Firefly IPA
Appearance - Slightly hazy, orange-yellow with a thick, foamy white head.
Aroma - Fresh grapefruit and ripe melon. 100% hops. The Amarillo, Cascade, Citra and Motueka hops really work well together. The Motueka hops bring some non-citrusy fruitiness that adds another dimension to the aroma.
Flavor - Firm bitterness that lingers just long enough. "Grapefruit juice" definitely comes to mind. Nice dry, clean finish. Just enough malt to prevent the hops to becoming overly harsh. There's a slight hint of sulfur in there too, which I imagine is derived from the hops - it is just barely noticeable and does not detract from the flavor.
Mouthfeel - high carbonation, dry and slightly prickly on the tongue - perfect for a hot day.
Overall - I am very, very pleased with this beer, especially given it was my first-ever IPA attempt. I drank this almost daily there for a while. For my tastes this IPA had an excellent balance between being nice and hoppy withouth being overly bitter. I suppose it would fall on the "lower" side of the IPA scale, which is exactly what I was looking for.
5 comments:
Congrats! I just tapped a Brett Trois IPA that I used Motueka in.
The head in your pic looks great. I bet it smells amazing.
Evan - Thanks! I first used Motueka in a Brett Trois beer as well - that's what gave me the idea to use it in this beer. I must say that I am particularly pleased with the way the head sets up in this beer - nice and foamy. And, yes, it does smell amazing! Cheers.
That beer looks perfect. In reference to the comment above, I am planning on brewing a brett trois IPA next week and was wondering how long in advance to make a starter. Thoughts?
Thanks, HB. As for using the Brett Trois strain...when I used it I only ran my starter for a few days, like I do for most of my beers. I thought it worked just fine...however, other folks seem to advocate for a longer time (7-10 days). This strain (or all Brett?) apparently goes through an initial growth phase and then a lag phase and then a 2nd growth phase. There is a really good thread going on this strain over at HBT - http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f127/wlp644-brett-b-trois-326861/
Thanks for the link Jim! I created a starter on Wednesday and pitched the yeast this evening. I'm sure I could have waited another week, if I wanted everything to be perfect, but I took the chance. I suspect it will be fine.
I went with a pretty basic recipe, mainly two row and wheat, with more or less a 50/50 centennial and citra split. Looking forward to it!
Cheers!
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