Vital Statistics:
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Recipe: 9 lb Maris Otter 13 AAU (28g @ 13% AA) Nugget @ 60 13 AAU (28g @ 13% AA) Nugget @ 20 13 AAU (28g @ 13% AA) Nugget @ 10 13 AAU (28g @ 13% AA) Nugget @ 5 13 AAU (28g @ 13% AA) Nugget @ 0 (flame-out) 13 AAU (28g @ 13% AA) Nugget @ 0 (dry-hopped in secondary) Whirlfloc tablet @ 15 min Wyeast 1332 - Northwest Ale | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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General Notes: First time I've dry-hopped anything. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Tasting Notes: Tasting notes taken 25 September 2010. Dispensed from chilled keg into a glass mug. Appearance: murky yellow-orange hue with tons of haze. Head is two fingers of frothy white foam, which has left a damn decent lacing over the course of drinking this glass. Overall, not too bad in appearance; I wonder if it is possible to get clearer with so many hops? (4) Smell: funky, citrusy hop aroma. The malt doesn't make an appearance at all here. The composition of aroma is OK, but not perfect; plus, the intensity is somewhat low. Either a little more complexity or a little more intensity would help the aroma a lot. (3.5) Taste: malty backbone with a lot of biscuity flavor. Hops are citrusy and a little funky but not super intense; bitterness, however, is pretty solidly huge, especially at the end. I'm not convinced of Nugget's quality as a flavoring hop, but its bittering prowess cannot be denied. Overall, this beer could use a slightly different malt composition (sweeter, maybe?) and, well, something other than just Nugget. (3.5) Mouthfeel: I'm glad to say that I have my kegging/chilling/carbonation entirely down at this point. This is the first beer I've reviewed which has been properly chilled and carbonated in my keezer and the results are telling. Beer has a medium body and the carbonation is well-integrated and plentiful. One of the creamiest IPAs I've had the pleasure of quaffing. (4) Drinkability: this one is pretty rough around the edges, but I like its plucky attitude. Proper carbonation and temperature control also really helps the drinkability of this guy. I'm down to have another anytime. (4) Overall score of 3.7 (B). As I said above, I'm not convinced of Nugget's flavoring abilities. I might try dry-hopping with Nugget in combination with something like Cascade; it might be able to add depth and complexity even though it doesn't do a great job standing alone. This was still a pretty interesting experiment in getting the most out of a given hop flavor. The next single-IPA brew I do, I think I might go back to domestic 2-row and maybe some specialty grains like Victory or even some kind of Crystal. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hops Table
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