Mike brews his APA number 5. It is a Cascade & Azacca Hopped American Pale Ale. From his experiments using grains that make lighter-bodied beers, he brews this beer to really showcase the hop aroma and flavor of these varieties. With a lower ABV than a typical NEIPA, Mike thinks he has a great late Spring beer. Watch this video for all the details.

What Is APA #5?

As Mike says, he really loves a good Sierra Nevada pale ale. He typically brews American Pale Ales with this beer in mind. With that stated, he really likes the tropical fruit hops that are all the rage these days.

His approach to the brew involves using a suitable malt bill to give it a nice backbone for the hops. The amount of malt is key so he can keep his ABV in the 5 to 6% range. Along with malts, he adds in adjuncts to make the beer very drinkable and finish with a dryness. Making a very fermentable wort is key for Mike to reach his goals.

In his grain bill, he has Maris Otter and Briess Brewer’s Malt as his base, some Flaked Wheat and Flaked Corn for crispness, and Crystal 40°L Malt for color and flavor.

For the hops, he uses Nugget for bittering. Then for flavoring, he adds Cascade and Azacca hops with 10 minutes to go in the boil. Lastly, he dropped in Cascade and Azacca again at flameout.

For yeast, he selected the LalBrew New England – American East Coast Ale Yeast. With his step mash profile, he started the gravity at 1.055 and finished at 1.006.

Our APA Tasting Notes

For the appearance, Mike nails the color with a slight brownish copper color. Because of its freshness in the keg, the haze was prominent but with time, the clarity will come through.

Aroma has a classic American hop bouquet. There are notes of grapefruit pith with no malt notes.

The flavor was super pleasant. The flaked corn really dries out the beer and gave it a crispness in the aftertaste where the hops show off. There are more tropical fruit notes in the flavor stemming from the late Azacca additions.

Overall, we really liked this Cascade & Azacca Hopped American Pale Ale. Our take is with a focus on fermentability of your wort, you don’t need as much hops to get great aroma and flavor in your beer.

Brew ON!