Beer of the Week: Chilly Nelson

From the Beer Writer: In case you’ve been too infatuated with summer-friendly straw-hued lagers to notice, the reigning trendiest beer style in the land is the “cold IPA”. Named for the conditions under which it ferments—temperatures closer to the low range lager-yeast find so agreeable for sugar-to-alcohol conversion—this style has become darn near ubiquitous. And not just in San Diego. Cold IPAs are now commonplace across the country. New beer styles can be fun to explore and, of course, to sample, but that wasn’t the case during the early months of the cold-IPA craze. Having sampled them in several states through my travel-writing endeavors, I can say that most came up short in balance, structure, hop-expression and overall craftsmanship. It reminded me of the early days of brut IPAs a few years ago. Designed to deliver big hops at around 7% alcohol-by-volume against an uber-effervescent champagne (of beers) backdrop—a tall order for even the most seasoned brewer—most of them fell fall short of ambitions and expectations, enough that the style all but died around six months after thundering onto the scene. Fortunately, the quality of cold IPAs has increased as brewers document their processes and share information. It appears cold IPAs are here to stay and it’s getting easier and easier to find exquisite examples of the style like this week’s featured beer, Chilly Nelson from Bay City Brewing. Well attenuated with good body and balance, it allows New Zealand’s most popular and uniquely expressive hop, Nelson Sauvin, to show all it has to offer. Aromas of Sauvignon blanc, limestone and guava transition to flavors of ripe peach and apricot, plus a bitterness that presents as petrol. It’s a sensorial cornucopia that’s easy to dissect via this nicely crafted cold IPA.

From the Brewer: “When we started experimenting with the cold-IPA style, we immediately knew we wanted to try one with Nelson Sauvin hops. These highly coveted hops feature a bright citrus character and complex fruity notes that we thought would really shine in a cold IPA. For Chilly Nelson, we started with a simple grain-bill of pilsner malt and flaked rice, then focused most of the hop-additions on the late-kettle and fermenter to make sure we kept all that wonderful Nelson hop flavor and aroma. Even though this is a relatively new style, the book on cold IPA has been to use a lager yeast strain and ferment at a warmer-than-usual temperature, but we wanted to try something different. So we decided to try using our normal house ale yeast but fermented significantly colder than a typical IPA, and we were blown away by the results. What we ended up with was amazingly refreshing and crisp, with an incredible bouquet of hop flavor and aroma without the weight of a typical IPA. The Nelson hops take center stage in Chilly Nelson with notes of pineapple, lemon and peach nectar, but finishing dry and refreshing with very little lingering bitterness. It’s exactly what we want to drink on a sunny San Diego afternoon.“—Austin Pinder, Brewmaster, Bay City Brewing