Have you heard the news (or better yet, drank the brew)!? Merman NY IPA has officially disembarked from the shores of Coney Island and is now available throughout Manhattan. It was quite the ride arriving to the final recipe. See what our brewers had to say about the journey to the first-of-its-kind NY IPA below.
From the Brewing Squad:
From the beginning, we wanted to create something different in this beer. It took several attempts and multiple recipe iterations before we felt like we hit on a great beer. Experimenting with yeast strains, temperature and hops definitely came into play as we worked to fine tune Merman.
Our goal was to brew a beer that contributed to the development and evolution of the IPA category. New England-style, hazy IPAs are the big craze in craft beer at the moment — for good reason — but, we were looking to intertwine those bitter West and malty East Coast IPAs, with both the haze and aromatic punch of the emergent New England IPA. In short, something that embodied New York, but paid homage to those foundational IPAs of the last two decades.
To start, we began experimenting with our Underpass IPA, a 4.8% ABV session unfiltered IPA. This beer included high additions of wheat, oats, and flaked barley for high protein haze stability. Then we shifted our hop additions; 1% of total hops as bittering with the remaining 99% as a whirlpool and dry hop additions. This resulted in an easy-drinking, hazy, fruity beer and it was a hit at our brewery.
Our next foray was Kleindeustchland, where we used German aroma hops from the Hüll breeding program (Mandarina Bavaria, Hüell Melon, and Hallertau Blanc), along with Kölsch yeast and Weyermann Melanoidin malt, to create a German-ingredient-only, unfiltered, 5.5% ABV pale ale. Huge melon, orange and kiwi flavors, and tropical aromas dominate, but are complemented by a strong melanoidin malt backing, finishing clean with the classic Kölsch “snap.”
Following the success of these two beers in our brewery, we tackled what we felt was a true NE/VT IPA in “90 Years Young.” An intensely hazy beer (high oat and wheat additions) weighing in at 9%, incorporating new ingredients such as Mosaic Lupulin Powder and English Ale Yeast (1318), along with traditionally fruity and citrusy hops Mosaic, Citra, and Amarillo. This beer is currently one of the most popular with our customers.
Our series of trials and experiments have brought us the Merman NY IPA and we couldn’t be happier with the final outcome. This beer is a synergy of everything we’ve learned, through development into a single brew. It’s unfiltered, heavily dry hopped, and complemented by a strong malt backbone, as in traditional East Coast IPA styles… and extremely sessionable at 5.8%.
Mosaic Lupulin powder is incorporated into the dry hop, bringing an intense fruit aroma to the drinker’s nose before the first sip. Bravo bittering hops followed by Mosaic, Galaxy, and Mandarina Bavaria aroma hops shine through, presenting mango, tangerine, and blueberry notes. The heavy hopping is complemented by a firm Honey Malt addition, giving the beer a balanced sweetness and toasty malt flavor, finishing crisp as befits the London Ale Yeast, creating a truly unique IPA. We adjusted our dry hopping procedures to capture as much aroma as possible.
The Details
MALT: 2-Row Brewers Malt, Maris Otter, White Wheat, Flaked Oats, Honey Malt, Acidulated Malt
HOPS: Bravo, Mosaic, Galaxy, Mandarina Bavaria
ABV: 5.8% IBU: 55
Pairs Well With:
Joe: Pizza. Seriously what’s better than a NY slice and a NY IPA? The bitterness and effervescence of the IPA will cut through the fat and richness of the cheese. Toasty crispy crust melds with the honey and toasted characters of the malt.
Devin: I love IPAs with anything spicy; from hot curry to jerk chicken and everything in between, the hops accentuate capsaicin heat. I could see it next to a spicy mango salsa as the citrus character would compliment the fruitiness perfectly.
Available In:
The NY metro area in 6 packs of bottles, 6 and 12 packs of cans and on draft! Check the Beer Finder to see who’s carrying it on tap and on shelves!