ThaiPA

When you sit down to judge a specialty beer category, you look at the list for the “scary” beers and decide what needs to be tasted last. The head judge looks as well and asks, “Everybody OK with this order?” (already knowing that they are). And nothing moves to the end of the list faster than chile beer.

This year, when I was judging at the Doug King Memorial homebrew competition, the first beer shoved down the list was a Thai Chile Basil IPA. Naturally, the beer ended up mine to judge. What followed was a surprising, beautifully spicy, pleasantly hot beer that tamed the chile with a caramel cracker base. The fruity punch of hops melded with lime leaves and a minty blast of Thai basil.

The end result was an amazingly well-done beer. It provided everything from the description minus the “atomic warhead chile” heat effect. I wrote on the scoresheet, “Send me the recipe,” and a few days later, brewer Derek Johnstone reached out with what is the third version of his ThaiPA recipe.

His process for developing the beer was a lot like mine: a precisely measured glass of beer with 1 mL chile extract, 1 mL lime leaf extract and 0.5 mL basil extract. Scale up the measurements and mix into a keg for a perfect effect. Here’s where Derek and I disagree—he eventually wants to make things “proper” by using spices in the boil kettle and chilies in the fermentors, but I don’t see the need because to me, the tinctures aren’t cheats.

THAIPA REV 3
For 5.0 gallons at 1.067, 59 IBU, 8 SRM, 7.1% ABV

Malt / Grain / Sugar
11.0 lb. domestic 2-Row malt
0.33 lb. Crystal 60L
0.12 lb. Carapils

Mash
Strike 152°F for 75 minutes. Raise to 170°F to mash out.

Hops (Pellets)
0.79 oz Apollo | 17.8% AA | 90-minute boil
0.43 oz Sorachi Ace | 11% AA | 30-minute boil
0.50 oz Galaxy | 14.5% AA | 30-minute boil
0.50 oz Sorachi Ace | 11% AA | 30-minute boil
0.50 oz Simcoe | 13% AA | 30-minute boil
0.50 oz Apollo | 17.8% AA | 30-minute boil
0.75 oz Sorachi Ace | 11% AA | dry-hop
0.50 oz Galaxy | 14.5% AA | dry-hop

Yeast
White Labs WLP001

Extras (added at packaging)
21 mL Thai chile extract
21 mL kaffir lime leaf extract
10.5 mL Thai purple basil extract ■