Beer Review- Steelhead Slammer

The Steelhead Slammer came about as the second time I've been "commissioned" to brew a beer. My friend Jesse has always been a strong supporter and brutally honest critic of my beers, really the best combination. In June he called me about wanting me to brew up a big IPA for a fishing trip he was taking at the end of September. Jesse's obsession is fly fishing, and he wanted there to be a fishing theme and most importantly a hoppy, hearty IPA to share with his friends on the trip. Jesse is a salesman of sorts, so I knew I had to deliver on a good beer since most likely Jesse would be talking up my beer before the trip. I've never brewed a big IPA before, but we talked about the kinds of beers he likes I set the parameters to be between two of his favorites, Bell's Two Hearted and Avery's Maharaja. Quite different beers, but in my opinion both beers are hoppy and citrusy, but bright. Feeling that I've never really gotten down brewing hoppy beers, I brewed three beers this summer in preparation, the Iowa Pale Ale I did with the Jefe was a good base of a clean but nice hoppy beer, and followed that up with the Bearded Fury, which was well recieved and I felt it was my strongest hoppy beer yet. I brewed an organic IPA, the Green Beard which unfortunately got an infection. With those beers, I was feeling like I could brew up the Steelhead to what I had imagined in my head. I wanted to have a nice caramely/malty base, but wanted to overload the final 15 minutes with Centennial and Cascade hops, and then dry hop with 2 oz of Cascade to give it a very citrusy presence. I didn't make a yeast starter, which might have affected the outcome, as the beer only got up to about 7% when I was aiming for for 9ish range. However, at 74 IBUs, it was officially the hoppiest beer brewed at the Bearded Brewery. So not technically an "Imperial", I think Big Ass IPA is probably more appropriate "category" of the beer. Regardless of the category Steelhead fits into, I'm extremely happy with this beer and more importantly Jesse loved it. He helped me bottle, and there probably isn't a better feeling than having him try a sample off the bottle bucket and being very pleasantly surprised. The feedback I've gotten from other friends has been really positive too, so I know I have a base recipe to build future big IPAs off of. Onto the review:
Steelhead Slammer pours a cloudy orange with a thin white head. Nice citrusy aromas of orange, lemon, and slight alcohol. Quite a bit of hoppy sweetness right away, citrusy but not puckering, more of an orangish-lemony citrus flavor. There's hints of tangerine in there as well, some faint fruitiness. Very little maltiness, some caramel notes, but this beer is more about the sweet hops. There is a nice bitterness in the finish, enough to give it a bite and balance. I'm happy about this since it's the most bitterness I've had in an IPA yet. I think the mouthfeel is very nice too, highly drinkable with a brightness to it, the hoppiness doesn't feel chewy to me, but more of a crisp, bright feel.

I was excited for the challenge of brewing a really hoppy beer. I was late to the scene of hoppy beers as a brewer. Hops were a taste I had to acquire over time, and it wasn't until the last couple years that I've enjoyed hoppy beers. Creating a recipe for a friend is always something I enjoy and I welcomed the challenge of brewing Jesse a big hoppy beer. Since it's technically his recipe, I'm not going to post it. But I will give the hops in it, because I found comparing hoppy recipes very helpful when formulating my own recipe.
I used: 1 oz Chinhook, .35 Summit @ 60, .65 oz Summit @ 15, 1 Oz Centennial @ 15, 1 oz Centennial @ 5, 2 oz Cascade @ Flamout, dry hopped 2 oz Whole Leaf Cascade.

More to come...
Salud!
Bearded Brewer