Big A IPA - 2004 Edition

8/30/04 - Big A IPA - Well I guess Stash got tired of Sy and Paul laughin' away at him on their lawn chairs (rumor has it he's the one that kicked in the trailer door) and so the Polish purveyor of prodigious potables decided to up the ante by revamping his Big A IPA. 6.6 percent alcohol? Please, try 9. 70 IBU's? Stash figures 100 will do just nicely, thanks. The malt bill has pretty much stayed the same, but the hopping has been totally updated for the challenge of it all. The bittering's done with Magnum and a tad of Cascade for the harsher notes it imparts. Once again the flavoring additions were added every 5 minutes for the last 30 minutes of the boil. These were done using Horizon with Ahtanum added at the very end of the boil. Columbus were used in the bright tank for dry hop aroma.

It's the end of the summer and this beer still has a long way to go to reach maturity. The beer is still a tad hot and I'd sit bottles down for at least 6 months. The flavor is quite nice with the Belgian malts showing their beautiful characters. I think the flavor additions in the hopping could use to be bumped up and I'm sure Stash will look into that next year. All in all I think this is another fine effort by the Smutty crew. Enjoy.

Malt:
Pale (2-row) malt
Belgian pale ale malt
Aromatic malt

ABV - 9%

Hops:
IBU - 100
Bittering - Magnum and Cascade
Flavoring - Horizon
Aroma - Ahtanum
Dry Hopping - Columbus