Third time's a charm, or so the saying goes, and it certainly was for us in this case. Our 3rd attempt at creating this iconic beer, and we feel like we've really nailed it this time. Although we can't take all the credit (refer to the original Recipe post for more detail on how the recipe we used came to be), we're certainly very pleased with how it turned out, and think this is the closest we're going to be able to get to replicating the original Stone & Wood Pacific Ale.
One of the keys to nailing this beer is the water profile - specifically having a high chloride to sulfate ratio to help promote the sweet characteristics from the malt and hops, provide a softer mouthfeel and reduce any bitterness and sharpness from the Galaxy hops. Our first couple of attempts had the opposite to this, ie. an excessivelu high sulfate to chloride ratio, which seemed to mute the hop character and certainly wasn't anywhere near the same as what the original Pacific Ale was like.
Speaking of hops - with no less than 4 hop additions during the boil, it certainly creates a layering effect to give a variety of different flavours coming through from the single hop variety being used. This kind of hop schedule would be a good base to use for other low-IBU and highly hopped beers. Interestingly the whirlpool hop addition doesn't seem to have been calculated to contribute towards the stated IBU's of the recipe (even though it's fairly well researched that whirlpool hop additions definitely do contribute to bitterness/IBU's.)
Anyway, let's get on with the more structured review to break down how this one turned out.
Appearance
With a 60/40 split of pilsner malt and wheat malt, there's no way this one was going to turn out anything less than hazy. The colour is also pretty spot on (though we haven't done a direct head to head comparison with the original) which comes through with a (very hazy) very pale, straw-like hue, but there's that slight green tinge present as well from all the hops which we've certainly noticed in the original, particularly if you manage to score a fresh batch on tap at a bar/pub. We'd previously used ale malt instead of pilsner which certainly resulted in a beer that was too dark - pilsner malt is definitely the one to use.
Wheat also helps to promote a fluffy white head, which we've certainly got with quite a bit of stability and staying power as well and leaves some nice lacing around the glass.
Aroma
There's no mistaking the aroma of Galaxy hops. We've got loads of tropical fruit notes that are prevalent - most notably pineapple, passionfruit and mango. The US-05 yeast that we used is very neutral and doesn't produce many (if any) ester character so we're confident that almost all the aroma has been derived from the hops. It smells amazing.
Flavour
It tastes just like the original in our opinion. Very little bitterness, and a nice, smooth, tropical fruit bouquet with elements of pineapple, mango, orange and passionfruit. Hard to believe so much complexity can come from a single hop variety, but that's what makes Galaxy great, and we're sure the multiple hop additions during the boil, plus a sizeable dry hop is the key to getting this array of flavours.
Mouthfeel is medium-light, with plenty of carbonation and certainly isn't too thin or watery due to the increased chloride levels, which help to promote a fuller mouthfeel. Mashing a little higher at around 67°C also made sure it didn't ferment out and become too dry.
The yeast attenuates cleanly, providing a neutral basis for the malt and hops to shine. There's little to no alcohol warmth, and no noticeable ester character either.
Final Thoughts
This is a great recipe to have in the bank, and is no doubt a real crowd pleaser. Now that we feel we've gotten it nailed down, we might take a rest from brewing it for now, but the recipe itself could make a great base for experimentation with different hop varieties. Throwing in some Mosaic, Simcoe, or any other tropical new-world variety of hop would undoubtedly make a really great beer. The other thing we'd be tempted to do is add 5-10% oats to give it that silky mouthfeel that we love. This might lead to something akin to the Balter Easy Hazy - another one of our favourite beers.
It's perhaps a little surprising to see US-05 yeast used for a hazy style beer like this - we certainly had our doubts about how well it would work, however it's certainly done a brilliant job here, and it's well reported that this is the yeast used in the original beer. Being very neutral it just gets out of the way to let the hops stand on their own, but it would be very interesting to see how this recipe goes with a different yeast strain - particularly the recently released Pomona yeast from Lallemand which has high biotransformation potential and is recommended for hop forward beers, just like this one. Other varieties like Verdant IPA or East Coast New England would also be great (dry) yeast candidates to try out.
If you're looking to make a clone of Stone & Wood's iconic beer, this is definitely the recipe to use.
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