REVIEW: Iron Patriot (India Pale Lager / American Pilsner)

Take the Classic American Pils, Mostly 6 row Barley Malt, Flaked Corn, moderate noble like hopping, bitter finish, and then twist hard off course.  Leave the base alone, but swap out all those old school noble type hops for some new school bold, fruity, aromatic hops.  What do you get?  A fairly tasty beer.  Seeing that IPL (India Pale Lager) is becoming the new trend, looks like I'm not too far off course with this one.

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Look:  Pours a super clear pale yellow with gold highlights, a thick, creamy, bleached white head sits atop and fades slow to a thick cap leaving ample lace all the way down.

Aroma:  Smells of fruit, peach, mango, pineapple, slightly sweaty (think Amarillo like), over ripe fruits, light dank note in the back ground, sweet.

Flavor:  Very fruity, mango, pears, resin, malt sweetness, light graininess, more over ripe peach.  It is always amazing how a beer can taste like a fruit salad without any fruits added.

Mouthfeel:  Light, crisp, dry finish, refreshing, with an assertive bitterness washing on the back-end, lingers and cleanses the palate for another sip.

Overall:  Brilliantly clear, beautiful to look at, it looks like a Pils, bitterness and light malt like a Pils, grainy and sweet like a Pils, but the aroma and flavor of a bold IPA.  Hit the nail on the head.  When it was a little younger the Calypso was a little overpowering (it can do that) with lots of pear and sweat, but it has dropped to the background during the lager for a rounder hop profile.  Much more enjoyable than the CAP I brewed the same day.

Recipe #47: Iron Patriot (New School American Pilsner)

I have a knack for maximizing my output when I brew.  Pilsner and Saison split batch, Wit and American Wheat split batch, West Coast Red and Oud Bruin split batch, partigyles, etc.  When I do get to brew it is just easier to brew a double batch than to do a single 5 gallon batch, and then try to find another brew day to do another 5 gallons.  It is not much more effort to do 10 gallons instead of 5, and I only have to clean the equipment once.  So when I decided to make my Classic American Pilsner, I had to find another beer I could do with the same mash. Why not do the same beer with a huge twist?  Same grain bill (and mash), same brewing salts, same hopping schedule, but swapping out Old World noble hops (or American knock offs) with New World American varietals.  I swapped out the Saaz, Liberty, and Sterling for Simcoe, Mosaic, and Calypso.  The IBUs will be much different.  And I will be using the Munich Lager yeast for this batch instead of the Budvar which will slightly alter the profile, but shouldn't be much.

Brewday turned out to be a fiasco as I awoke to a broken water heater spewing boiling water on the floor of the garage and had to help a buddy replace it during the brew session, and had to fix a broken shower during this particular batch.  After a grueling day, having the propane kick mid boil, not getting the wort down to lager temps due to the heat, the fermentation went fairly well and smoothly.  Ramped up the temp a few times to ensure complete attenuation and let it sit on the yeast for awhile to ensure no diacetyl.  Once I finally kegged it though, I really wanted more hop character, so I figured why not dry hop it for fun.  I mean, this is the Iron Patriot, a nod to Captain America (the Classic American Pils), but with all the fire power of Iron Man.  I had to do something to make this one blow you away.  Tossed in the dry hops in doubled preboiled paint strainer bags (pellet hops) attached with plain dental floss and allowed them to sit in the beer at lager temps while serving.