So I am zeroing in a new system, and brewed what was planned to be a pale ale at the higher end ABV, 6.5%. But I built the recipe assuming 60% efficiency since that's what I usually got with my old system, and this one got 80.5%. To add to it, I ended up mashing at a little be lower temp than planned and so got more attenuation than anticipated. All this to say I got a GREAT beer out of it, it is 6.5 SRM 9.5% ABV and 35 IBUs. It looks right for a pale ale, but the ABV is way out for the style, and the IBU is way low for an IPA or Imperial IPA. But since I think the beer is so good I was thinking of submitting it to competition, and was wondering if anyone would know if there was a category that it would fit into.
I used a combination of galaxy, cascade and centennial, and it has all the flavors you would expect from that combination. The high alcohol is not very noticeable, to me anyway. I've been calling it an Imperial Pale Ale, but there isn't a category for that, unless I missed it.