Hops for Randy Mosher's Belgian American IPA

I'm a little confused about the recipe for Belgian-American IPA in Randy Mosher's "Radical Brewing." The recipe calls for 2.0 oz of Liberty for 60 minutes, 2.0 oz of Saaz for 30 minutes, and 1.0 oz of Saaz for 5 minutes.

However, in his description of the recipe he says "This takes advantage of the grapefruity character of some of the West Coast high-alpha hops, and expands on the theme. . .I would go with a mix of Saaz and one of the grapefruity U.S. hops such as Chinook or Ahtanum."

Am I right that Liberty is like Hallertauer? I wouldn't consider that a "grapefruity" hop. And while I like Hallertauer and Saaz together, that's not very "IPA-ish" is it?

I was thinking of 2 oz. of Amarillo for 60 minutes, 1-2 oz of Cascade for 30 minutes, and 1 oz. of either Saaz or Cascade for 5 minutes.

Thoughts?

Your correct. Liberty has a nice floral-spiciness, but it's no "C" hop.

If you are looking for an American hop character, I would recommend using a neutral flavored, high AA% hop for your bittering addition (say magnum) and then use the Amarillo and Cascade for aroma and flavor. Amarillo is too good and costly to use for bittering only. Saaz is great hop, but its character tends to get lost when used with more potent varieties.

Something like this would be a good starting point:

1oz Magnum at 60min, 1-2 oz Cascade at 20, and 2 oz Amarillo at 5min or flameout.

Thanks for response.

OK, so just 1 oz of a higher AA % hop for bittering, and save the Amarillo for aroma. That makes sense.

I have a weakness for Saaz, and tend to gravitate towards it even when it isn't the best choice!

Just to let you know there are many mistakes in Radical Brewing. Here is a link to
Randy's corrections : http://www.radicalbrewing.com/rberrat.html