"RIGHT LANE CLOSED?!? Dammit, it's 11 o'clock at night on Memorial Day weekend, we're 10 miles to the New York state line, and there is no one working here tonight! Dammit, I hate the Pennsylvania State Highway system! You know what I'm going to do, I'm going to make an IPA, an IPA that is so bitter, that it will burn on every sniff and every swallow. I HATE PENN DOT!"
Yeah, so that is the short and simple of a drive my wife and I had going to my in-laws house that weekend. Needless to say, I brewed this bad boy, and my effort of making an over-the-top bitter IPA kinda backfired. It backfired by coming out really, really, REALLY good. It is oh so smooth, citrusy, floral, and deceiving - at ~6.8% ABV.
This was also the first time I used whole-leaf hops. It was fun, but I think I am going to stick with pellets, as they leave less muck in the wort. However, at bottling time, I had a little bit of fun with some Cascade hops - I put them in a nylon bag and dropped them in my bottling bucket for some "fresh" hop aroma.
When it was all said and done, I have to say I was pleasantly surprised. Definitely worth brewing again.
Prost!