Ballast Point Brews Schooner Dry-Hop Ale
Ballast Point Brewing updates us on their latest batch of Schooner Dry-Hop Ale that will be served on Nitro Tap.
This week we are proud to roll out a new version of our Schooner Ale. This beer is brewed using the same recipe as previous Schooner Ales, but with a couple of very significant differences. In the past we have brewed this beer using exclusively wet hops. Hops that are freshly picked one day in Washington, overnighted to the brewery, and used to brew Schooner the following day. Lots of breweries make wet-hopped beers, most notably Sierra Nevada’s Harvest Ale, and their popularity has grown dramatically over the past couple of years. However, the hops aren’t quite ready for harvesting; it’ll be a couple more weeks.
We thought it would be an interesting study to see what happens when we use traditionally dried hops in the same recipe. 100% Cascade hops were used in a 6% ABV pale ale. Then, instead of traditional carbonation, we nitrogenated this beer to help smooth out the mouthfeel. The result is a creamy smooth, hoppy pale ale.
When the wet hops are ready, we will brew the same recipe with them and then we will all be able to taste the two brews side by side. Man, that’s going to be fun. Until then, I think everybody will be stoked with this version.
Oh yeah, did you happen to see the Food section of the U-T today? Peter Rowe gave us a nice little write up about our Sour Wench Blackberry Ale. Don’t let the 3 star headline confuse you, the review was glowing. I believe he said “naughtylicious”. You will have an opportunity to try for yourself next Thursday (9/3) at our newly expanded Scripps Ranch taster bar. We recently almost doubled the size of the bar so there is lots more elbow room up here these days. Come on by and have a cold one. See you here!
Ballast Point Brewing Co.
10051 Old Grove Rd.
San Diego, CA 92131
(858) 695-BREW (2739)
www.ballastpoint.com
http://www.sandiegobrewersguild.org
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