"Ultra, Hoppy, Sour, Spy" A Sour Citrus IPA Release
Inspired in part by the John le Carré novel "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy" a new beer called "Ultra, Hoppy, Sour, Spy" is a sour citrus IPA concept beer I personally designed that is being released this Wednesday 6-9pm at Imperial Bottleshop & Taproom.
Conceived as a sour version of the increasingly popular citrus infused IPA's (a la Deschutes Fresh Squeezed) it was meant as a collaboration with Lompoc Brewing's Brewmaster Bryan Keilty for the breweries spy themed IPA series. Timing worked out so that we could enter it into last weekend's WW Pro-Am series though we had to rush the souring process a bit.
The initial base batch of "Ultra, Hoppy, Sour, Spy" is a light bodied ale with 100lbs of White Wheat and a touch of Crystal 30/37 malt for body. Only about a pound of Centennial hops were used in the boil which would be practically unnoticeable in the finished beer. We added another pound of citrusy "Ultra" hops 15 minutes before the end of the boil for flavor and another pound of "Ultra" right before knockout for aroma. In addition to hops for flavor we chopped up and added about 5lbs of fresh Tangelos to the boil which is part of where the "citrus" comes in for the sour citrus IPA.
"Ultra, Hoppy, Sour, Spy" was then fermented, atleast initially, with only a Lactobacillus culture from wyeast labs for a few weeks before a pitch of 1056 American Ale yeast was added to finish off the ferment. We then began dry-hopping the beer for roughly 2 weeks again with Ultra's to add a great pithy and citrusy aroma. During this time we added an addition of pure Orange and Grapefruit Juice that re-fermented adding additional acidity, and citrus pithiness.
By this time the beer had a light lactic tartness, not much bitterness but a wonderful fresh fruit and floral hoppy finish both in flavor and the aroma. We blended back in some of Lompoc Brewing's Pampelmousse IPA to add hoppy bitterness, added a pinch of a sour barrel-aged funky brew from the archives to increase sourness and finally a couple drops of pure Lactic Acid to achieve the final product.
Fans of IPA's and citrus fruit juice will love this beer I think, if you dont like sour beers I think this is a beautiful intro because it is only lightly sour and that acidity just helps to emphasize the tangy citrus juiciness.
Please join the Lompoc Brewing crew and myself at Imperial Bottleshop & Taproom this Wednesday from 6-9pm. In addition to my beer there will also be other rare drafts and FREE samples! Lompoc will be pouring samples of Monster Mash Imperial Porter and Pamplemousse Citrus IPA from bottles. Imperial will be pouring 5 specialty Lompoc beers on tap, including a 5-Beer sampler tray! Check out the tap lineup below:
- Fresh Hop Harvestman Red
- Cheval de Trait Belge Dark Belgian Strong Ale
- Peachy Keen Sour Peach
- Lompoc Sour Stout aged for 11 months in Heaven Hill Bourbon barrels
- "Ultra, Hoppy, Sour, Spy" Citrus Sour IPA, which Ezra describes as
Imperial Bottleshop & Taproom
3090 SE Division
Portland, OR
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