I’d love to know more about the history of this beer. If only to have more arguments against those who accuse of not being an “authentic” IPA because it doesn’t fit their preconceptions. What I do know, is that it filled the Best Bitter spot in their pre-war line-up. We can blame the war for knocking the gravity down to its current level.
If I were Greene King, I’d be annoyed with the developments which have left their flagship beer under attack by geeks who, let’s face it, mostly know eff all about the real history of IPA. Or any other beer history, for that matter.
You may have noticed that I’m waffling a bit. I need to fill out this post, but there’s little to add to what I said about AK. The two were parti-gyled together, meaning this is just slightly stronger version of AK. Though there was one difference: caramel was added to AK to make it slightly darker.
| 1937 Greene King IPA | ||
| pale malt | 6.75 lb | 77.14% |
| crystal malt 60L | 0.25 lb | 2.86% |
| flaked maize | 0.50 lb | 5.71% |
| no. 2 sugar | 1.00 lb | 11.43% |
| diastatic malt extract | 0.25 lb | 2.86% |
| Fuggles 90 mins | 1.25 oz | |
| Goldings 30 mins | 0.75 oz | |
| Saaz 30 mins | 0.50 oz | |
| Goldings dry hops | 1.00 oz | |
| OG | 1040.7 | |
| FG | 1012.5 | |
| ABV | 3.73 | |
| Apparent attenuation | 69.29% | |
| IBU | 33 | |
| SRM | 5 | |
| Mash at | 150º F | |
| Sparge at | 170º F | |
| Boil time | 90 minutes | |
| pitching temp | 61º F | |
| Yeast | WLP025 Southwold | |
They only have themselves to blame tbh, promoting what is arguably their worst beer as their flagship. I’m sure my palate has changed in the last 25 years but I seem to remember Greene King IPA was once a terrific beer.
ReplyDeleteAny particular reason for the recent use of the 025 strain on many of the recent recipes?
ReplyDeleteAndy,
ReplyDeletebecause it's a strain from East Anglia. Trying to pick a yeast from the correct region.