Magic Hat #9

Anyone else love this beer?

What makes this beer taste like it does? Magic Hat lists it as being "brewed clandestinely" and doesnt talk about what gives it its unique taste.

Listed is: Pale malt, Crystal Malt, with Tettnang and Warrior hops, and English Ale yeast.

Anyone have any input on this brew?

Apricot extract / puree.

Nothing other than that I'm a big fan as well. I can't even put my finger on what gives it the flavor that I like. Sounds like I need to do a lot more taste testing to figure it out I've only had a sixer of it thus far, so hopefully after sampling a few more I can pick out something useful. Lovely beer though....

the_bird said:

Apricot extract / puree.

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Okay, show your work! LOL

How do you come by that?

It's not a state secret by any means. Hell, BeerAdvocate classified #9 as a fruit beer. There are a LOT of clone recipes for #9 out there, apricot's in all of them.

vtfan99 said:

Lovely beer though....

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Indeed it is!

the_bird said:

It's not a state secret by any means. Hell, BeerAdvocate classified #9 as a fruit beer. There are a LOT of clone recipes for #9 out there, apricot's in all of them.

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I didnt even thing of checking BA. Hmmm apricots eh? Thanks everyone!

IIRC from my east coast days, it used to say on the label that it had apricots. I just made a clone recipe...

Magic Hat #9 Clone
1/13/07

1/2 # Crystal 60L
6# Extra Light DME
1# Wheat DME


2oz Tettnanger 4.8% aa (60 min)
0.5 oz Amarillo 9.8% aa (15 min)

Wyeast American Ale 1056 smack pack (73-77% Attenuation)

-Milled Grain and steeped in 5 gallons water, brought to 160*F and held 30 min.
-Remove grains, bring wort to boil, add DME and 2oz Tettnanger
-Boil 45 minutes
-Add 1 tsp irish moss and 0.5oz Amarillo, boil 15 min
-Transfer to bucket through strainer, transfer to carboy through funnel filter
-let cool to 82*F, pitched yeast

SG: 1.060
ABV: 8%

1/14/07 Put fermenter at 75*F, nice 1.5” krausen next morning, rapid bubbling, slowed to ~1bps in afternoon

1/17/17 At 1 bubble per 40 seconds

1/21/07 Racked to secondary and added ~2oz apricot extract
SG 1.014 @ 74*F (1.016 temperature corrected) (73% attenuation!!)
1/28/07 SG 1.014 @ 70*F (1.015 temp corrected)
2/3/07 FG 1.014 @ 72*F (1.015 temp corrected), bottled in 12oz bottles w/ ¾ cup corn sugar, 49 total, 6% ABV

If you like #9 try Ithaca Apricot Wheat, same nice apricot flavor but toned down just a bit so it's not as sweet and a little crisper

Look on the back of the label on the bottle, it says apricot right on it.

shbrewer said:

Look on the back of the label on the bottle, it says apricot right on it.

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Damned if it dont! Thanks man!

i never got a chance to try it though, i've heard nothing but great reviews of it. I'll keep this recipe in mind- hopefully it's close to the real thing...

I ventured to my local store and asked about a #9 clone and the owner rolled his eyes as he handed me a Pale Ale kit and a bottle of Apricot beer flavorings. I like their beers, but my SWMBO loves them!!! I am more of a Hippa fan when it comes to Magic Hat.

BREWCRE8TIV said:

the owner rolled his eyes as he handed me a Pale Ale kit and a bottle of Apricot beer flavorings.

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sounds like you need to find a new HBS

I am probably going to make that clone again, but use real apricots next time, I found the extract to have a really bitter/chemical taste to it before I bottled and even only adding 2oz was too much. The guy at my HBS says the extracts take a long time to mellow in bottles, but I am impatient.

ColoradoXJ13 said:

I am probably going to make that clone again, but use real apricots next time, I found the extract to have a really bitter/chemical taste to it before I bottled and even only adding 2oz was too much. The guy at my HBS says the extracts take a long time to mellow in bottles, but I am impatient.

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Cool, thanks for your take on fruit extracts. I keg everything, and would rather have something that takes a little less time to mellow, and found a couple sites that sell fresh purees. Another recipe to make.

ColoradoXJ13 said:

sounds like you need to find a new HBS

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The store is the only one for about a 90 mile radius...maybe I caught him on a bad day, or he was hoping I was going to challenge him better. I plan on going AG soon and he will be the one I look to for guidance, most likely because he does have a good rep in the area as far as homebrewing goes.

Tony said:

Cool, thanks for your take on fruit extracts. I keg everything, and would rather have something that takes a little less time to mellow, and found a couple sites that sell fresh purees. Another recipe to make.

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Use real fruit puree in cans--it tastes better/more consistent than real fruit, less infection chance, and it doesn't taste like medicine like extract does.