CS 9 - Blue Duck IPA

[Adam Barnes]

Inspiration for this beer came from an 8 Wired Tall Poppy clone, modified to make it an American IPA rather than an Indian Red Ale.

 

Brewed about 6 weeks ago. After fermentation it's been conditioning for a few weeks in the keg, then carbonated and finally bottled on Friday night. Right now it's at its prime.

 

20l, 1.070 - 1.014, 6.6% ABV, 60min mash at 64.5

78.5% Gladfield Ale
6% Pale Crystal
6% Munich I
4.7% CaraRed
3% Pale Wheat
0.3% Pale Chocolate
1.5% Dextrose (Boil)

30g Columbus at 60min (46ibu)
25g Amarillo at 15min (11ibu)
25g Columbus at 15min (18ibu)
25g Simcoe at 15min (17ibu)
20g Amarillo at 0min
20g Columbus at 0min
20g Simcoe at 0min
10g Amarillo - dry hop 4 days
55g Columbus - dry hop 4 days
55g Simcoe - dry hop 4 days

 

3g Gypsum, 4g Calcium Chloride, 2g Epsom Salt (these are the boil additions as I forgot to add my mash additions). Used the EZWaterCalculator based on Te Marua water supply.

 

Enjoy!

[Tom C]

Appearance Slightly hazy golden/amber, Light sustained white head

 

Aroma Classic! Big American hop hit, Really 'clean', little malt presence

 

Flavour Defined hoppiness, Light caramel malt coming through, Perfectly balanced bitterness, rounded flavour

 

Mouthfeel Well-carbonated, Smooth & good bodied

 

Overall Superb beer.  All about the hops, just what you want from an American IPA.  Crisply defined aromas & flavours, not at all cloying.  Shame there was only one in the case!

Can you fill us in on the yeast/fermentation?

Appearance Slightly hazy golden/amber, Light sustained white head

 

Aroma Classic! Big American hop hit, Really 'clean', little malt presence

 

Flavour Defined hoppiness, Light caramel malt coming through, Perfectly balanced bitterness, rounded flavour

 

Mouthfeel Well-carbonated, Smooth & good bodied

 

Overall Superb beer.  All about the hops, just what you want from an American IPA.  Crisply defined aromas & flavours, not at all cloying.  Shame there was only one in the case!

Can you fill us in on the yeast/fermentation?

[mattd2]

Hot damn, just loaded up the fridge for this weekends case swap beers - IPAs. Got this, Matt's Happy Monday IPA and another Pliny clone from a local homebrewer to try. Now I'm hanging out for the weekend again!

[Stu H]

Appearance: Cloudy amber, smallish white head.

Aroma: Mostly fresh and piney, some fruityness

Flavour: More fruit, some sweet malt, great bitterness

Mouthfeel: Medium bodied, lasting bitterness, could maybe do with a tiny touch more carbonation?

Overall: Shit this is a good IPA. I'm going to brew this very soon! Thanks very much!

[mattd2]

First IPA for the weekend yesterday, really enjoyed it.

Appearance: Slight haze, Amber. Decent head.

Aroma: Pine/grassy notes, slight citrus

Flavour: Mellow piney bitterness, slight malt finish with lingering bitterness.

Mouthfeel: full body/low carb.

Overall: Nice hop bomb, quite different to the normal tropical fruit US IPAs. Very nice! My 8 month pregnant wife commented that it “smells like a much better version of when I’m brewing!”

Cheers!

[Dan]

Appearance slight haze, nice lacing on the glass from a small head, great amber colour

 

Aroma massive hop bomb on the nose! 

 

Flavour persistent bitterness that was well balanced with the malt I thought

 

Mouthfeel I found the carb level to be spot on - made for a nice full body.

 

Overall Fantastic beer mate. I love the hop combo. Good use of dex to dry the finish off nicely. Perfect 10 from me.

[Luke Davey]

Appearance: Slightly cloudy, faint reddish amber colour, coarse small head, not a lot of carbonation, minimal sediment.

Nose: Hoppy and fruity, brilliant!

Taste: Distinct fruity (citrus) and hoppy flavour, and a ballanced maltyness with a nice lingering bitterness.

Mouth Feel: Smooth and ballanced, carbonation could be increased a tad perhaps.

Overall: I liked this a lot - I might have a crack at replicating this one. The hop aroma and flavour was brilliant. Brilliant drop.

[Tilt]

What a little cracker!  The work deadline and other nasty distractions are out of the way and I've been hankering for this one since the first review went up. 

Straight out of the bottle this one reaches up with its little resiny hand up and stuffs a bunch of tangerine and pinelime splice up my nostrils - in a good way of course. A dusting of wispy head stretched across its amber gold surface it looks refined and restrained.  Onto the taste, its drier than I expected with more of that spicy citrus and a sweet maltiness.  With a touch of malt the mid palate, it finishes crisply and leaves just the aroma and bitterness behind and a slight alcohol volatility to keep it wafting about for a second or two.  The only thing I'd change would be to drop a bit of the dex and alcohol - but thats just me being a lush for a fuller, richer malt character in my IPAs. I'm just sad there's only one bottle of this in my case - nice one Adam.

[Max Giles]

I'm quite new to all this beer tasting and i had seen that other people had marked this one as being quite Resin-y. I didn't really know what that meant until i tasted it but the aroma on it, wow. Amazing stuff.
It formed a nice little clean white head when i poured it and had a hazyness to it. The flavour had a great piney bitterness to it too, backed up by some fruit notes. The length on the pallet to was great. The flavour kept coming.
Thanks for this delicious brew. I really enjoyed it.

[Adam Barnes]

Thanks for the comments guys. The only sad thing is that the keg is empty!

Sorry, I completely forgot about posting the yeast! Wyeast 1056 American Ale.

[Matt Smith]

Great beer man. Nice and clean, piney, grapefruity, dank. Reminded me a bit of Green Flash West Coast IPA. I like the malt body and the crystal character too, and I don't think it interferes too much with the hop character. It's interesting, there are so many podcasts, books and seminars from prominant hoppy beer brewers at the moment, emphasizing the importance of keeping melanoidins and crystal malts etc out of hoppy ipas, but I'm starting to feel that I enjoy IPAs with a reasonable dose of crystal malt a little more, green flash being a good example.

[paul m]

I noticed it was clear when not chilled but then got a slight haze after putting it in the fridge. Is that the protein in the gladfields?  I did enjoy this! clean resiny hoppy aroma. citrus flavour and dry finish. nice one, good job!

[DP]

Appearance
Pours slightly hazy even with prolonged settling (a swirl of yeast remains in the final 200ml of the bottle). Sparse white head.

Aroma
A massive waft of citrus and pine. Fresh and clean.

Palate
Good carbonation. Immediate impression of bitterness which lingers on the back of the throat.

Flavour
Big fruity flavours from the late hop additions with a good backbone of crystal malt. Very bitter but also sweet and it's almost balanced.

Overall
Superb beer mate. Ding dong, well done. I'd perhaps reduce your 60min hop additions to 25g next time but, still, fantastic beer.