Six months ago I'd have agreed with you, but since then I've been doing a lot of reading on the history of IPA and pale ale in general. What is true is that there is no concrete evidence one way or another, but most points to the fact that the hops were added as it was felt they would help the beer keep longer - this was just before the time that brewers were becoming more scientific, and just becoming aware of what the hops were doing in the beer. It may not have been
necessary to add as much as they did, but it is most likely that is the reason they were added.
In regards to other beers lasting the distance, I'm aware that beer could (and can) last a long time - the difference being though that hop flavour and character (including bitterness) degrades with time, and at the time pale ale was very new - most other beers were brewed using dark malts and hence most of the flavour was derived from the malt itself, and not the hops, so degradation in hop flavour was not as much of an issue. This is why IPAs consumed 'fresh' at point of brewing were somewhat different to the beers that arrived in India.
Anyway, the next question:
We all know that MG was primarily a producer of sports cars, however there have always been many four seater (or more) MGs. Which was more numerous (in terms of models, not numbers produced), two seaters or four seaters? (Note that for this definition, 2+2s such as the MGBGT count as two seaters).
I'm going to be out and about today, so if someone gets the right answer feel free to carry on