American Pale Ale: A Discussion

[Schemy]

One thing I don't see all that often on here are discussions regarding certain styles. Thought I'd give this a go.

American Pale Ale

I'm always one to go straight to the Pale Ale at any brewery. If they can impress me here, then I'm generally going to like the place. I don't know if it is my favorite style, but probably the style I drink the most of.

What I look for in an APA. Light/Med Body, Malt Character, Crisp Finish, Yellow-Orangish hue, Mild clean bitterness, Citrus/Floral Hop Finish.

Some I dig: Melvin Brewing - Hubert, 3 Floyds - Zombie Dust, Ballast Point - Grunion, Firestone Walker - Pale 31.

Thoughts?

 

[kh54s10]

I like my Pale Ales a little on the light body side. I vary the malt character a lot from one batch to another. The finish is what I end up with. I don't really care about the color. The last one I did was darker than a Brown Ale I did at the same time. The brown was too light. I also vary the hops sometimes Citrus, sometimes Piney. etc.

I will also do English pales and a lot of times just wing it!! and have no idea what regional style it would match.

My favorite Pale ale was Long Trail Pale Ale. Unfortunately they no longer brew it.

 

[GilaMinumBeer]

I was crazy about the low point Pale ale from Michelobe when they offered it.

Now, Goose Island has a low point Pale Ale that I thoroughly enjoy.

Sessionable, flavorfull, inexpensive.

 

[Sailingeric]

I read somewhere that the Pale Ale was a catch all category for beers that don't fit, which is ok with me as I like trying different beers. I generally think that a pale ale is an IPA light so pale ale is good way to get some hop without being an IBU bomb that some IPAs are.

 

[CGVT]

I like Pale Ales. They sometimes seem to be hard to find in the sea of IPAs these days.

What I look for in an APA. Light/Med Body, Malt Character, Crisp Finish, Yellow-Orangish hue, Mild clean bitterness, Citrus/Floral Hop Finish.

Exactly.

It may not be trendy, but I consider Sierra Nevada Pale Ale as the gold standard of American Pale Ales. I also like Sweetwater 420.

 

[catdaddy66]

I always want a pale ale in my pipeline. When I have none it seems like I dream about them and they call my name lol!

I have a recipe that I have developed and am always making small adjustments to in order to find the perfect pour of pale ale.

Sweetwater 420 and SN Pale ale are go to products imo also.

 

[worlddivides]

APA is one of my favorite beer styles. I might even like it better than IPA, although I do tend to go back and forth. I generally tend to think of IPAs as more "hop bitterness" and APAs as more "hop aroma and flavor." I brew a lot of APAs, and I usually get IBUs for them that wouldn't even remotely qualify as the lower end of IPAs.

My brother had an APA a couple weeks ago and he told me "Tasted just like an IPA" but his wife said "That doesn't taste ANYTHING like an IPA." I didn't personally taste it, but I described some of the common differences between the two styles and it seemed to click for him.

I personally do like to use citrus and tropical fruit hops for my APAs. Citra, Mosaic, Galaxy, Centennial, Cascade, etc.

 

[Homercidal]

I love a good APA. They are hard to find, because these days the Lupulin Shift has everyone thinking that an IPA has to be over the top, and anything less is not worthy.

That said, I appreciate all the points described above, except I don't worry at all about color. Good hop flavor, light body, medium bitterness at most. Drinkable.

If I didn't have an IPA that I HAVE to brew, I'd probably brew one of these as the last hurrah for summer. Not that I can't or won't brew one in the winter, but it would have been nice as a commemorative beer for summertime. We're just now leaving the 80's as a regular daytime high temp. Time to get back out and brew some stuff.

 

[Schemy]

I always want a pale ale in my pipeline. When I have none it seems like I dream about them and they call my name lol!

I have a recipe that I have developed and am always making small adjustments to in order to find the perfect pour of pale ale.

Sweetwater 420 and SN Pale ale are go to products imo also.

