The stock of cask ales has been replenished, so this time it’s an American ale, based on Snake River Pale Ale, from Snake River Brewery in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. I’ve never tried the commercial beer, but it won a gold Medal in the 1998 World Beer Cup, so it’s worth a try. Grist was pale, crystal, and Munich, with Chinook for bittering, Goldings for flavour and Cascade for aroma. Target OG was 1.050, we hit 1.052 instead, most likely as a result of a longer boil. I’m not sure of the exact boil period because the burner went out when the propane ran out, so I had to switch tanks. I added about 10 minutes to the boil to compensate, but the boil must not have been stopped for that long.

The Boathouse Bitter was racked to the firkin, with 2.5 ounces of Kent Goldings in the cask. Gravities didn’t drop much from a sample I took on Monday, they were both in the mid-teens. We tapped the Bluebird Bitter clone and it was quite tasty. The cask was quite lively, despite the low finishing gravities.