Hi there – we’re tasting an IPA that I brewed that focuses on the Japanese hop Sorachi Ace. Now I have brewed a wheat beer using these hops before, but now it’s all about the IPA. Watch this video to learn more about this beer.

So this beer is the home half of a home brew swap. There is a guy in Germany (Alex) that brewed the same beer. Through email, he let me know that he was brewing all these IPAs that focused on one hop. He wasn’t using the hop throughout the boil but he was certainly using it for the late additions to drive the beer’s flavor and aromas.

So What Went Into This Sorachi Ace IPA?

The base of this beer was pale malt. I used Maris Otter for my brew.

The specialty malt was CaraHell. It lent a nice color and a little caramel sweetness to the IPA.

I bittered with Magnum and then added Sorachi Ace at 10 mins, 5 mins, flameout, and then dry hopped with them.

The yeast I used was dry ale stain from Safale US-05 and fermented for two weeks at room temperatures.

What Did The Sorachi Ace IPA Taste Like?

Mike got a lot of citrusy notes in the beer. There was a lot of orange in it for him. Maybe a candied orange or tangerine flavor/

Sorachi Ace is noted for its lemon taste. Some complain that it tastes a little like furniture polish but I didn’t get much of that.

When I bottled it, I smelled a lot of dill aromas. After it was bottled and we tasted it, the dill flavor really wasn’t there.

I hope this beer survives its trip to Germany. I am happy with the way it turned out and I hope Alex enjoys it. When we get his beer, we’ll taste and maybe compare and contrast the differences.

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Brew ON!