Test tested 10 brews

[pumpkinman2012]

My wife and I were invited to dinner at good friends of ours, my buddy is another brewer, we have a good time sampling each others brews.

I only had one type of beer to bring, my Kentucky Bourbon barrel Ale so I decided to stop at a local beer store, this place has tons of beer from all over the world, and more importantly, tons of micro brewery beer!

I picked up a few each of the following:

Sierra Nevada Hoptimum
Harpoon IPA -
Harpoon UFO Pumpkin
Founders Centennial IPA
Weyerbacher Double Simcoe
Lagunitas IPA
Rouge St Rouge Red
Avery Karma
Left Hand 400lb Monkey
My Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Ale

I'll bore you good folks with my personal review.


Hoptimum is often described as waaay over the top hoppy due to the 100 IBU, that wasn't the case, it was enjoyable, and has made it to my "on deck" list.
Harpoon IPA is a favorite, I have 5 gallons dry hopped and clearing as we speak.
UFO Pumpkin was definitely Pumpkin...and spice, they hit the mark on that, but it is not my taste at all.
Centennial IPA was incredible, I love centennial hops, this is on my "on deck" list!
Double Simcoe was a little disappointing, not bad, but you would think with a name like double Simcoe, it would at least be dry hopped and have the aroma jumping out at you like the Centennial did.
Lagunitas is good, but it doesn't stay with you, the flavors do not last.
Rouge St Rouge Red - this was a decent beer.
Karma - it really had noting unique to it, nothing that would make me want a second beer.
400lb Monkey - not my type of beer
Kentucky Bourbon Barrel - This is only getting better with age! Everyone that tried it loved it! I've actually have the barrel prepped and ready to be filled!

 

[Pugnax88]

By your bourbon barrel ale, do you mean a clone you made? I rather enjoyed that beer, so al curious to see the recipe.

 

[Hawkeye11]

After having Harpoon IPA on a recent trip to Boston, I have wanted to brew a batch. Can you post the recipe you used?

 

[pumpkinman2012]

Sorry for being a bit absent here, been real busy!

I had the Kentucky Bourbon barrel Ale in Kentucky and loved it, one of the guys I spoke with was one of the original brewers, he gave me the following recipe that I jotted it down on a bar napkin after consuming a few...lol:
Maris Otter & Pale Ale malt in equal quantities
Crystal 40
Crystal 80
Pale Wheat
Golding and fuggles hops
Wyeast 1084- Irish Ale

In order to match the 7-8% abv, I used the following for a 5 gallon batch:
5 Lbs Maris Otter
5 lbs Pale Ale malt
1 lb Crystal 40
1 lb Crystal 80
1 lb Pale Wheat
1 oz Kent Golding at 60 mins
1/2 Oz kent Goldings and Fuggles at 10 mins
Wyeast 1084- Irish Ale
Est Gravity - 1.079
IBU 22
ABV 7.5
The first time I brewed this, I used staves and chips soaked in makers mark, plus I added makers mark to the secondary, it was good, but not great.

Soon afterwards I purchased a used oak whisky barrel, due to the fact that the whiskey was fairly strong in this barrel, I brewed a much more malty beer that could stand up to the whisky, this was a wise choice, I was busy with so many other things in life that I actually forgot about it in the barrel for 2 months...ouch...

I chose to carbonate with honey instead of priming sugar to cut some of the over powering whiskey, bottled it and didn't open one for a few weeks.
I have to say that this is one of my favorite beers, nice aroma, good body and mouth feel, nice smooth flavors, the oak barrel aging gave it different layers of complexity, everyone loves it.
I'm putting another batch through it today, this time I'm going to monitor it better!

The Harpoon IPA is great, just flat out great brew!
The recipe for a 6 gal brew is:


9 lbs Maris Otter (Crisp) (4.0 SRM) 65.2 %
1 lbs 8.0 oz Munich Malt (9.0 SRM) 10.9 %
1 lbs 8.0 oz Victory Malt (25.0 SRM) 10.9 %
1 lbs Carapils (Briess) (1.5 SRM) 7.2 %
8.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt -120L (120.0 SRM) 3.6 %
4.8 oz Roasted Barley (300.0 SRM) 2.2 %
0.75 oz Centennial [8.70 %] - Boil 60.0 min 16.9 IBUs
1.00 oz Liberty [3.90 %] - Boil 20.0 min 6.1 IBUs
1.20 Items Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 15.0 mins)
1.00 oz Cascade [6.80 %] - Boil 10.0 min 6.4 IBUs
1.0 pkg American Ale II (Wyeast Labs #1272) [124.21 ml]
1.50 oz Centennial [8.70 %] - Dry Hop 7.0 Days

Est Original Gravity: 1.061 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.017
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 5.7 %
Bitterness: 29.5 IBUs
Single Infusion, Full Body, Batch Sparge
Est Color: 16.8 SRM

I recommend using a starter, the aroma from the dry hop is amazing!