Big A IPA - 2005 Edition

5/31/05 - Big A IPA - After being forced to smell the glove at last years' GABF by judges who declared the Big A just not big enough, Stash decided to see if he would like a true West Coast style Double IPA and went about reformulating. The first thing to change was the malt bill by losing the Belgian malts, which was felt to be too close to the Barleywine in character. The malt additions were just a mixture of Pilsner malt and British Pale Ale malts. The biggest change was jacking the hops up to 120 IBU's as well as increasing the flavoring additions, which was felt to be lacking in last years' version. We kept the Horizon hops for the flavoring addition but added Warrior to the bittering and Sterling in the aroma. We dry hopped with Columbus and Sterling at a rate close to 1 lb. per barrel, booyah!

The nose is full of orange and other citrus, but not quite as pungent as I'd hoped, Stash will have to work on that. The body is nicely balanced with a hint of malt and a bunch of alcohol, perhaps a tad of honey? The beer lingers nicely with beautiful hop dryness.

Well done, Stash.

Malt:
Pale ale malt
Pilsner malt

OG - 21° p;
TG - 2.9° p
ABV - 9.2%

Hops:
IBU 120
Bittering - Warrior, Cascade
Flavoring - Horizon
Aroma - Sterling
Dry hops - Columbus, Sterling