Jamil's "Summer Bitter" and the BJCP

[macgruffus]

I was just reading an old copy of Zymurgey (Jul/Aug 2005) and ran across the Pope's article on "The Extraordinary Bitter." At the end of the article is his "Summer Bitter" recipe. Now I'm all excited since many of my favorite things have come together with this recipe ...

* My favorite style (bitter)
* My favorite grain (Maris Otter)
* My favorite hop (Amarillo)

But since I'm doing a lot of competitions right now I was wondering about it's BJCP style.

Here's the recipe from Zymurgy ...

Code: Select all

Summer Bitter

Anticipated OG:          1.038
Anticipated SRM:           3.0
Anticipated IBU:          31.1

Grain/Extract/Sugar

   %     Amount     Name                          Origin        Potential SRM
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
 100.0     7.00 lbs. Maris Otter Pale Ale M  England        1.039      2


Hops

   Amount     Name                              Form    Alpha  IBU  Boil Time
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
  0.50 oz.    Amarillo Gold                     Pellet   8.40  20.7  60 min.
  0.50 oz.    Amarillo Gold                     Pellet   8.40    7.0  20 min.
  0.50 oz.    Amarillo Gold                     Pellet   8.40    3.4  1 min.
  0.50 oz.    Amarillo Gold                     Pellet   8.40    0.0  Dry Hop


Yeast
-----

White Labs WLP002 English Ale

I'm pretty sure it fits best in the Light Hybrid/Blonde Ale category (6B). Anyone think differently?

[DannyW]

It barely fits in 6B at the low end of gravity and is a little off the high end of hops.

I thought about APA to get the BU:GU closer, but the gravity of the Summer Bitter is too low.

American IPA let you get the BU:GU correct, but the gravity is WAY low.

Starting to look to me like category 23 Specialty, part of the description of which reads "American-style interpretations of European styles (e.g., hoppier, stronger, or ale versions of lagers) or other variants of traditional styles."

[Lars]

My vote was going to be APA, but DannyW is right, gravity too low. If it comes out good you may be able to get away with entering it as an APA. Only you'd know the truth!


Oh yea, looks like a great recipe. Amarillo has become one of my favorites too. I do an Amarillo Brown that is just kick ass! It has taken ribbons in 3 out of 4 comps I've entered it in. It began as one of Jamil's recipes too PROPS to the POPE!!!!!!!!!!

[Thirsty Mallard]

That recipe looks like it belongs in special category 0A: Delicious.

[BDogD]

Probably 23 Specialty. It would fit in as a minor style being incubated until a formal style category is created (if enough interest). Like Pale Mild, Sticke Alt, etc.

[Stuster]

Surely it should be in with Blonde Ales. According to the blurb about that category on the BJCP site,

In addition to the more common American Blond Ale, this category can also include modern English Summer Ales, American Kölsch-style beers, and less assertive American and English pale ales.

It's very much an English Summer Ale and while it's slightly over in the IBUs that's not really a detectable difference to the human pallete. I wonder how many judges would know that the blonde ale style includes summer ales though.

[macgruffus]

Surely it should be in with Blonde Ales.

That's kind of what I thought too. I tweaked the recipe a little and will be using it as a batch to build up a yeast slurry for a Thomas Hardy clone my homebrew club is doing as a group brew. The only major difference I'll need to make is that we'll be using WLP099 (super high gravity ale) but it shouldn't be too bad since according to White Labs ...

Malt character dominates at lower gravities.

I'm looking forward to this one for sure. It maybe my new summer-time standard! I just bottled my latest APA with Simcoe and Amarilla dry hopping. I LOVEs me some Amarilla!

David