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Authors: Christina Perozzi

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Born to Be Wild: American Wild Ale
THIS BEER’S FOR YOU IF YOU LIKE:
RIDING AMERICAN HOGS ON THE OPEN HIGHWAY. INNOVATION. EXPERIMENTATION. A RENEGADE SPIRIT. RARE BEERS. LIMITED QUANTITIES AND NUMBERED BOTTLES.
Some innovative American brewers have headed out on the highway in pursuit of the American Wild Ale (AWA). These are American-made beer styles that might have used any kind of wild fermentation to achieve their flavor. They also sometimes use barrel-aging (see Chapter 6) and other advanced souring techniques (see Chapter 9). These beers are definitely influenced by Belgian ales and can be similar in style to any sour beer. But because sour beer styles like Lambics, Gueuze, and Berliner Weisse traditionally carry the style name that reflects their region of origin and specific ingredients, many American-made sour beers are grouped into a vaguely defined category called American Wild Ales.
So why, then, do we call La Folie (made in Colorado) a Belgian-style Flanders Red instead of an American Wild Ale? What’s the difference? Well, from what we have gleaned in tasting these beers, what the beer is called and how it’s classified into a style really comes down to the beer’s trueness to a particular style. La Folie, for instance, is brewed as a very true Flanders Red style, with little variation from the traditional and quintessential style parameters. American Wild Ales, in contrast, have a tendency to be a bit more experimental and usually have more intense flavors and higher alcohol contents, ranging anywhere from 6% to 12% ABV.
American Wild Ales are an exciting trend in the American craft world. With this style, the artist that exists in every craft brewer can come out to play. Many of these experimental beers are released in limited amounts (sometimes just once a year) and, because of their deli ciousness and their rarity, have developed a cult-like following. We know—we’re cult members! Try some of our favorite AWAs that get our motors runnin’:
LA ROJA:
Jolly Pumpkin Artisan Ales, Dexter, Michigan. Amber AWA, brewed in the Flanders tradition. Earthy and funky with notes of caramel. The barrel-aging brings out the sour fruit notes. Aged from 2 to 10 months. 7.2% ABV.
 
RUSSIAN RIVER CONSECRATION:
Russian River Brewing Company, Santa Rosa, California. This sour AWA is aged for six months in Cabernet Sauvignon barrels; currants added to the brewing process. Earthy, funky, sour, complex dark fruit profile. 10.5% ABV.
 
