CS1 - Zane's APA 5.5%

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Paul Finney on April 2, 2013 at 10:11pm

Hello,

I tasted this on Monday with Paul, but i didn't make any notes at the time so thought i best write something now while it is still sort of fresh in my memory, sorry Zane.

It poured a nice Golden colour with a nice head which dissapated rather too quickly. Having read this thread i would love to try this straight from the Keg as the aroma i was getting was very nice hoppy, orangy flavour which with more head would be even more enjoyable to sit and sniff!

The first taste was a smooth taste due to the lower carbing (is that a word?!) and the hop character came through nicely balanced out with the malt.

Certainly a very nice beer which i would happily drink a few off. I wouldn't compare it directly to the Epic, mainly because the hop character wasn't quite right, but you have already touched on this before with the question around the quality of the hop. Still, a very good beer and well made.

cheers, Finney

Permalink Reply by Dougal on April 4, 2013 at 8:29pm

Really enjoyed this.

Poured very clear gold. White head quickly subsides to a thin clinging layer. Aroma is orange, peach. not as much floral aroma as I expected from the Cascade but I'm getting to this late.

Great progression of hop flavour throughout. I taste more stone fruit than I usually associate with Cascade, but I haven't used US Cascade for a couple of years.

 Almost tart refreshing mouthfeel. I don't get so much malt backbone as in the Epic. Carbonation could be higher to really make the hops spark and, but I do personally quite like lower carbonated pale ales. All in all a really sessionable, enjoyable beer.

I've made the Epic Pale Ale clone before. For me there are a couple of things that make that recipe. The Thomas Fawcett Pale Crystal is amazing, and completely different from the Bairds. Much more richness and character. It's become one of my favourite malts. The 1272 yeast also really adds something. Subtle fruitiness that doesn't get in the way of the hops. That said, most of us default to US-05 because it's easier and more stable between generations.

As for hitting carbonation, I'm finding that to get it spot on in the bottle you need to set it for half a volume above what you want it at from the tap to account for losses at bottling. This is a real pain in the arse as most of us just want to decant a rigger occasionally. Unless I'm bottling for competition or bottling the entire keg I usually leave it alone.

Cheers Zane for a good pale ale. You're obviously really mastering effective use of hops.

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