Mammoth Brewing Co "IPA 395"

Just got back from my camping trip and I picked up a few beers on the way. I just finished drinking the "IPA 395" by Mammoth Brewing Company. This company has been in business since the early 90's and brews beer in Mammoth Lakes, California. I tried their double nut Brown and the IPA 395. The brown was nothing special, but the IPA 395 is something I've never had before.

It is, apparently, a double IPA, but it literally tastes like a pine tree. It is brewed with local grown hops, sage, and juniper. The sage is extremely pronounced and it gives the beer a real "piney" flavor. This could be from the hops as well, since some hops have a pine hint to them.

An extremely unique beer, to say the least. Has anyone else ever tried this beer, or anything similar? I can't say I loved it, but it made for an interesting experience. It was $5.00 for a 22 oz beer, but the 8% alcohol level almost made it worthwhile.

http://www.ratebeer.com/Brewers/Beer/Beer-Reviews-84273.htm

I haven't had this beer, but I've had their "Floating Rock Hefeweizen." I think they only ship their Epic IPA to our valley, but I'll look next time I'm in town.

I've never had their beer but I bought 7 16bbl bright tanks from them. :rockin:

I did not know that those came from Mammoth Brewing Company. I'd think they'd throw in some beer eh?

Looking forward to trying this beer. I'll be going up there for the blues and beer festival August 1st and 2nd. Should be good fun.

gwood said:

Looking forward to trying this beer. I'll be going up there for the blues and beer festival August 1st and 2nd. Should be good fun.

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Our local brewery (Kern River Brewing Company) will be there, make sure you hit them up as well.

Warped04 said:

Our local brewery (Kern River Brewing Company) will be there, make sure you hit them up as well.

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Will do. I'm making a list next week of all the beers I'd like to try. I'll make sure to put one of the KRBC beers on the list.

I had this beer when I was in town for the Blues & Brews and I didn't like it.
They really need to advertise that it's not your typical IPA before you buy one.
Thankfully, they let me exchange it for another brew.

Tarp_Town said:

I had this beer when I was in town for the Blues & Brews and I didn't like it.
They really need to advertise that it's not your typical IPA before you buy one.
Thankfully, they let me exchange it for another brew.

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Which Beer didn't you like the Mammoth 395?

I had the 395 when I was up in the Sierras this summer. I enjoyed the 395 with its sage and juniper notes. To me it would make a wonderful Christmas beer. I would keep it for the season.

The Mammoth Epic IPA, however, was great. I bought a sixer a day. I couldn't get enough. I've never created my own recipe but if I knew what I was doing I would work on the Epic. I'm going up for the Blues and Brews festival next year. I missed it by 1 week this year.

I like this beer a lot. It is my favorite of the Mammoth beers.

I look forward to having 395 every time we go to Yosemite. One of my favorites. Their Epic IPA was very good as well.

I was just up in Yosemite and picked up a few of their brews. The 395 was very interesting with the sage and juniper in it...I enjoyed it though. I wouldn't be able to drink a ton of it, but it was great for sipping on after a couple long hikes! I also tried the Tuolumne Meadows IPA which I really like. It was especially fitting since I was camping in Tuolumne Meadows. It was well balanced and a pretty easy drinker for an IPA. I wish I could find it where I live.

If you can manage to lay down one of those Epics for a few months, it will pleasantly surprise you.

This is one of my favorites! I went to Mammoth two years ago and have been dreaming of this beer since. I live on the other side of the country from the brewery and can't order it here. I want to make a small batch (1 gallon) of something like it, but being from New England, I don't have desert sage lying around. Since I am a total newbie, I'm not sure how to determine the amount of each ingredient to use. Here's what is listed on the web site:

Style: Double IPA
Malts: ESB, Crystal, Caramunich and Dark Munich
Hops: Millenium and Centennial
Adjunts: Sage and Juniper Berries
ABV: 8.0%
IBUs: 50

Any thoughts on percentages or amounts for these ingredients? Any expertise is appreciated!

It's been a while since I've had this beer, so I can't offer too much advice on cloning it. I'd start with a typical IPA recipe which would be 80%-90% of your base malt (ESB in this case), maybe 10% munich, and 5% or so of your crystal and caramunich. As far as hops I might go for 30-35 IBU's from a 60 minute addition and 15-20 IBU's from a 20 minute addition. Then do a 0 minute addition and dryhop.

Like I said, this just gives you a place to start and won't necessarily be a clone. I have yet to use sage or juniper in a brew so I can't offer any advice there. I've heard juniper is pretty potent though and you don't need much.

So I brewed a variation of this today. I know it's after the fact, but here's what I did for a 1 gal batch:

395 IPA ( adapted by me)

Grain bill:
2.25lbs Gambrinus ESB malt
.3 lbs. Crystal 60
.3 lbs. Dark Munich
.15lbs. Caramunich

3quarts water for mash @ 160F for 60 min, mash out to 70F
Sparge with 1 gal @ 170 F

Hops
.6 oz Horizon 11.7% alpha, for bittering 70 ibus (@ 60,45,30,15,5) 0.1oz For all but 15 where 0.2 oz added
.2 oz Centennial End of boil hops
.2 oz Centennial Dry hop

Juniper berries
.125 oz. coarsely ground. Add 1/3 to boil at 10 min left, 2/3 @ flame out

Sage
.05 oz sage ( 2/3 @10, 1/3 flame out)

Yeast
1/2 packet Nottingham