Golden Bonfire Ale - What did I make?

[Monmouth00]

Our town has an annual bonfire to burn all the collected Christmas trees. I'm part of the committee that helps to organize it.

A buddy asked me to brew a beer for the volunteers to sip during cleanup after the event, and since I had just bought some ingredients, I agreed.

I had initially bought ingredients for a SMaSH with Golden Promise and El Dorado. I'm not much of a hoppy beer guy, but for the sake of my friends who don't dig my saisons, hefeweizens, and amber ales, I had wanted to do something light and flavorful.

All went well with the brew, I did a late addition with the El Dorado, and a 180deg whirlpool with another. The beer fermented at about 64deg.

But, in the time that it was fermenting, I decided I was going to try to dry hop for the first time ever. I didn't have any El Dorado left, so I dry hopped with one ounce each of Mosaic and Citra. I let is sit for 72 hours.

I kegged it last night, and damn, it smells great. I was going to call it the Gold Golden SMaSH - brewed with Golden Promise and El Dorado (The Golden in espanol) - but it's no longer a SMaSH because of the other hops I used. Instead, it's to be called the Golden Bonfire.

So how would you characterize this beer? A golden ale? Is it an IPA?

It's got the hops for an IPA, but at only 6.4% ABV, does it fit the profile?

Anyway, it smells good. I think people are going to like it.

Cheers!

 

[rburrelli]

Call it whatever you like. If you don’t like IPA call it a pale ale. Nobody will probably care either way.