Bass Ale

Description:

I’m a hophead (as you may have guessed). Purists may object to brown sugar in beer, but a careful tasting of Bass reveals brown sugar or molasses in the finish—not as strong as in Newcastle, but present. British malt, in particular, can easily stand up to a bit of sugar, both in flavor and in gravity.

Ingredients:

• 6-7 pounds, pale malt (2-row)
• 1 pound, crystal malt
• 1 pound, demarara or dark brown sugar
• 1 ounce, Northern Brewer hops (boil)
• 1 ounce, Fuggles hops (boil 30 min.)
• 1/2 ounce, Fuggles hops (finish)
• ale yeast

Procedure:

This is an all-grain recipe—follow the instructions for an infusion mash in Papazian, or another text. The Northern Brewer hops are boiled for a full hour, the Fuggles for 1/2 hour, and the Fuggles finishing hops after the wort is removed from the heat, it is then steeped 15 minutes.