood in America - we all now associate IPA with American hops, and few people would think Fullers ESB is an IPA, though most beer historians feel it is a direct descendent).

Most of us regard Sierra Nevada as the first American Pale Ale, though - again - Bert Grant was making a Pale Ale with Cascade hops before SNPA, and Anchor Liberty Ale was made five years earlier than the first appearance of SNPA. But it is SNPA that was the big success, and is the one that is copied.

Perhaps an easier and more realistic task would not be to look for the "originators" but for the "templates" - those beers which pinned down and identified a style, and which became so successful that other brewers copied them.

You’re certainly right about Oatmeal Stout and ESB, the ones that inspired the masses not being the first ones at all. As a side note, that can also be said of Anchor Steam. Not the first, but was the one that inspired the masses.

We’ve discussed before about Scottish Ale - Grant’s Scottish Ale has nothing to do with Scottish Ale today. It was a hoppy amber, named because Bert Grant was from Dundee, nothing more. "Scottish Ale" is some American interpretation of what Jackson wrote about beers in Scotland in the 70s. Plus what they tasted in McEwans, MacAndrews (Caledonian, by way of its US importer), and Belhaven Scottish Ale (export name for 80/-). I was there and drank the beer so kindly cease interjecting with this random, speculative nonsense when the facts have been presented on multiple occasions.

SNPA - 1980, so before Grant’d by a couple of years. By today’s understanding, Liberty Ale was the first. There’s a strong case for it being basically the progenitor of APA and IPA. I might have the date wrong a bit, but that was around 1976 when they made the first one with all American ingredients, cascade being the hops. SNPA matters, but Liberty ALe was absolutely the first beer of that