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New Zealand hop pale ale
I have this posted on my web site, but here it is. Widmer W07 was my absolute most favorite American pale ale, not hoppy, VERY fruity. Loved it! I talked to an employee there who said it was so popular they are going to put it back into production.
At any rate, I found some NZ hops that all had fruity profiles, and I created my own recipe. Then I took my batch and split it into 3 fermenters and put a different yeast into each batch.
10 gallons all grain
17 pounds domestic 2 row
- 1 pound vienna
- 1 pound crystal 10L
- ½ pound crystal 60L
- 1 oz Cluster, 8.2% alpha acids, 60 minutes
- 1 oz each NZ Riwaka, NZ Pacific Hallertauer, NZ Super Alpha, 15 minutes
Those hops give orange, lemongrass, grapefruit, piney, and floral aromas. After cooling the wort I could already smell how fruity it was.
I used Wyeast 1098, 1318, and 1332.
Still bubbling away in the fermenters, but I figured I would go ahead and share this. I said a long time ago that a pale ale does not have to be hoppy, and here is proof. I have actually had a few other American pale ales that were not hoppy. I am not a hop head.
Thanks for sharing.
I love multiple yeast experiments.
Did you split a 5 gallon batch by three or did you make a bigger batch?
You use Wyeast quite a bit, any reason why vs. white labs?
I use a lot of white labs...but I don't really have a reason why. I think its just because I am more familiar with their numbers.
I only brew 10 gallon batches, nothing less, then I either split 5 x 2 or about 3 x 3, depending on how much wort I have after the boil.
I like both yeast brands, but when I first starting using liquid, the store I went to only carried Wyeast, so I have stuck to that. Where I go now has both Wyeast and White Labs, and I use a little bit of WL, but not as much. Nothing against them. In fact, my abbey bourbon uses WL exclusively.
Doug, one of the store owners, only carried Wyeast because they are local to us and he paid less shipping, but he talked very highly of WL. In my experiments, both are excellent products.
I love the Widmer 07 as well as the Crimson Wheat 08 too. Great beers! At the Mountain Brewer's Festival I was talking about the 07 with one of their reps and he said the 07 was all Summit hops. Years ago I made an all Summit hop pale ale that was all late additions. Not very bitter definitely on the malty side but with a fruity slightly citrus punch to it. Is your grain bill similar to the 07? It's been awhile since I've had that beer and I would love to see it become a regular.
Not a fan of the W08 myself. I'm not so sure that W07 is all summit hops. At the brewery they actually have a book listing their exotic recipes, just not in heavy detail. It said that W07 was a combination of alchemy (which is a hop blend), warrior, and summit hops.
No my grain bill is different. I have theirs, but didn't use it. I was after the fruity hop aromas more than anything.
I was at the Widmer Gasthaus just a few weeks ago and it turns out their dock salesman was at the bar. I picked his brain quite heavily, bought him several beers, and found out some interesting things.
W07 was a very popular beer. It was brought back for a short time as Russell St Ale, but they added Nelson hops, which gave a slightly different flavor. As of December 2008, he said it will go back into full production, starting with kegs at bars, and around February 2009, they are going to bottle it year around. The new name is Drifter Pale Ale.
This is why I stand up for Widmer so much. They are the only brewery I know of in all of Portland who always tries new beers. So for those who love to try something new and come to the area, that is one of the best breweries for experiments.
cubx wrote:
This is why I stand up for Widmer so much. They are the only brewery I know of in all of Portland who always tries new beers. So for those who love to try something new and come to the area, that is one of the best breweries for experiments.
I agree. I love widmer. Its great to have somebody whos not only willing to try new stuff but to put it in bottles and send it out. However I am extremely sorry to see their milk stout go 
. The Brrr was ok but its no Snow Plow. Next time your around the brewery tell em some Montanans still need it to keep our driveways clear.
I did find a recipe for it on beertown so maybe I'll make my own for next year.
Starting to see alot of these NZ hops around keep us posted on how your brew turns out.
Rph Brewer wrote:
However I am extremely sorry to see their milk stout go
I did find a recipe for it on beertown so maybe I'll make my own for next year.
I'm not so sure Snow Plow is gone forever. I did ask a few of the employees about it. Brrr is a red ale. I have had it there before. Snow Plow might be coming back next year. I only found out a few days ago they first started brewing that almost 10 years ago, and it has been regularly bottled for at least 5 years. My suspicion is they will bring it back, the Brr is just another one of their many experiments.
Actually, all of their recipes are on the web site, they just don't give quantities. They tell what grain and hops are used in everything.
Also, be careful using any recipes found online for their beers. Most are wrong. I tried and tried to find a hefeweizen recipe, and I did find theirs online, but every one of them says to use Wyeast 1007 or 1010, and there is even a White Labs hefe yeast that says it is from a Oregon brewery. I will tell you straight up that NONE of those strains are right. I am 100% positive. Widmer uses proprietary strains.
I wanted to mention to Andrew and Rph about those Widmer beers we talked about last month. I was just at the Widmer Gasthaus last night and talked to several employees about those beers.
W07 is back, however, it is called Drifter Pale Ale, on tap now and in bottles soon. This will be year round. It is not the same as W07, but similar. It's still good and fruity, but it is definitely not the original recipe. I was told they used Summit (as before) and Nugget (new this time) hops.
As for Snow Plow, I was talking to the bottling guy and he said that it was never a great seller, and right now they are only bottling it in 22 oz, nothing else. According to him, he said it is unlikely to return in sixers and half racks, but nothing is set in stone. The Brrr is their new winter seasonal, at least for now. It is nothing more than W06, a red ale, although I think it was slightly modified.
However, Widmer is bringing back a LOT of past beers. Blonde was gone for a few years and it's back, Widberry (the blonde with raspberries) is gone, Hopjack came out a few years ago and bombed, but it came back last year... so just because they say a beer probably won't be back, a number of them have returned at a later date.
In less than 1 month, I have already seen 4 new beers on tap there. I have never known any brewery in my life to experiment as much as they do. This is why I love Widmer!
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