Recipe Update – Flowers Original Ale 9/10
Finally the time has arrived to review the Flower Original Ale clone recipe, the penultimate brew in our English Pale Ale series. Well the title says it all, its a winner and the first recipe to be promoted to my permanent recipes page. It really is a pleasure to drink. It has a light mouthfeel, going down easy as a good session beer should. The flavour is packed with fruit, its fresh with a balanced malt/hop flavour profile with the Target and Goldings hop really coming in on the front and a sweetness from the Crystal coming in the back. The tasting notes call from a “hop edge and a dry finish”, this recipe delivers.
The brew process went well. The OG came in at 1042, exactly on the money with the recipe, the colour came out exactly as planned though to be honest I am comparing with memory (unreliable given the amount of this stuff I drank in my youth) and some pictures I found on Google images. The fermentation process went well with the recipe calculator calling for a 1009 FG which is exactly the measurement on the hydrometer out of the primary. Aroma seemed close to. I was indeed hopeful but I have been hopeful before and walked away disappointed. I bottled the beer after 1 week in the secondary using Cooper Carb drops for priming. Following my own tip to leave ales primed with Coopers for 4 weeks I waited one whole month before sampling the final brew. So here we are, our first beer to get promoted to the permanent recipe page, and the first of the BJCP English Pale Ale series. 🙂
So my record in the English Pale Ale recipe section has picked up a bit in recent weeks. Here is the current roundup with 1 recipe to go:
- My example generic best bitter modelled after the BJCP style using only kent hops, Kentish Best Ale, was a solid 7/10
- I have upgraded my Fullers ESB also to a 7/10 after my lessons learned on aging ales
- Green King Abbot Ale – 6/10
- Wadworth 6X – 4/10
- Flowers Original Ale – 9/10
I have the Fullers London Pride clone conditioning and showing promise. So maybe I can get 2 of my English Pale Ale classification recipes to reach my self imposed 8/10 grade required to be promoted to my permanent recipes page. Getting to this page ensures its a recipe I have faith in and something I would recommend to other people to brew. I will continue to refine the other recipes that did not make the grade with the goal of getting all of them over 8/10 and therefore enjoyable by all.
I welcome everyone to go ahead and brew this recipe and enjoy a near reproduction of a British classic. Send along your comments, brew notes and suggestions, we still have one 1 point to gain for a 10/10 after all. Give one to a Bud Lite drinker, it will make them cry, InBev can go……… nite nite
