Two years ago I brewed a hoppy amber ale that I named Hoppy Boston Hoppy Fall. The final beer was good, but I am a relentless tinkerer and there were a few things that I thought could be better, so I started working on a new version. The beer was designed to smell like an IPA and have good hop flavor, but also have a full caramel malt body and mild bitterness. I was hoping for a little more body and a little more hop flavor and aroma in the second generation brew. You can find the original recipe and tasting notes HERE. For the additional body I used Crystal 75 instead of 40 and added some CaraPils. I also made the beer a little lighter alcohol-wise. Instead of focusing exclusively on Simcoe hops in my late/dry additions I added some Citra and Cascade to diversify the hop profile. My new recipe is as follows:
Malts: 1 lb. Victory, 1 lb. CaraMunich I (40 L), 1 lbs. Crystal 75 L, 0.5 lb. Carapils, 3.3 lbs. Briess Light LME, 1 lb. Breiss Light DME
Hops: 1 oz. Columbus hops (60 min), 1.0 oz. Simcoe hops (20 min), 1.0 oz. Simcoe hops (1 min), 1.0 oz. Citra hops (1 min), 1.0 oz. Simcoe hops (Dry hop in the secondary), 1.0 oz. Citra hops (Dry hop in the secondary), 1.0 oz. Cascade hops (Dry hop in the secondary)
GigaYeast (GY011) British Ale #1 yeast
Primary fermentation was 7 days followed by a 14 day secondary fermentation. I went a little light on the bottling sugar to keep the carbonation moderate in the final beer.
Hoppy Boston Hoppy Fall Take 2 pours a deep amber with a solid off-white head. The scent is a huge burst of hops, citrus and tropical fruit. While the beer smells like an IPA, the taste is much more balanced. There is plenty of hop flavor, notes of orange, grapefruit, mango and papaya but very mild bitterness. This is complemented by a full dose of malt, touches of caramel, fresh bread and honey. The beer is medium bodied and very easy to drink. The finish is clean with some lingering hop and malt flavors. This is one of the best beers I’ve brewed at home. My company has Friday socials and I shared a few of my recent homebrew batches this week, this beer got rave reviews. I will definitely brew it again next fall!
Hoppy Boston 
