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Jayhawk said:
Just bought some of the Titan IPA... Good chit... Am beginning to appreciate the oakey taste.

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The thing that kinda offends me about modern American "India Pale Ales" (including Single Wide) is the absence of oak in 'em. That's the only thing that makes an IPA different from just a hellacious overhopped light or amber ale.

The original brews from around 1800 got the oak flavor from being shipped to British troops in India in oak barrels - a long voyage in a sailing ship. They didn't taste like oak when they left England, but they did when they got there.

I've made IPA's, including one that won a national trophy. The way to do it right is to throw some sanitized white oak chips in the secondary fermenter and give it a long aging time before bottling. That adds several months to the process, and the breweries ain't gonna do it. There's a couple of English ones that still use oak chips - I think Samuel Smith is one.

The other way to do it is to add a little "oak flavor extract" to the brew before bottling. Homebrew shops carry the extract - it's a clear liquid, it comes in little plastic bottles, and a little goes a long ways. I'm not familiar with Titan IPA, but if it's got an oak flavor that's probably what they're doing.

I've wondered why the other American "IPA" brewers are leaving the oak out. It's kind of a strange flavor in beer, and maybe they figure customers wouldn't like it (I do). Whatever - the beers they're making aren't really IPA's without it.

I've known some beer geeks in homebrew clubs to carry a bottle of oak flavor extract in their pocket and add a couple of drops to a glass of beer before they drink it. That's kinda anal, but I've been thinking about getting some and putting a couple of drops in Single Wide - just to remember what an IPA really tastes like.

That'd be better than paying $10 a sixer for someone to add those two drops per glass for me.

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