TOPIC:

Hi all,
I'm not sure if this beer is avaiable here, I know the Caledonian IPA is, but has anyone encountered the XPA?

I was just poking around the net and came across it on the Caledonian Brewery website <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="www.caledonian-brewery.co.uk/ales_xpa.html">www.caledonian-brewery.co.uk/ales_xpa.html It's a new one and I have never actually had the opportunity to try it but the hop bill stopped me and made me read it again. Northdown, Cascade and Hallertau Hersbrucker.

What kind of beer is this? They call it an XPA, so what's that when it's at home? I mean Northdown, which is an English Ale bittering hop; Cascade, THE hop of the American IPA and Hallertau Hersbrucker, the poster hop of German Pilsners.

Some kind of hybrid maybe? Anyone had the opportunity to try this beer?

I haven't heard of this beer or any XPA for that matter, but with that hop content I want some. Now.

I've been looking for Deuchar's IPA which is another of Caledonian's brews. I came across it in Oddbin's Blanchardstown some time ago but haven't seen it elsewhere, including Oddbin's Clontarf shop?

It's not what you'd expect of an IPA (in fact I wouldn't describe it as an IPA at all) as the accent is on hop flavour rather than bitterness but it's very tasty and light enough to be a session beer.

<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="www.caledonian-brewery.co.uk/ipa_tasting.html">www.caledonian-brewery.co.uk/ipa_tasting.html

Maybe because Scottish ales promote malt flavour rather than hops, I though it was nice, but their 80 shilling was unbelievable!

I wonder dose the XPA have a citrus character from the Cascade hops

I saw this beer the other day in a pub in Edinburgh but didn't try it. I'm sure I've drubk it before but can't remember it - I may have dismissed it if it was badly kept (I try to judge beers at their best if I can). I have to admit that Caledonian beers are not my favourite any more. I liked them a few years ago but they seem to have generally become more one-dimensional over the years (or maybe it is just my taste buds packing in with age). XPA is not common in Edinburgh but not unusual either. The next time I see it I'll have to try a pint for research purposes.

Cheers, Les

Purely in the interests of research and at great personal sacrifice to myself I have now taken the opportunity to sample several pints of XPA at two Edinburgh pubs. <!-- s;) --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_wink.gif" alt="" title="Wink" /><!-- s;) -->

On Tuesday night I was in the Bailie [url:3ioev9sj]http://www.edinburghpubguide.co.uk/PubDetails/Bailie_Bar_40.html[/url:3ioev9sj] [url:3ioev9sj]http://www.beerintheevening.com/pubs/s/12/12373/Bailie_Bar/Stockbridge[/url:3ioev9sj] and noticed that they had XPA available. Remembering my promise here I duly sampled the brew. My sample was actually 4 or 5 pints. <!-- s:wink: --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_wink.gif" alt="" title="Wink" /><!-- s:wink: --> I have to say that I wasn't overly impressed with the beer. To me it tasted very similar to current Deuchars IPA albeit with slightly more body. There was no obvious hop aroma, the nose being dominated by the same yeasty/bready characteristic I get when I brew with Safale S-04. IPA has had this S-04 characteristic for a year or so now - previously it had definite fresh hop aroma which could be excellent on a good pint. Sadly for me, IPA isn't the beer it used to be and XPA is virtually indistinguishable from IPA.

However, in my experience, the Bailie isn't the best pub in Edinburgh for serving ales in top condition so I was inclined to dismiss my opinion of XPA as possibly being down to poor cellar management. This was why I stuck with the XPA since it was at least drinkable and one of the alternatives could easily have been worse. <!-- s:? --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_confused.gif" alt="" title="Confused" /><!-- s:? -->

Last night, on the SCB 10th anniversary pub crawl, we visited the Cumberland Bar [url:3ioev9sj]http://www.edinburghpubguide.co.uk/PubDetails/Cumberland_Bar__The_189.html[/url:3ioev9sj] [url:3ioev9sj]http://www.beerintheevening.com/pubs/s/11/11559/Cumberland_Bar/Edinburgh[/url:3ioev9sj] which tends to serve a much better quality of ale and they also had XPA available. So I had a pint and my opinion was unchanged. This pint of XPA tasted marginally fresher then the ones I had on Tuesday but wasn't particularly different in overall character.

IMO, you could easily brew a current IPA or XPA clone by using a suitable pale ale recipe, skimp on the late hops and using S-04 yeast. Brewing an IPA of ~10 years ago would require a hefty dose of appropriate late hops and a more neutral yeast and would be a much better brew as a result IMO.