Vital Statistics:
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Recipe: 9 lb 2-row pale malt 12 oz Victory malt 8 oz Cara-Pils 42.25 AAU (91g @ 13% AA) Nugget @ 60 13 AAU (28g @ 13% AA) Nugget @ 20 5 AAU (28g @ 5% AA) East Kent Goldings @ 20 6 AAU (34g @ 5% AA) East Kent Goldings @ 10 6 AAU (34g @ 5% AA) East Kent Goldings @ 5 13 AAU (28g @ 13% AA) Nugget @ 0 (flame-out) Whirlfloc tablet @ 15 Wyeast 1272 - American Ale II | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Tasting Notes: Tasting notes taken 28 January 2011. Poured from keg into a mug using my new chrome tap. Appearance: murky yellow-orange with two fingers of creamy, tenacious foam. The combination of cara-pils and the new tap system make for a very attractive, inviting head. Just about as good as an IPA of this nature is going to get. (4) Smell: nice citrusy, piney and even slightly spicy hops. Not a whole lot of maltiness in this one -- perhaps it is just blown out by the extremity of the hop content. Still, for what it is, I can't ask for a whole lot more. One thing to note, though, is that the EKGs are basically lost in this beer; it is extremely reminiscent of my Nugget-only IPA. (4) Taste: green, citrusy flavor with a finish of extreme, cumulative bitterness. There is enough sweetness to help counter the bitterness, but like Nugget IPA before it, the hop flavors are not well-rounded. Since the EKGs are mostly lost, it is just more verification that Nugget cannot carry a beer by itself. Still, it's not too bad overall. Surprisingly, there is not a lot of vegetal aftertaste that I get sometimes. (3.5) Mouthfeel: medium body with a very good creaminess. Quite comparable to Nugget IPA, although I think probably it's a little bit richer. I am going to have to experiment more with cara-pils and related malts to see if I can get this kind of consistency again in the future. (4) Drinkability: this beer is basically Nugget IPA Round 2, and the comments made there are still true here: rough around the edges, but with a plucky attitude. Bitterness is a little bit higher, which neither hurts nor really helps drinkability. I can quaff plenty of this over a night, though, especially at its totally-sessionable 5.1% ABV. (4) Overall rating 3.8 (B+). Right in the neighborhood of the rest of my IPAs. Again like Nugget, I sampled this one pretty early in its lifespan -- only 12 days in the keg. This is both so the hops don't have too much of a chance to deteriorate, and because I don't think this one's going to last very long. I think in the future I'm going to have to start experimenting with more thought-out blends of hops. I think I'm really getting a standard malt bill for IPA put together, though. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hops Table
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