Tags
Animal Conservation, Beer, Bloomington, Brewery, Craft beer, White IPA, Witbier, Wolf
Yesterday we released our Wolf Tooth White IPA to the public and I thought it might be nice to discuss a bit about this style, as it is a recent addition into the craft beer world. Recent being within the past 5 years.
I have found there are roughly two (perhaps more) major versions of this style. Many brewers producing a white IPA consider it a very pale wheat based IPA and may include up to 40% wheat malt or more along with a base malt such as American 2-row barley. Then it is hopped as they would an American IPA and fermented with American yeast strains. It may take on whatever hops the brewer desires and may range in flavors just as diverse as their traditional IPA’s.
Other breweries such as one of my favorites Deschutes Brewery in Bend, Oregon, produces a variation of a traditional Belgian Witbier and hop it as an American IPA (Chainbreaker White IPA). It is a blend of wheat, pilsner malt, orange peel, and coriander, and fermented down with a Belgian yeast strain, but hopped with American hops in amounts that mimic an American IPA. Typically hops that blend well with citrus flavors would be used. Soft pine, grapefruit, orange, tropical, and lemon would all be ideal hop profile flavors for this style.
Wolf Tooth is the latter of the two descriptions. When I first learned of this style I thought how awesome it would be to blend some of these newer hop varieties with the unique flavors of a Belgian Witbier.
Since moving to Indiana I have not seen many white IPA’s. That’s not to say that the breweries in the area are not producing them, I haven’t been here for a full four seasons yet and thus, sure what shows up as seasonal varieties, so I thought I’d welcome spring with something light and hoppy.
I based the recipe on a classic witbier recipe including lots of wheat, oats, orange, coriander, and a traditional wit yeast strain. I then bulked it up from a lower alcohol beer to one that would have potential to achieve around 6% ABV and took the mild bittering hop addition to something more aggressive. I added hops that I believe go well with the flavors of witbier including Summer, for its fresh cut grass, grapefruit flavor, Mosaic because of its bold lemon-lime character, and Citra for an added splash of fruitiness and spice.
I wanted to call attention to my favorite animal the wolf upon creation and naming this beer. The botanical name for hops is Humulus lupulus, with the Latin word for wolf (Lupus) being part of its name, I thought it was reasonable to make it an IPA and pay the majestic wolf homage.
The results are on tap now and well worth a try! 6.4% ABV and 56 IBU’s make it a super easy IPA to drink, and its upfront witbier characteristics easily lure in those who may not think they like IPA!
To celebrate the release of Wolf Tooth over its premiere weekend (March 13, 14, and 15th) we will be donating 10% of sales from Wolf Tooth to Wolf Park, a beautiful wolf sanctuary and education center in Battle Ground, IN!
So come by and enjoy a few pints of our new white IPA Wolf Tooth at The Tap!
Quick, fill my empty wolf stein with Wolf Tooth IPA!! Check out these cool steins from Beer Steins and Mugs!