Matilda Bay Alpha Pale Ale

[chillihilli]

It's amazing how I'm starting to notice different things in beer since starting to brew my own.

I was in Perth recently and was served an Matilda Bay Alpha Pale Ale in a restaurant (in the bottle). This - in my opinion - was a great citrus/fruity style pale ale and a bit lighter on the carbonation (which I am starting to prefer). I was a warm sunny day so a perfect beer with lunch.

I've noticed this fruity flavour profile in this, plus a few of the little creatures beers.

I'm curious as to how I would bring this flavour to my beers if I wanted to. I'm thinking possibly:
- Fermenting at a slightly warmer temp
- Adding a few fruits at ferment time (orange peel, lemon zest, maybe some passionfruit pulp)
- Trying a lighter malt or less malt.
- Fruity hops (I don't know much about hops - yet - )
- Other types of aromatic herbs/flowers (I grow coriander, kaffir lime, lemon, basil etc)

In know there are LCPA kits around, and I've seen a few recipes. I am trying to get a feel for brewers adding more of the not so common ingredients.

 

[BrenosBrews]

It's amazing how I'm starting to notice different things in beer since starting to brew my own.

I was in Perth recently and was served an Matilda Bay Alpha Pale Ale in a restaurant (in the bottle). This - in my opinion - was a great citrus/fruity style pale ale and a bit lighter on the carbonation (which I am starting to prefer). I was a warm sunny day so a perfect beer with lunch.

I've noticed this fruity flavour profile in this, plus a few of the little creatures beers.

I'm curious as to how I would bring this flavour to my beers if I wanted to. I'm thinking possibly:
- Fermenting at a slightly warmer temp
- Adding a few fruits at ferment time (orange peel, lemon zest, maybe some passionfruit pulp)
- Trying a lighter malt or less malt.
- Fruity hops (I don't know much about hops - yet - )
- Other types of aromatic herbs/flowers (I grow coriander, kaffir lime, lemon, basil etc)

In know there are LCPA kits around, and I've seen a few recipes. I am trying to get a feel for brewers adding more of the not so common ingredients.

It's all about the hops with these two beers. Cascade is the main hop used by Little Creatures and Alpha Pale Ale I believe uses Centennial, Amarillo & possibly Simcoe.

Pales Ales are brewed warmer than lagers and some yeast strains are fruitier but you don't wanna go too warm, get the main fruity qualities from the hops.

No fruit or herbs should be added to a Pale Ale to be true to style but I had a "summer ale" from Coldstream recently that had elderflower and it was pretty good. Kaffir lime in a wit would be awesome.

 

[Will88]

As said above, it's about getting the hops right with these beers.

Super Alpha, cascade and amarillo were the hops I've used in my alpha clones.

The end result was reasonably close but the fruity aromas were not quite as intense as the real thing.