I'm the same way. Very rarely is there not one in the pipeline. When I do get to a point where I don't have one on tap, I get a little antsy.

I haven't gotten to one consistent house recipe for my APA. I keep trying a lot of different things. Problem is they all come out really good, so I can't narrow down a recipe for one.

 

[Schemy]

I love a good APA. They are hard to find, because these days the Lupulin Shift has everyone thinking that an IPA has to be over the top, and anything less is not worthy.

That said, I appreciate all the points described above, except I don't worry at all about color. Good hop flavor, light body, medium bitterness at most. Drinkable.

If I didn't have an IPA that I HAVE to brew, I'd probably brew one of these as the last hurrah for summer. Not that I can't or won't brew one in the winter, but it would have been nice as a commemorative beer for summertime. We're just now leaving the 80's as a regular daytime high temp. Time to get back out and brew some stuff.

I have 2 IPAs, and an APA on right now. The APA is going fast, so I need to brew another this weekend to ensure I have one for the football season.

I probably shouldn't have really mentioned the color, just came to me. I love all colored APAs equally.

 

[firerat]

I always have a pale ale of some sort on tap.

Pretty much every second beer I brew is a Pale Ale or IPA.

I'm another to vote SN or Sweetwater 420 as my go to's.

 

[mattdee1]

I enjoy a good IPA, but they often seem to be focused on a philosophy of "MORE MORE MORE", which really limits the occasions where I feel like they fit in for me.

I really like the APA because -- the ones I gravitate to, at least -- are kind of a "jack of all trades" beer: refreshing to drink in all seasons, flavorful, reasonably complex, and of moderate ABV.

Another cool thing about the general style is it's pretty hard to screw up, in my experience. Just throw 1-2oz of your favorite dry hops into a mostly-base-malt beer and you're almost guaranteed a result that is good to very good.

Here in Ontario my current favorite commercial examples are Canuck Pale Ale by Great Lakes Brewing, Naughty Neighbour by Nickelbrook, and Rhyme & Reason Extra Pale Ale by Collective Arts. I live in a border city so I import a lot of Bell's Two Hearted as well, which I realize is marketed as an IPA, but it ticks all of the boxes for what I like about APA. Bah, semantics.

 

[Redlantern]

I have recently re-calibrated and am gravitating toward the APA's again. A big IPA fan, but when I started thinking about the laws of diminishing return on enjoy-ability of the brew relative to the cost of the brew, it seems that if I want an IPA, I will now be going to the LBS and getting a four or six pack. Otherwise, I will brew more pales as it is easy to make a truly flavorful beer for a lot less.

 

[jonny24]

APA's are my favourite Basically the goldilocks of beers. Not too hoppy, not too malty, not too boozy. Just tasty, tasty craft beer. I too have the problem of not being able to narrow down one to brew, because they all turn out delicious.

Here in Ontario my current favorite commercial examples are Canuck Pale Ale by Great Lakes Brewing, Naughty Neighbour by Nickelbrook, and Rhyme & Reason Extra Pale Ale by Collective Arts. I live in a border city so I import a lot of Bell's Two Hearted as well, which I realize is marketed as an IPA, but it ticks all of the boxes for what I like about APA. Bah, semantics.

LOVE Rhyme and Reason. Brewed a clone of it that turned out great and disappeared way too fast. Old Tomorrow Canadian Pale ale and Amsterdam Cruiser are regulars too.

 

[mattdee1]

LOVE Rhyme and Reason. Brewed a clone of it that turned out great and disappeared way too fast. Old Tomorrow Canadian Pale ale and Amsterdam Cruiser are regulars too.

Yeah, R&R is pretty special. Did your clone actually taste like it? Care to share the recipe?

 

[Coathanger]

I enjoy a good IPA, but they often seem to be focused on a philosophy of "MORE MORE MORE", which really limits the occasions where I feel like they fit in for me.

I really like the APA because -- the ones I gravitate to, at least -- are kind of a "jack of all trades" beer: refreshing to drink in all seasons, flavorful, reasonably complex, and of moderate ABV.

