Tag: IPA

Samuel Adams Latitude 48

~ Ken Valley ~ 1 Comment
Samuel Adams Latitude 48
Samuel Adams Latitude 48

As part of the Summer Mix Pack, Samuel Adams debuted their new IPA, Latitude 48.  It is called Latitude 48 because the American, English, and German hops added are all found around the 48th parallel.

At first, Latitude 48 smells very floral and citrusy, and was a darker red color. At first, it is sweeter than expected, and has a strong hop character. With the taste, I couldn’t pin down which hops were used, but I tasted citrus, pine, and a bit of earthy hop flavors.  My impression was that it was sweet but not overly bitter. It was quite an enjoyable IPA.

Have you tried the Latitude 48?  What did you think?

Summer Beer Time!

~ Ken Valley ~ Leave a comment
Samuel Adams Summer Styles
Samuel Adams Summer Styles

Today, when I got home from work, it was time to dust off the lawnmower and make a pass at the lawn.  The grass wasn’t too long, but just patchy enough to need to take care of it.  Not that I was excited to mow the lawn, but you know what it means when it’s time to mow the lawn, right?  Summer beers are here!

Just to double check, I stopped by the store, and sure enough, there were all the summer styles, or “lawnmower beer” styles, on the shelves.  Just to show there were no hard feelings with Samuel Adams, I picked up the “Summer Styles” 12-pack.

The styles in the pack are:

  1. Boston Lager
  2. Sam Adams Light
  3. Summer Ale
  4. Pale Ale
  5. Blackberry Witbier
  6. Latitude 48 (Samuel Adams’ new IPA – review to come)

Every year, I enjoy the mix-packs, and this one is no exception.  With variety like that, how can you hate summer?  Cheers!

Homebrewing Update

~ Ken Valley ~ 1 Comment
Boiling Wort
Boiling Wort for the Caramel Apple Tart Beer

Some of you may have remembered me mentioning brewing a saison.  Since I wrote about it last, it has been completed and consumed.  To be honest, it was good, but might have been a bit phenolic, so next time, I will lower the fermentation temperature a bit.  It did hit as high as 85, but for this strain of yeast, that may have been a bit high.  But, it’s gone, so it couldn’t have been that bad, eh?

About a week before I made the saison, I brewed an IPA.  I have been brewing for about  two years, but this was my first IPA.  Personally, I think there is a right way and a wrong way to use hops in IPA’s.  In my opinion, the wrong way is using the hops early during the boiling of the wort, making the finished beer very bitter.  I don’t think this is right at all.  Instead, the correct way, in my opinion, is to concentrate the hop additions later in the boiling process, giving the resulting beer much more flavor and aroma, with balanced bitterness.  The IPA recipe I created used Cascade and Simcoe hops, for a nice, citrusy hop flavor and floral aroma.  I also dry-hopped with Simcoe to enhance the aroma.  It ended up as a very delicious beer.

Last week, I heard about a pastry place in southeast Iowa that creates a dessert called a  “Caramel Apple Tart”.  I thought to myself that it sounded like it could be a delicious beer.

So, Friday, when I got home from my trip to Boston, I ventured into unknown territory: a “sour mash”.  It was a small batch, about 1.5 gallons of wort, and I added a handful of dry grains to sour it.  I let it sit in a warm place until today (Sunday).  Today, I tasted it, and it was pretty good, because it was just slightly sour from the lactic acid produced during the procedure.  I mixed about a gallon of the sour liquid, the “tart” in my experimental beer, with the beer I brewed today, which was similar to an Irish Red, to give it the “caramel”.  As soon as the fermentation is over, I’m planning on adding a couple of pureed Granny Smith apples, to accomplish the “apple”.  Viola!

What do you think?  How does a “Caramel Apple Tart” beer sound to you?

Pale Ales vs India Pale Ales

~ Ken Valley ~ 17 Comments

When I first started to learn about beer and beer styles, two styles always confused me: the Pale Ale, sometimes called American Pale Ale (abbreviated APA), and an India Pale Ale (IPA).

I shied away from these two types because I had been bitter-bitten before: beer bitterness appears to be an acquired taste, and if you step into an IPA before you’re ready, you may not try one again for a while.

First, let’s begin with a little history.  Both pale ales and IPA’s started out in Europe, mainly in England.  For pale ales, many English breweries from Burton on Trent became famous, most notably the Bass Brewery.  These breweries became famous because the city’s water supply had many dissolved salts from the surrounding mountains, and allowed a higher proportion of hops to be added.  Since hops are a natural preservative, this allowed the beer to stay fresh longer and it could be shipped further.  This, combined with a type of malted barley called “pale malt” gave the beer its name and character.

Around the 18th century, a man by the name of George Hodgson, owner of Bow Brewery (also in the Burton on Trent area) created the world’s first India Pale Ale.  The story is that the soldiers fighting in India wanted to quench their thirst with beer, but most beer couldn’t make the journey from England to India without spoiling.  To preserve the beer, the brewery increased the amount of hops and alcohol.  Because of this, there were very few spoilage organisms that could grow in such a harsh environment.  The East India Trading Company delivered the beer to India, and the troops were “hoppy”.

Until the rise of porter in England, these beers were very popular.

Fast forward a few centuries to the growth of the U.S. craft beer revolution.  In 1980, Ken Grossman founded the Sierra Nevada Brewing Company in Chico, California. One of his first recipes was an American Pale Ale using hops grown in the Pacific Northwest, known to have a strong citrus character.  To this day, this recipe has made Sierra Nevada world renowned, and the Sierra Nevada Pale Ale continues to be one of the most popular APA’s available.

In terms of IPA’s, imagine an APA only stronger and more hoppy.  Most IPA’s have more body, alcohol, and hop flavor and aroma than an APA.  When creating IPA’s, most brewers tend to use high-strength hops for a lot of bitterness and strong hop flavor.  One great example of an IPA is Sierra Nevada’s Torpedo IPA, but, currently, there are many IPA’s available.

Also, not to be outdone, several U.S. brewers continue to push the envelope and many have created Double IPA’s, with much more hops, body, and alcohol.

So which type is right for you?  If you are just starting, you may want to ease into a nice Pale Ale.  If you’ve tried a pale ale, and want even more hops, go ahead and try an IPA.  Before you know it, you may end up being a person who enjoys highly-hopped beer, or a “hop head”.