Janet's Brown Ale

This is a recipe by well known home brewer Mike McDole (aka 'Tasty' on the forums he frequents).

It's a recipe that received great publicity when it took gold at the 2004 National Homebrew Competition (NHC). At the time it was entered under category 23 Specialty Ale.  Today, the newest 2015 BJCP Guidelines include a category 21B called "Specialty IPA" which covers different varieties and strengths. According to both Gordon Strong (BJCP President) and Tasty, under the new guidelines this beer would be "Category 21B - Specialty IPA - American Brown IPA".

The award winning recipe was then featured in Jamil Zainasheff and John Palmer's book Brewing Classic Styles (our favourite recipe book) as an example of a bigger, hoppier American Brown Ale.

If you like hoppy American style ales like IPAs, this is one you definitely have to try as it leans more to an IPA than to a stout or porter. We've brewed this beer numerous times now and it's one of our favourites. The malt and hop flavours work perfectly together. For years brewers had been told that you can't mix roasty with hoppy, that the two flavours would clash and not work well together. Tasty was probably one of the first to prove the status quo wrong.

This beer is available as an extract kit or all-grain kit with everything you need from MoreBeer.

Brew up a batch and let us know how you like it!