The beloved India Pale Ale has diversified markedly since its 19th century roots in England, exploding onto the scene in the United States during the “Craft Beer Revolution.” Even during my own lifetime, I’ve seen incredible change, from the old school American IPAs, to the rise of West Coast IPAs, Hazy IPAs, white IPAs, session IPAs, and everything else in between. For better or worse, the market trends have definitely tilted fruity and hazy, and it’s often difficult to find anything that approximates the brews of the 1990s and early 2000’s. I have a certain sentimentality for them and like to brew one every once in awhile.

The IPAs of 25 years ago (in my memory, and in recipes) tended to have more going on with the malt, tended to be a bit darker in color, and focused on the pine/citrus/resin hops that dominated at the time. I did some looking through old Zymurgy issues, and found a recipe commemorating the 25th anniversary of the Maltose Falcons (now 50 years old!). This recipe from 2000 (available here) was later published in the September/October 2006 Zymurgy issue, titled Odyssey Ale. It is definitely a time capsule of its era!

To the original recipes, I modified the hop varieties slightly. I made some modifications for hops on-hand; so, I used Magnum instead of Perle, and Strisselspalt instead of Crystal. Both are varieties available in the late 1990s. The original recipe doesn’t have a dry hop charge, and I felt that was important to keep the beer interesting. So, I added 1.5 oz. of Strisselspalt and 1.5 oz. of Chinook into the dry hop. My only other major modification was to use Munich I instead of “Dark Munich” (Munich II), because that’s what I had on-hand.

Olde Tyme IPA

• 12.5 lb. 2-row brewers malt (Briess)
• 1 lb. crystal 40 malt (Great Western)
• 1 lb. Munich I malt (Weyermann)
• 0.5 lb. Carafoam (Weyermann)
• 0.5 tsp. BrewTanB (mash)
• 0.5 oz. Chinook hop pellets (12.3% alpha), 60 minute boil
• 0.5 oz. Magnum hop pellets (10.1% alpha), 60 minute boil
• 0.5 oz. Centennial hop pellets (8.1% alpha), 15 minute boil
• 0.5 oz. Strisslespalt hop pellets (1.8% alpha), 15 minute boil
• 0.5 tsp. BrewTanB, 10 minute boil
• 1 Whirlfloc tablet, 5 minute boil
• 1 oz. Cascade hop pellets (7.5% alpha), 10 minute whirlpool
• 0.5 oz. Centennial hop pellets (8.1% alpha), 10 minute whirlpool
• 2 pkg. American West Coast Ale dry yeast BRY-97 (Danstar)
• 1.5 oz. Chinook hop pellets (12.3% alpha), dry hop in keg
• 1.5 oz. Strisslespalt hop pellets (1.8% alpha), dry hop in keg

Target Parameters

• 1.068 s.g., 1.017 f.g., 6.7% abv, 50 IBU, 9 SRM
• Full volume infusion mash, held at 155° for 60 minutes and 168° for 10 minutes
• Neutralized Claremont tap water with Campden tablet, and mineral salts added to boil to achieve 103 ppm CA, 19 ppm Mg, 54 ppm Na, 248 ppm SO4, 60 ppm Cl, 10 ppm CaCO3, RA=-77, alkalinity=8 ppm.

Procedure

• I collected 7.75 gallons of tap water and added a Campden tablet along with 5.5 mL of 88% lactic acid, for the initial water adjustments. I heated this to 163°, and then added the grains, to hit a mash temperature of 155°. At the time of mash-in, I added 2.5 mL of 88% lactic acid, to adjust the pH.
• I held the mash temperature at 155° for 60 minutes, with recirculation. Then, I raised the mash to 168° for 10 minutes, before pulling the grains.
• In total, I collected 7 gallons of runnings with a gravity of 1.057, for 72% mash efficiency.
• As I brought the runnings to a boil, I added 9 g gypsum and 2 g epsom salt, to hit the water profile target.
• Once the kettle was boiling, I added hops and finings per the recipe, boiling for 60 minutes.
• After 60 minutes, I turned off the heat and chilled slightly before adding the whirlpool hops. I whirlpooled for 10 minutes, before chilling to 66° and transferring to the fermenter.
• Starting gravity was 1.066. I brewed the beer on January 1, 2024.
• I pitched the yeast, and set the fermentation chamber to 66°.
• I kegged the beer on 7 February 2024, adding dry hops to the keg. Final gravity was 1.013, which equates to 7.1% abv.

Tasting

• Appearance
  • Burnished orange-gold, clear with only a very slight haze, moderately persistent white head.
• Aroma
  • Orange/citrus aroma, slight malty note, and no yeast character
• Flavor
  • Nice malt backbone, with a light caramel quality. Moderately high bitterness, with a piney resin aspect that lingers on the tongue.
• Mouthfeel
  • Medium body. Moderate carbonation. Slightly dry finish.
• Would I Brew This Again?
  • This beer tastes like 2001…which is nice sometimes, but not what I always want on tap. Overall, this is a very good beer, which fits exactly what I wanted in the recipe. So, I would say it is a “10/10” for hitting my goals of an IPA from 25 years ago, but 7/10 for everyday drinking.
• Overall
  • 10/10