45 Minnow

Origin Story

We had one more brand new beer go on tap today at the pub. Referred to as the 45 Minnow, this beer is a continuation of the frequent style crossover hybridization that we have been experimenting with lately. Described as a hoppy Wheat Ale (I'm not even going to try to call it a India Pale Wheat or IPW, because that's just ridiculous) the idea to brew this beer was originally suggested by Joe Short, who first tried a style like this while visiting Big Sky Brewing Company in Missoula, Montana. Basically, the two existing styles that got fused together to make this new concept beer was an American India Pale Ale combined with qualities of an American Wheat Ale. Obviously, a substantial amount of hops, imparting an array of aromas, flavor, and bitterness would be the contributions from the IPA portion of this recipe. The similarities from the Wheat Ale would not be a traditional European yeast strain, but instead, the practice of using up to 50% malted wheat for the grain bill. In this instance, the brewers used a red wheat variety that, like all wheat, leaves a very delicate grain signature on the beers that are brewed with it. The cool thing about the hop component of this new wheat ale is that the brewers chose use a variety that we have never used before at Short's, called Calypso. By brewing this entire beer exclusively with these hops, the light delicate nature of a wheat ale should really allow us to see all of the benefits that this "dual purpose" hop has to offer.