Homebrewin' : Extract Belgian IPA

This One Is Mine: Darker but only 6%ABV

Last year everyone went nuts over Black IPAs. This year I started seeing a lot of Belgian IPAs. I love IPAs. I don't particularly enjoy Belgians. But ever since trying the Cali-Belgique from Stone and the Le Freak by Green Flash I've been obsessed with this style of beer. New Belgium's Belgo is also a great beer in this style. It's a really simple formula to making a really unique beer style. Take an American IPA and use Belgian yeast instead of American ale yeast. Done and done.

I wanted to try my hand at making one of these brews, maybe trying to make the beer a tad darker and a tad more herbal in flavor than the super hoppy Le Freak. I just used a base malt of Briess Pale Dry Extract but steeped Crystal 60 and some Belgian Row Two Pale malt to get a darker amber look. Chinook, Centennial, Amarillo, Cascade, and Simcoe hops made for a pretty floral west coast hop bill.

The key here is the yeast. I used White Labs WLP575, which is a Belgian blend yeast that is supposed to be a slightly more spicy and herbal strain. It really did the trick too, working well with the Crystal 60 caramel tones working in contrast with the hops. It creates an herby sweet and bitter combination that is unique and tasty.

So if you haven't tried a Belgian IPA, try one out. Belgo by New Belgium is easy to find and a good example of the style that is very American and not too extremely Belgian or West Coast Bitter IPA. It's a good change of pace for an IPA drinker who can't seem to break out of a rut.


Here's my Recipe! I can't wait to do an all grain version soon.