Another cool thing about the general style is it's pretty hard to screw up, in my experience. Just throw 1-2oz of your favorite dry hops into a mostly-base-malt beer and you're almost guaranteed a result that is good to very good.

Here in Ontario my current favorite commercial examples are Canuck Pale Ale by Great Lakes Brewing, Naughty Neighbour by Nickelbrook, and Rhyme & Reason Extra Pale Ale by Collective Arts. I live in a border city so I import a lot of Bell's Two Hearted as well, which I realize is marketed as an IPA, but it ticks all of the boxes for what I like about APA. Bah, semantics.

I have (what I hope will be...) a naughty neighbour clone in secondary right now. Bottling it in 7 days. To me, that beer is the standard for an APA. I may enjoy it a little too much...

 

[mhermetz]

APA is one of my favorite beer styles. I might even like it better than IPA, although I do tend to go back and forth. I generally tend to think of IPAs as more "hop bitterness" and APAs as more "hop aroma and flavor." I brew a lot of APAs, and I usually get IBUs for them that wouldn't even remotely qualify as the lower end of IPAs.

My brother had an APA a couple weeks ago and he told me "Tasted just like an IPA" but his wife said "That doesn't taste ANYTHING like an IPA." I didn't personally taste it, but I described some of the common differences between the two styles and it seemed to click for him.

I personally do like to use citrus and tropical fruit hops for my APAs. Citra, Mosaic, Galaxy, Centennial, Cascade, etc.

What are these differences. I made an APA that I swear is less than 1/2 an ounce away from being a stellar IPA.

I have good bitterness but I feel in terms of balance its weighted way more on the aroma side.

 

[Homercidal]

The difference between an APA and AIPA are pretty small sometimes. Sometimes it's just a matter of personal preference.

According to the BJCP the styles overlap in some areas. Each person probably knows what an APA is to them.

 

[Johow]

The difference between an APA and AIPA are pretty small sometimes. Sometimes it's just a matter of personal preference.

According to the BJCP the styles overlap in some areas. Each person probably knows what an APA is to them.

This is where my brewing falls. Mostly I like an ale of around 5% or so with a medium to light mouthfeel, more hop than malt but enough malt. Good bitterness though I'm not sure what ibu exactly, I guess I usually look for something around 50 or so. I like citrus but I also like piney. The beer that brought me to craft brews was Sierra Nevada pale and it's still the pale that I look to as a standard. Hard to say what my favorite IPA is but currently I'm missing last years BeerCamp tropical. So an APA that is closer to an IPA or an IPA that is closer to an APA.....

 

[jonny24]

Yeah, R&R is pretty special. Did your clone actually taste like it? Care to share the recipe?

It was pretty close. I never did do a side by side comparison, but when I drank it I thought "Yep, that's Rhyme and Reason". I'm a t work but I'll post it when I get home.

 

[bob1852]

In my opinion, it's not an APA unless it has Cascade hops in it.

 

[worlddivides]

What are these differences. I made an APA that I swear is less than 1/2 an ounce away from being a stellar IPA.

I have good bitterness but I feel in terms of balance its weighted way more on the aroma side.

Some APAs and IPAs overlap, but I feel that the core APAs are low to mid bitterness while the core IPAs are high to super high bitterness. Sure, you'll find some APAs with relatively high bitterness and some IPAs with "relatively" low bitterness.

As an example from my own brewing. The last APA I made was 4.5% ABV, 32 IBUs, and massively hopped with a single hop strain (which are usually citrus or tropical fruit hops. In my case, it was Mosaic) mostly late boil additions and dry hopping, and have a more overall balanced character. Doesn't come across as particularly bitter (although there is bitterness there) or as boozy. Very refreshing and crisp.

On the other hand, the last IPA I made was 9.9% ABV, a theoretical 250 IBUs, and massively hopped with 9 different types of hops (including mash hopping, tons of different boil additions for bittering, flavor, and aroma, and dry hopping).

