From our June 2017 meeting style session.
What is an American Pale Ale?
According to BJCP, APA lives between malt and hops — our takeaway: about a 50/50 balance. If a Double IPA is purely hop-driven and an IPA is hop-forward with a malt backbone, a Pale Ale should be malt-balanced.
2015 BJCP Style Guide: 18B American Pale Ale
How to brew a great APA (keys)
- Malt backbone (not just 2-row + crystal): add supporting malts like Munich or wheat to build body/flavor.
- American hop selection: build a layered flavor profile with new-world varieties or classic “C” hops.
- Clean fermentation: this is a lighter beer; keep it tidy so the balanced malt + hops shine.
- Dry hopping technique matters: use fresh hops, mind timing, keep transfers clean, minimize DO, and avoid diacetyl.
- Whirlpool for flavor (not bitterness): add at ~165–180°F at flameout to limit isomerization and keep bright hop character.
Recommended commercial examples
| Outside of Utah | Found in Utah | Great Sessions |
|---|---|---|
| Lagunitas – Born Yesterday | 2 Row – Nemesis Pale | Desert Edge – UPA |
| Ballast Point – Grunion | Oskar Blues – Dale’s Pale | Uinta – Wyld |
| Troeggs Pale Ale | Firestone Walker – Pale 31 | |
| Three Floyds – Zombie Dust | Sierra Nevada – Pale Ale | |
| Trillium – Fort Point Pale Ale | Deschutes – Mirror Pond Pale | |
| Toppling Goliath – Pseudo Sue | Melvin – Hubert | |
| Great Notion – Juice Jr |
Club recipes
- Paul’s APA (image/slide)
- Mark’s APA (image/slide)
Add the recipe slide images below (or we can transcribe them into text if you’d like).