Ahhh makes sense
Of course, that has no bearing on us retired guys, huh, Jeff? 
I’ve always seen that one as NWS, not work-safe.
There are still some things that one must use common sense on.
[quote]The big exception is SN Celebration which I feel is a beautifully made IPA; to me, it’s the best one out there in both flavor and balance.
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I had a Celebration just the other night at a local pub and felt it was closer to an American Amber. While it was lovely, I found it quite mild in hop bitterness and aroma. Maybe I’ve become desensitized - or perhaps the bartender is just grabbing tap handles randomly again (I’ve never returned a meal, but I’ve returned the wrong draft on occasion). Or, had this one faded from its fresher glory with time and travel distance (I’m in CT).
You must have gotten a different batch than I did. The hop character in what I’ve had has been fantastic.
I’m on my third twelve pack this year and I’ll say that you must have been served the wrong beer. It has a ton of hop flavor and bitterness and a fresh hop aroma.
Maybe they tapped a keg from last year…
Our liquor store in town finally got celebration ale in and I had some last night. It was wonderful as always. If there was a mix up in kegs it could have been worse. About a month ago we were at a bar and they had Flying Fish Oktoberfish tap handle hooked up to a Miller Lite keg.
I’ll buy a six pack of Celebration today, then go back to the pub and order another so that I’m better informed. Sounds like I got the wrong beer.
Let us know what you think. Regarding your amber comment: I find there are two types of American IPA’s those with more caramel than I care for and those with less caramel, which is what I prefer.
There are a lot of them in the too much caramel category in my opinion.
I totally agree. I limit crystal to 5% in my IPAs for that reason. If I’m making an American Amber, I’ll come up a bit.
FWIW, Celebration is 9-10% C55-60.
This blows my mind every time I hear it because there are so many syrupy sweet commercial IPA’s out there. It makes me wonder what everyone else is doing wrong when SN makes a killer IPA with that much crystal malt.
Whoa! 10% crystal is not a big deal. On top of that, the fermentability of the rest of the wort is going to have a huge effect on the final character of the beer. I recall that SN does mash at very modest temperatures which promotes the fermentability of the wort and the resulting dryness of the beer. Having a bit of crystal is probably not that big a deal.
the byo recipe from a few months back has them mashing 156 or 157. Which I have used and it does work.
The base malt is NA 2 row, which is high in a Diastatic power.
I know for a fact that they mash at 158.
Martin, I agree about the crystal. It’s not what you use as much as how you use it. SN mashes Celebration at 158 with 10% crystal and still manages to make a very well balanced IPA with a nice dry finish.
well 156 comes out with the right fg on my system. Denny you seem to have some insight on SN celebration, any chance they are using pale ale malt instead of plain 2 row?