Widmer Brewmasters 07 Pale Ale

[fa1321tx]

I tryed this beer Friday night at our HB club meeting some one brought some from Colorado man it was really good! It would be great to try and clone but I cant get it in Houston so it would be hard to compare. Here is the info any suggestions would be helpful to clone this great beer.

http://www.widmer.com/beer_w_series.aspx

 

[fa1321tx]

This is what I came up with. I couldnt find any Alchemy hops so I used simcoe

Grains
11lbs Domestic Special 2 row Pale
.75lbs Cara Vienne
.50lbs British Dark Crystal (80L)
.25lbs Cara Pils
Hop Schedule
.50oz Simcoe @ 60 min
.50oz Simcoe @ 10 min
.50oz Summit @ 1 min
Dry hop
.50 Summit
.50 Chinook

Wyeast 1272
OG 1.055
FG ??? to be continued

 

[Bokonon]

I remember reading before that Alchemy was a house blend of a few different varieties. I really like the 07 pale, very tasty. Good in the bottle, much better on draft.

Widmer's page says:
BITTERNESS
34 IBU
ALCOHOL BY VOLUME
5.4%
ORIGINAL GRAVITY
13.25° PLATO
MALTS
Pale, CaraVienne 20-L, Caramel 80-L, Carapils
BITTERING: Alchemy
AROMA: Alchemy, Summit
DRY HOPPED: Summit, Chinook

So if what I've heard is true about Alchemy being a blend of different hops, it wouldn't include Summit or Chinook. So I'd guess probably something like Cascade, Centennial, and something else. I'm sure if you can hit the IBUs with some pacific northwest hops it'll be pretty close.

Edit: I looked at some other widmer beers that say they include Alchemy. The 06 Hoppy Red Ale had Alchemy, Simcoe, Cascade. Okto has Alchemy, Mt Hood, and Tettnanger. Snowplow has Alchemy and Willamette. Broken Halo has Alchemy, Cascade, Zeus. Drop top has Alchemy and Simcoe. Hefe has Alchemy, Willamette, and Cascade. So I'd suspect Alchemy is just some reasonably high AA% bittering hop that isn't included in the previous list, maybe centennial, columbus, magnum, galena, and/or warrior. Just a guess.

Another edit: I was googling a bit and found a page on another forum where someone claims "I use a blend of Magnum/Warrior/Horizon in alot of my beers as the bittering component. It's the blend that Widmer uses (they call it their Alchemy blend). " So that seems to jive with what I would think.

 

[fa1321tx]

Another edit: I was googling a bit and found a page on another forum where someone claims "I use a blend of Magnum/Warrior/Horizon in alot of my beers as the bittering component. It's the blend that Widmer uses (they call it their Alchemy blend). " So that seems to jive with what I would think.

I didnt know it was a blend of hops so I used simcoe because I recall it having a strong citris like taste. But I only had this once.

 

[Bokonon]

I didnt know it was a blend of hops so I used simcoe because I recall it having a strong citris like taste. But I only had this once.

I'm sure just about anything citrusy will work well with it. The biggest flavor/aroma I can detect is the summit hops. Maybe someone more experienced can pickup some other hop types in there. I was thinking about trying to clone this, but I've already got a few recipes already lined up for my next few brews.

 

[fa1321tx]

I was thinking about trying to clone this, but I've already got a few recipes already lined up for my next few brews.

I am suprised at the lack of interest for this I guess not many people have tryed it?
I would also like to try and clone the Broken Halo I like it better than SNPA. SNPA has been on top of my list for years but the Broken Halo has moved above it in my opinion.

 

[Bokonon]

I am suprised at the lack of interest for this I guess not many people have tryed it?
I would also like to try and clone the Broken Halo I like it better than SNPA. SNPA has been on top of my list for years but the Broken Halo has moved above it in my opinion.

Maybe theres not much interest because of the somewhat limited distribution. I don't remember seeing any Widmer back when I lived in Michigan but you can get SNPA just about anywhere. Most of Widmer's brews are good enough to drink, but the only one I think would be worthwhile to try to clone would be their 07 summit pale. As far as I'm concerned there are better examples of all of their brews out there, but I haven't seen many summit pales.

Have you tried brewing the clone yet? I've got some summit hops I picked up to use in an IPA but I just might have to try to clone this one. I don't think my LHBS has caravienne but I suppose I could use vienna or maybe when I'm in portland this weekend I can hit up one of the shops around and see if I can find some caravienne

 

[Bokonon]

I think I'm going to try to brew this next week sometime. I'll post the recipe of what I'm going to try. I'll pickup whatever ingredients I can't get at my LHBS in portland when I am there sun-mon.

 

[Bokonon]

Still haven't done anything more putting together this recipe, but I was just out at Widmer a few days ago and it looks like its officially out of circulation. I checked at the local grocery store that used to carry six packs of it and they didn't have anymore. If I can find someplace that has it still I'll have to pickup 2 sixers so I've got some to compare it to whenever I get around to trying to clone this one.

 

[fa1321tx]

My clone should be ready this weekend but I have at least 4 gallons of mean pale ale made with Chinooks holding my keg hostage. Its going to take a special group of people to finish it. Bottoms up!

 

[david_42]

Just want to say that Alchemy is a blend that varies from year to year. Rob was talking about their problems this summer at a OBC meeting. Because of the hop shortage, they kept having to re-do the mix as they ran out of various hops. The purpose of making a mix is to have a unique base flavor common to most of their beers. He did not, however, tell us what was in the mix.