Jump to recipe:
1. Sierra Nevada Pale Ale clone (just the O.G.)
2. Chico Reloaded (what if they juiced in the late 70s?)
3. Mom's Beer (a modern take with lighter malt and selection of hop profiles)
History
American Pale Ale: The beer that sparked the American craft beer revolution! The history of this beer rhymes with the actual American Revolution.
APA roots are only about 50 years old. In 1975, Anchor Brewing brewed "Liberty Ale" named to commemorate the 200th anniversary of Paul Revere's midnight ride of 1775. The beer was inspired by Anchor owner Fritz Maytag's travels to England, where he encountered English pale ales that were served on cask and all-grain, as opposed to the grain with adjunct norm of the day in the US - as American macro lagers were and still are. Liberty Ale was distinct in its high usage of cascade hops, and as such, was documented by Englishman Michael Jackson as the original APA. So, while commemorating the 200th year of United States independence from England, an American craft beer revolution had also begun, once again inspired by and recognized by the English.
A few other brewers made similar beers in the late 70s with simple malt profiles and increasing amounts of what are now the classic west coast hop varieties: cascade, centennial, and columbus. But the style did not take foothold until Sierra Nevada Pale Ale was brewed in November 1980, when Sierra Nevada founder Ken Grossman had to convince bars in Chico, CA to try what was an experimental brew at the time.
After American craft beer began to take a firm foothold in the 90s, the style slowly began to evolve as new hop varietals entered the market. Despite being a bit overshadowed in popularity by its more bitter and robust cousin, American IPA, APAs regularly appear on craft brewery lineups, with drinkers appreciating less ABV and less intense hop experience. Brewers often use the beer to experiment with and showcase hops. One popular method is brewing SMaSH (single malt and single hop) beer, usually using house 2 row and a single hop.
Discover more APA history here.
Overall experience
APA is a very drinkable beer, clean tasting and slightly balanced bitter that showcases its hops well in the flavor and aroma. The malts should be quite neutral which helps bring out a true hop experience, but decidedly less bitter than IPA. Malt is firm, but only yielding bread-like qualities. There is often a touch of sweetness.
APA vitals
IBU: 30-50
SRM: 5-10
OG: 1.045-1.060
FG: 1.010-1.015
ABV: 4.5-6.2%
Additional resources:
-BJCP style page: 18B. American Pale Pale Ale
-BYO: Award-winning APA commentary, by Gordon Strong
-Further history on APA and its evolution
-Sierra Nevada Pale Ale homebrew recipe and more
-Sierra Nevada Pale Ale scoresheet and audio analysis
Recipes
Sierra Nevada Pale Ale Clone
Sierra Nevada has proudly embraced their Pale Ale as a homebrewer's "right of passage," posting their recipe on their website. Making classic clone beers is fun because you can actually drink them side by side and make your head spin as to why they taste different.
The modern commercial version no longer is brewed with just cascade, but uses different bittering hops for efficiency purposes - but the flavor and aroma is still decidedly cascade. While this does follow the original all-cascade recipe, early versions likely varied a bit due to crop harvests and regional differences across hop lots (the same went for macro brewers at the time). Cascade itself has evolved genetics after 46 years, since being breed to be more bitter. But, this is as close as you can get to drinking like it's 1980 in Chico!
It is my responsibility to inform you that their instructions specifically call for opening their Pale Ale at the start of brew day. So show some respect and get a case before brewing! And can we say, "Thank you Sierra Nevada."
5 gallons | OG: 1.055 | FG: 1.011 | IBU: 43 | SRM: 10 | ABV: 5.9%
Fermentables
10 lb American Pale Ale - 3.5L
.75 lb Crystal 60 - 60L
Hops
1 oz Cascade (7 AA) 30 min
1 oz Cascade (7 AA) 10 min
2 oz Cascade (7 AA) flameout
Yeast
Propagate Lab Chico Ale Variant I (standard)
SafAle US-05 American Ale Dry Yeast (option)
Water
Use the highest quality water possible. Filter tap water with a carbon-based filter if possible.
Options on RO/distilled water plus brewing salt packages. This style works best with balanced sulfate and chloride.
Notes
Malt selection
notes on malt selection
Hop usage
notes on hop selection
Chico Reloaded
Ever wonder what if they juiced the late 70s? With cascade? Keeps me up at night. Chico Reloaded closely follows the SNPA clone, with slight adjustments to the hopping schedule and toning down the crystal malt and bitterness. It starts with a modest 1 oz cascade dry hop, but you can add more on the recipe modifier page. These changes will showcase a softer edge of cascade, removing most sharper bitterness. It begins to approach how juicier beers feel, or mythical early-juicers might be, all while staying close to the bounds of the original SNPA.
Brewer's Friend recipe builder and technical specs
5 gallons | OG: 1.055 | FG: 1.011 | IBU: 43 | SRM: 10 | ABV: 5.9%
Fermentables
10 lb American Pale Ale - 3.5L
.75 lb Crystal 60 - 60L
Hops
1 oz Cascade (7 AA) 30 min
1 oz Cascade (7 AA) 10 min
2 oz Cascade (7 AA) flameout
1 oz Cascade (7 AA) dry hop - 3 days
Yeast
SafAle US-05 American Ale Dry Yeast (standard)
Propagate Lab Chico Ale Variant I (recommended)
Water
Use the highest quality water possible. Filter tap water with a carbon-based filter if possible.
Options on RO/distilled water plus brewing salt packages. This style works best with balanced sulfate and chloride.
Notes
Malt selection
Original SNPA used 10 lb of 2-row and 1 lb of C60. Pale ale malt is toasted to a slightly higher color - 3.5L as opposed to baseline 2-row at around 2L. Pale ale malt will, arguably and conceptually, impart a more firm malt presence than neutral, though not necessarily bready. With this in mind, .75 lb of C60 likely achieves the same effect as 1 lb from a "backbone" standpoint, especially when considering modern malting efficiency.
Hop usage
Original SNPA used whole-cone cascade hops, and as noted likely several other varieties. The original alpha acid units of cascade hops in the late 70s were not known with precision and would have varied, especially with whole cone usage that varies crop-to-crop and year-to-year.
Hop additions here are for ease of use in 1 oz increments, and done so to highlight cascade flavor and aromatics. The 30 minute addition imparts bitterness and significant flavor. The 10 minute addition will leave slightly more aromatics but like the 30 minute, leave hop flavor compounds, oils and polyphenols.
Note that there is no 60 minute, true bittering hop addition. Commercially, hopping for 60 minutes is a matter of maximizing the efficiency of isomerized alpha acid extraction. Boiling hops for 60 minutes removes most hop flavor that comes in the form of oil and polyphenols. What this means is a 60 minute hop boil imparts a cleaner, drier bitterness than a 30 minute addition. But as homebrewers, we are factually inefficient by every metric of efficiency in brewing. Maximizing hop utilization is not a priority - and this is a point to use as an advantage and differentiator from craft beer. So, bittering with only 30 minute and 10 minute additions will leave a softer, rounder, more integrated hop flavor in the beer as more oil, polyphenols, and other hop compounds are not boiled off. The perceived bitterness will be softer and give less of a bite, which should showcase the cascade better than SNPA.
Mom's Beer
A more modern APA recipe, tilting balance slightly hoppier and utilizing newer American hops. This is my mom's favorite niche beer, so I made her one that is appropriately named. Choose from a selection of modern hop profiles.
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