IPA Name in the Road

Name In The Road was awarded a Silver Medal in the Pale Ale category of the first annual Upper Mississippi Mash-Out homebrew competition, with the awards ceremony taking place at the Summit Brewery in St.Paul, Minnesota on May 5, 2002. (See the recipe to see the explanation for the rather odd name) The contest is run by members of the Minnesota Home Brewers Association and the St.Paul Homebrewers Club, and was begun in the wake of the Northern Brewer homebrew competition.

I am fortunate that Midwest Homebrewing Supplies is only a couple miles from my house, so I was able to get fresh ingredients and good advice from them regarding Name In The Road's fairly complex hopping schedule. This was the first time I used this recipe, but it certainly won’t be the last. I was very pleased with how it came out. I think any brewer with a good understanding of all-grain brewing techniques will have good luck with it.

Some of the comments from the judges on this beer were:
“Nice sweet maltiness comes on before the hops overwhelm in a lovely transition. The hops never come on too strong, but are well represented!”
“Nice hop aroma - malt is there, but dominated by hops, which is appropriate for the style. Smells clean”
“Good, clean beer. Needs more initial hop bitterness to be a great beer and balance with the rich malt character.”

I created the recipe for Name In The Road online at BeerTools.COM in February, drawing from several other recipes posted online there. I learned about BeerTools.com while taking a Beer Judge Certification Program (BJCP) class with the Minnesota Home Brewers Association this past winter, and since January 2002 I have been using BeerTools.com to formulate all of the beers I brew. I find the interface very easy to use, and very helpful in hitting the “numbers” necessary in creating contest winning beers. I also like the ability to go back in and comment on each stage of the beer's development. And when I'm ready to brew a beer again, my recipes and notes are as close as the nearest internet-connected computer.

View the recipe