PISSAMAUVAIS:
Cambridge Brewing Company, Cambridge, Massachusetts. Named for the famed “wicked pissah” expletive uttered proudly by many a Bostonian. Medium bodied and tasty, with smoky, toasty, woody notes and a sour finish. 7% ABV.
Beers That Bite Back
Y
ou thought sour was serious? Well, get ready to rumble, because these bitter beers will teach your tongue a thing or two. If you are into hops in a big way, these will be your good friends on your Beer Journey. Careful about sharing these babies with neophytes, though; they might not be ready yet. An über-bitter beer can be a rude awakening to someone who is not well-adjusted to the hop experience. But if you feel it’s time, and if you think you are ready, then go ahead and take the plunge into these frisky ales, and feel the wicked pleasure in the punch of hops.
A Hoppy Ending: American IPAs, Double IPAS,
and American Strong Ales
THIS BEER’S FOR YOU IF YOU LIKE:
BITTER DRINKS. BITTERNESS. BEING BITTER. HOPS. MORE HOPS. HOP-HEADS. HIGH ALCOHOL. THE RED, WHITE, AND BLUE. BOLD MOVES. AND DID WE MENTION BITTERNESS?
As we told you in Chapter 4, British IPAs and Bitters are not nearly as bitter as our American-style IPAs. American IPAs tend to boast a big hop profile. Perhaps this is because we Americans turn the rock ’n’ roll way up; we add extra sauce to everything, we can throw a flashy half-time show like nobody else, and our fireworks are always bigger than theirs. Whatever the case, extreme craft beers seem to be much more popular in America than anywhere else, and hoppy beers are a huge part of that genre.
Once hop lovers developed a taste for big IPAs, they wanted more; enter the Double IPA (often called Imperial IPA; see page 148). An all American invention, a Double IPA boasts nearly double the hops and alcohol of an IPA. These beers are also bigger and much more bitter, offering an intense experience all around. The hop flavor profile can vary depending on the hops: grapefruit, grass, apricot, marijuana, and so on. Some Double IPAs overdose on just a couple different kinds of hops, whereas others use three or more different varieties. The secondary flavor behind the hops in a Double IPA varies, from rich caramel to deep toffee to bold fruit. Though this can be considered a rather lopsided style, some Double IPAs are more balanced than others. Some flow seamlessly between bitterness and toffee sweetness or fruit; others can be all hops and no balance. The latter can make more than a sip unbearable (unless you’re a hop-head).
Double IPAs are nothing to fear, and no one expects most newly baptized craft beer drinkers to make them a regular in the fridge. But they are great for those days when you just want something to shock the system. Those days when you want to erase the memories of work, of being stuck in traffic for three hours, or of a bounced check, take one sip of a super-hoppy Double IPA and everything else seems to disappear.
Beyond the IPA and Double IPA are other hoppy beers that don’t necessarily fit a specific style. Beers like the (in)famous Arrogant Bastard, classified as an American Strong Ale, have a high hop profile and a nice dark-roasted malt presence. Many seasonal beers, often Christmas Ales, also have a big hop presence. This may be due to the seasonally appropriate pine-tree smell of northwest hops. Sierra Nevada’s winter offering, Celebration, is considered an IPA with its intensely bitter, piney taste.
HOW TO TELL IF YOU’RE A HOP-HEAD
Do you ask for a bitter beer every time you go to the bar? Do you think American Pale Ales are watery? Do you think most IPAs are too sweet? Do you think all styles of beer are better when they’re more bitter? Do you get all excited when you hear the phrases dry-hopped and wet-hopped? If you answered yes to any of these questions, you may consider yourself a hop-head. Hop-heads tend to be beer drinkers who can immediately acclimate to the bitterness of hops. These are people who have no problem with the intense flavors of any American-style IPA. These people often pooh-pooh more mild beers and seek out the extreme hop offerings from any craft brewery. They gravitate toward beers with hop written all over the label.
These beer lovers seem to dominate the craft beer websites; their addiction to hops drives them to rate hoppy beers the highest, which can sometimes skew the rating system. And indeed, we feel that the American beer rating system grades on a high-hop curve. This isn’t necessarily bad, but it can be misleading for those who don’t have such love for the super-bitter. We hear many a hop-head recommend bitter beers to unsuspecting new craft beer drinkers, which can lead to a bad beer incident, leaving new beer drinkers with the impression that all craft beers are super-bitter. So while we appreciate the hop-heads as a strong force in beer—hell, we love a good Double IPA ourselves—we encourage the hop-heads out there to admit their addiction and respect differing palates.
Whether or not people are predisposed to liking hops, most craft beer drinkers go through a hop-head phase. After people get past the “I don’t like bitter beers” phase, they start to crave that all-encompassing bitter mouthfeel. It’s a fun phase, challenging fellow drinkers to find the hoppiest out there. This is definitely a milestone in your beer growth. Loving hops means you can handle pretty much any beer (the next milestone perhaps being the sour beer phase); however, most beer drinkers move past this point and learn to appreciate the dry, less bitter Belgian hops, seeking out a more nuanced, balanced beer, reserving Double IPAs for the rare occasion when their hop-lover past rears its ugly head. True hop-heads never move past the hoppy milestone; they have found happiness there and set up camp. We don’t mean to say that they are immature in the beer world, just that they have found fulfillment in a certain style of beer and don’t feel the need to look further.

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