TOPIC:

[quote:2qtxtr0d]Now’s there argument that the historical version may not have been as hoppy, because the hops had much less IBU’s that what’s available these days,[/quote:2qtxtr0d]

I was curious when I read this too because without the high alpha hops we've engineered today they would have required mountainous quantities of hops to achieve the degree of bitterness that we think early IPAs had. That's not to say they didn't do precisely that, but working with that much organic matter in the kettle must have presented difficulties, not to mention huge amonuts of polyphenols and possibly lipids form the hops.

By and large the only difference between an American Pale Ale and an IPA is the IBUs. To my mind Hooker is in the style of an APA along with the likes of Sierra Nevada and Liberty Ale. I would imagine the reason it was called an Irish Pale Ale is primarily for marketing reasons but that's a guess of course. AFAIK they have never referred to it as an 'IPA'. I'm just delighted Sierra and Hooker are both on draught within a short walk of each other.

"bigears":1v87ijyv wrote: By and large the only difference between an American Pale Ale and an IPA is the IBUs. To my mind Hooker is in the style of an APA along with the likes of Sierra Nevada and Liberty Ale. I would imagine the reason it was called an Irish Pale Ale is primarily for marketing reasons but that's a guess of course. AFAIK they have never referred to it as an 'IPA'. I'm just delighted Sierra and Hooker are both on draught within a short walk of each other.[/quote:1v87ijyv]

From nothing to two in a short time, not bad <!-- s:D --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_biggrin.gif" alt="" title="Very Happy" /><!-- s:D -->

Ok, I'm keen....we like our pale ales here and I'd like to have a go at making a copy - I doubt very much I could buy a Hooker Pale Ale here in Oz.
So, without being provocative, what do you consider to be the "must haves" of an Irish Pale Ale?
Anyone can toss Cascade or Amarillo around to make a yank pale ale; what makes an Irish Pale Ale? At the risk of being subject to your scorn, I'll add my standard house pale ale recipe - feel free to tear it apart to get it closer to the hooker style...
BTW, my water is very clean - out of the hills and ideally suited to pale beer. Does it need gypsum, chalk etc to get closer to the hooker style?
Anyhoo, here's the recipe:

[quote:1wfhy1na](All calcs from Promash)
Batch Size: 23L
OG: 1.050
FG: 1.012
IBU: 40
EBC: 15

Grist:
4 kg Pale Ale Malt
500g Weyermann Munich I
250g Weyermann Pale Wheat
50g Thomas Fawcett Pale Chocolate Malt
1hr infusion mash at 66C

Hops:
20 g Northern Brewer (Pellets, 7.4 AA%, 60 mins)
18 g Amarillo (Pellets, 8.5 AA%, 30 mins)
10 g Cascade (Pellets, 6.3 AA%, 15 mins)
10 g Amarillo (Pellets, 8.5 AA%, 15 mins)
10 g Cascade (Pellets, 6.3 AA%, 2 mins)

Yeast:
Wyeast 1056 - American Ale fermented at 18C

Optional:
1/2 tab of Whirfloc with 15 to go in the boil

[/quote:1wfhy1na]
Cheers,
TL

You'll be wanting some crystal malt in that.

This water's rather deep isn't it? Can't seem to touch the bottom...

I think they use some English hops in there as well, i think the America hop are late addition. I sure one of the other lads knows more about there hop addition