HopSLAMber Amber Ale

[FedoraDave]

This is a quickie 2.5 gallon extract beer I whipped up one weekend, and in the interest of making a short brew day even shorter, decided to try hop bursting. The recipe is as follows:

3 lb. Amber DME
1/4 lb. Crystal 40

Chinook - 1/2 oz. - 25 minutes
Hallertau - 2 oz. - 20 minutes

So.

Appearance-wise, it's a pale amber, with a head that doesn't last very long, and only a little bit of lacing. I figured the Crystal 40 would help with head formation/retention, but maybe not that small an amount.

The aroma is pretty forward, but not strong, and certainly not overwhelming. I imagine if there was more head and better retention, it might make more of an impact.

The bitterness does hit you on the first sip, but again, not strong or overwhelming. It takes the malt a little while to catch up, though. But when it does, that little bit of sweetness is pleasant. There's not a lot of malt body in this beer, though. It's not thin; just not real malty. The finish continues the mild bitterness, which is not a bad thing.

Overall, this isn't a great beer, by any stretch, but it's my first attempt at hop bursting, and I wanted a quick-n-dirty beer out of this brew day anyway. So it's not a great beer, but it's not a bad beer, either. I'd give it a 6 out of 10, anyway, which means I'll enjoy drinking it while it lasts, and maybe I'll make it again, maybe I won't. It's not something I'd tweak in order to get closer to some ideal I have in mind.

But it was worth it to try hop bursting, which is something I will most likely try again, with varying hops and varying malt bills, just to see what I can do with it and add another bullet to my brewing bandolier.