Sure, IPAs don't have to be that extreme. And that technically would qualify as either a Double IPA or a Triple IPA, but generally IPAs are a lot more bitter than APAs, on average are higher in alcohol, and I've noticed that they also tend to use a lot of different kinds of hops (although they can be single hopped too, but that's more common with APAs -- not that APAs have to be single-hopped, but I see a lot of APAs with only one or two hop types in them. Usually Cascade or something similar to Cascade. Like I said, citrus or tropical fruit hops. IPAs oftentimes have herb or piny hops, but I've never tasted those in an APA).

So, as some mentioned, to some degree, it does differ from person to person, but that's how I see it (both from what I've noticed in commercial APAs and IPAs and in brewing, both my own and others).

 

[CGVT]

I was in a bar that had about 30 beers on tap and asked the bartender if they had a pale ale. She said, "No, we have Two Hearted Ale. That is pretty much a pale ale".

WTF?

Bell's Two Hearted is not a APA. It is at the top of the ABV range of a IPA at 7% (5.5 to 7.5) and right in the middle of the IBU range for an IPA at 55.

I think these hop bomb, high alcohol beers that are being called IPAs had changed the expectations of craft beer drinkers. Two Hearted is a very solid IPA.

I saw a post a while ago in Edwort's Bee Cave Pale Ale thread about the beer not being hoppy enough. I pointed out to the poster that it was a pale ale not an IPA. (BTW, that is damn fine Cascade Pale Ale recipe)

 

[jonny24]

Yeah, R&R is pretty special. Did your clone actually taste like it? Care to share the recipe?

Here's my recipe. I mostly went off the info on their website;

5.7% ABV 55 IBUs
Bittering Hops: German magnum
Flavour Hops: Citra and Centennial
Dry Hop: Citra, Centennial, Chinook, Simcoe
Malt: Pale Ale, Crystal, Carafoam, Toasted Wheat Flakes

But with slight subs for what was at the LHBS

Batch: 4.75 gal Mash Eff used: 63%
OG: Predicted 1.055 Actual: 1.055 Predicted ABV: 5.75
FG: Predicted 1.055 Actual: 1.008 ABV: 6.17%

8.8lb / 4kg 2 Row
1.1lb / .5kg CaraAmber 30L
1.1lb / .5kg Carafoam
.55lb / .25kg Wheat malt

1/2 oz Magnum 12.6 AA @ 60
3/4 oz Citra 11 AA @ 10
3/4 oz Centennial 11.5 AA @ 10

Dry hop 5 days:
1/4 oz Citra
1/4 oz Centennial
1/2 oz Chinnook 12.5 AA
1/2 oz Amarillo 8.8 AA

US-05 yeast
Water: from my well, no softener or treatments

Mashed at 154, it was at 152 after an hour.
Fermentd in the 60-65 range for the first 5 days, then let it go up to 70 for the rest. Bottled after 14 days.

Did not manage to write down any tasting notes, but that got me pretty close. I might try playing with the late hop additions next time.

 

[Schemy]

Looks like a good recipe.

 

[rtracer]

My opinion with today's beers, at least on the West Coast, and in my beers, is that they all really blend into the same type of beer, it mostly boils down to ABV. I just don't see much bitterness these days. ALthough, Hoppy Birthday from Alpine is their APA and is quite bitter

Session IPA's=4-5%
APA=5-6%
IPA=6-7%
DIAP=8-9%

Oh, and one of your guys said a place had a session DIPA....Now THAT is just stupid and makes absolutely no sense

 

[mattdee1]

Here's my recipe.

Thanks dude

 

[Malty_Dog]

Always want an APA in the pipeline here as well. It is definitely time to brew another. The most recent Zymurgy has an APA recipe but when I entered it in Beersmith it was like 70+ IBUs. Probably going to make it, but still, that's more than I'm typically looking for.

 

[CGVT]

I like this one quite a bit, too. It is a fine West Coast style APA. 40 IBU with Columbus, Cascade, and Chinook hops. If you are ever in a place that where this is available, give it a shot.