Big A IPA - 2003 Edition

6/23/03 - Big A IPA. The Killer Keilbasa has unleashed another fine IPA on us this summer. Nice job, Stash. This beer marks the first full cycle of Big Beers that I've overseen during my tenure here at Smuttynose. Luckily we were able to sample the whole lineup at The Barley Pub, in Dover, NH, thanks to Mr. Scott Mason and staff. I hope ya'll managed to head over there. For the most part I thought the beers have stood up fairly well. I definitely have some changes in mind, but nothing too drastic. As always we welcome your comments, critiques, encouragments, rants, raves, and inebriated babblings.

For this years Big A, Stash ventured away from the European hopping regime of last year and went with a definite West Coast style Imperial IPA. The decission was based on finding a hop combination to use for our upcoming 12-ounce release IPA, due out next spring! The first batch used Cascade, Centennial, and Amarillo, in that order, for bittering, flavor, and aroma. Another difference from last year is we decided to add the flavoring additions is equal amounts every 5 minutes over the last 30 minutes of the boil. And, let's face it friends, it warms a brewer's heart to see that many hops disappear into the kettle. We kept the rest of the beer the same as last year in terms of malt bill, starting gravity, mash temperature, et al. After fermentation we transferred the beer onto about 10 lbs of Amarillo for a dry hop addition. Definitely not enough, but that's as much as we could stuff into our hop bag. The beer has a nice orangy color with a slight haze. The aroma is citrusy with a hint of grapefruit. The flavor is all hops, resinous and dry with just a touch of malt sweetness holding it all together.

Malt:
2 Row Pale Malt
60° L Caramel

OG 18°P
TG 3.5°P

Hops:
IBU - 80
Cascade Bittering
Centennial Flavoring
Amarillo Aroma & dry-hop