Keali's Hop Miser IPA

[Beer-lord]

I've been very lucky to get Ron's version of the collaboration between he and bucknut. With a name like Hop Miser, I had to grab it and give it a go.

It poured with only a small amount of head and some chill haze. The carb is right on and proper!

It's a gorgeous burnt orange color and has a nice hop aroma. Normally I don't look at the recipe until after I drink it but I did look before drinking this and was expecting a bit more grapefruit. The marriage of Simcoe and Amarillo is perfect here. There is a slight bitterness that I believe to be the Warrior (which I'm not familiar with) but it backs off just in time for the flavor hops to shine thru. I believe the FWH technique really benefits this beer.
Everyone has heard me say that I always let the beer warm a bit to see how it shines and the hops really come thru. It was hard not to drink this all down but I did manage to wait about 12-15 minutes and the aroma from the dry hops picked up or at least that's what I think. I like it more a bit warm but almost every homebrew I've had I've felt the same way.Not sure what the ABV is but I'm guessing just north of 6%.
Ron, you did a great job on this. You and bucknut did a great job of recipe preparation. This one should be a regular rotation in your brewing regime.

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[Inkleg]

Small world I had mine last night. Had to pour pretty aggressively to get the head I did and it faded quickly.
The aroma was a nice sweet/citrus/tangerine hop bomb in glass. Medium body with good mouth feel and carbonation and beautiful golden orange hue in the glass.

It's the taste that threw me. From the aroma I was expecting more hop forward bitterness, didn't get that. The bitterness is there, but doesn't seem to be more front than middle or less back than front. It is the same smooth bitterness front to back with a nice malt presence. I went and found the recipe after and found it was FWH with a hop stand. It's good to put a taste on the technic. Great job on this one guys and thank you Ron.

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[Kealia]

Hi guys,

Glad that you both liked it. That's pretty high praise coming from a couple of hop heads.

Paul, when I brew another IPA this will likely be it. Oddly enough, this is one of the haziest batches that I've ever brewed. It's cleared a bit, but not nearly as clear as my other batches. I can live with it, it's just odd to me

Jeff, that's the way I see this brew, too - consistent from start to finish without anything too much upfront or the backend. It's almost like a session IPA to me.

Steve was great to work with and I'm happy with how my first IPA came out so I will likely stick with this recipe for a while. It was really interesting to see how much flavor and smooth bitterness could be achieved with just a hopstand.

I wasn't sure how you guys would like this one given the super-IBU beers you've been drinking. I'm sure it wasn't as strong as what you're used to so I'm glad you didn't post something like "hey, I think you sent me water!"

[mashani]

This was your first IPA? Wow. Whodathunk.

I am liking how hopstands work myself. I like IPAs with a malt backbone (I grew up on English IPAs, not American ones) and the Hopstands have been giving me all that American IPA flavor/aroma, and balanced bitterness without the American IPA bite, so I'm digging them.

[Kealia]

Yeah, I just started drinking IPAs about a year ago so I haven't spent much time working on recipes as a result. Like others on here, I don't like bitter-just-to-be-bitter IPAs so I search for the balanced offerings. Steve was great to collaborate with to achieve that in this beer and I'm really happy with how it turned out.

[Beer-lord]

Let me teach you in our ways Padawan.

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[mashani]

Yeah, I just started drinking IPAs about a year ago so I haven't spent much time working on recipes as a result. Like others on here, I don't like bitter-just-to-be-bitter IPAs so I search for the balanced offerings. Steve was great to collaborate with to achieve that in this beer and I'm really happy with how it turned out.

The IPAs I like the least are just bitter as all hell and have little to no hop flavor and little to no malt presence. Like say 21st Amendment Brewery stuff, I just hate their IPAs.

There are English IPAs that are bitter with little flavor from hops, but they have a lot of malt there to provide flavor of a different type. Those I like. I'm liking this New Belgium Ranger IPA I'm drinking quite much, it's fully of piney goodness and bitter enough without being bitter just for the sake of it.

[bucknut]

Hi guys,

Glad that you both liked it. That's pretty high praise coming from a couple of hop heads.

Paul, when I brew another IPA this will likely be it. Oddly enough, this is one of the haziest batches that I've ever brewed. It's cleared a bit, but not nearly as clear as my other batches. I can live with it, it's just odd to me

Jeff, that's the way I see this brew, too - consistent from start to finish without anything too much upfront or the backend. It's almost like a session IPA to me.

Steve was great to work with and I'm happy with how my first IPA came out so I will likely stick with this recipe for a while. It was really interesting to see how much flavor and smooth bitterness could be achieved with just a hopstand.

I wasn't sure how you guys would like this one given the super-IBU beers you've been drinking. I'm sure it wasn't as strong as what you're used to so I'm glad you didn't post something like "hey, I think you sent me water!"

Same here Ron, I was very happy with how it turned out. It had the good hop flavor I was looking for and a smooth bitterness that just seemed to linger. FWH and a hop stand with all my ipa's for now on I think, and then made a 60 or a 90min addition added when I want those hops to sing a little bit.

[BlackDuck]

My turn....did I just drink a bottle of water!!
Just kidding. This is a really nice IPA. The flavor and aroma is incredible. I really can't add much more than what has already been said. You guys did a great job on this. And I would have never guessed this was your first IPA Ron; I knew you liked pale ales so I assumed you were a big IPA fan too.
You made a comment that you were concerned that it was hazy....I wouldn't worry a bit about that. There are many IPA's that are hazy from the massive amounts of dry hops. Dry hopping can surely lead to a bit of haze, and it's completely normal.

Way to go you guys....great job brewing a fantastic IPA!!!