Electric Amarillo Pale Ale

A few months ago Midwest Supplies was cool enough to contact me and ask if I would review one of their beer recipe kits. After looking through their wide selection of available styles- available in both all grain and extract with yeast type and grain crushing options - I decided the Amarillo Pale Ale all grain kit with Wyeast Northwest Ale 1332 would be perfect for the spring weather.  A few days later the kit was on my doorstep with all the ingredients necessary to brew a great batch of beer and a detailed recipe. Included in the kit was the following:

10 lb crushed 2-Row  8 oz. Carapils, 8 oz. Caramel 40L specialty grains, 1/2 oz. Columbus, 2 oz. Amarillo hops, priming sugar, muslin bag and yeast

That night I made a 1 liter starter with the Northwest Ale yeast and looked over the hop bill for the recipe which had the following directions:

Add 1/2 oz Columbus bittering hops (half the bag) and boil for 60 minutes for optimal hop utilization. After boiling for 40 minutes add 1 oz Amarillo flavor hops. Boil for 20 minutes then add 1 oz Amarillo aroma hops and remove the kettle from the heat.

While I thought this was a great base for the hop bill I decided I wanted to add a few more hop additions to the boil and purchase some more Amarillo hops for dry-hopping as well.  Unfortunately my local homebrewing store was out of Amarillo, so I decided to dry hop using 1 oz each of Centennial, Citra, and Mosaic hops. Also, since I keg my beers I decided to throw the 5 oz of priming sugar (dextrose) to the boil to add a little bit of gravity and dry the beer out a little bit more. 

Here is my final recipe for those interested:

OG 1.050
FG 1.012
IBU - 26
ABV 5%

Rule changes to cost New York breweries millions

brewyork:

A ruling last month in a lawsuit that an out-of-state beer importer brought against the New York State Liquor Authority has ended a major tax and fee exemption for small brewers in the state, which will cost them millions of dollars in previously-waived costs.

The lawsuit was filed by Massachusetts-based Shelton Brothers in the wake of the SLA’s rejection of a handful of Ridgeway beer labels in 2006 on the grounds that they would appeal to underage drinkers. The importer claimed First Amendment rights were violated by the Authority’s censorship of the labels, but then went one step further to also challenge the Constitutionality of the Authority’s label registration fees and excise taxes, which were levied for all out-of-state brewers and waived for small in-state brewers.

To resolve the lawsuit, the State Liquor Authority issued new rules [PDF] two weeks ago that lifted the 12-year old excise tax exemption, which applied to the first 200,000 barrels of beer brewed by in-state brewers. Since all but two in-state brewers brew less than that amount, nearly every drop of beer brewed by a New York craft brewery was previously not taxed by the state. It now will be, effective immediately, and retroactive to March 28th. In addition, the authority has re-imposed the $150 label registration fee that was previously waived on in-state batches of beer smaller than 1,500 barrels. Many of New York’s smallest brewers will be subject to this fee for the first time.

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Beer Review: Brew Kettle White Rajah

According to The Brew Kettle in Strongsville, Ohio, the White Rajah is a west coast style IPA full of citrus and tropical hop flavor with an assertive but smooth bitter finish. I’m very excited to review this one since it’s very highly rated on Beer Advocate, I love the style, and it’s very difficult to find outside of Ohio. The bottle says it has 6.8% ABV and 70 IBU. Let’s go ahead and crack it open.

Appearance- pours a clear bright copper/orange hue with a finger of white head that clings to the glass with every sip.

Smell- the first waft of this is very inviting and gets my taste buds salivating. Sweet tropical fruit notes like mango, passionfruit, and pineapple dominate, while a tinge of citrus hangs in the background. Based on the smell alone this beer definitely belongs in the world class IPA conversation.

Taste- has a solid malt backbone for the style, but that is obviously not what this beer is about. This is a hop forward beer with a soft bitterness from start to finish.  Tropical and citrus flavors are widespread and intermingle nicely. Just as the bottle states the beer has an “assertive but smooth bitter finish”.

Mouthfeel- dry and medium bodied as expected for a west coast style IPA, good carbonation/plenty of bubbles, with a bit of oiliness from the hops.

Drinkability- very easy to drink. I wish I had more than one. This is very very good IPA and deserves it’s high ranking. Well done Ohio. I definitely will be looking forward to any more Brew Kettle beers that come my way.

Overall- A. This IPA is definitely in the world class IPA conversation. It’s easy to drink, smells fantastic, and has a soft yet assertive bitterness. Drink it!