Nine great recipes showcasing Simcoe hops

[seymour]

Forum member Deebee recently asked me for a good recipe to showcase Simcoe hops. This is an interesting enough topic that I decided to share with the group.

I love Simcoe hops, surely many of you do too. We've all tasted some delicious beers containing them…but usually in those insane hop bomb IPAs where Simcoe was blended with a long list of equally pungent New World hops (Columbus, Centennial, Citra, Bravo, Amarillo, Galaxy, Mosaic, Chinook, etc)…so it's hard to tell exactly what's what.

So, for your consideration, here are some tasty brews where Simcoe hops take a leading role. I like 'em best in malty dark ales, but not exclusively. Simcoe works well in a light but complex grainy ale too. You can't help but notice how well Simcoe pairs with the spicy/woodsy/fruity Ringwood Brewery dual-strain yeast.

Alpha Hoppy Brown
Alpha Brewing Company in St. Louis, Missouri, USA
Style: American Brown Ale
OG: 1059
ABV: 6.0%
Grainbill: 90% US Two-Row Pale, 10% Cara 120 Malt
Hops: Simcoe (60 min, 30 min, 5 min, then whirlpool after flame-out)
IBU: 50
Colour: deep amber, not exactly brown
Yeast: American Ale

Arcadia Sky High Rye
Arcadia Ales in Battle Creek, Michigan, USA
Style: American Pale Ale/Adjunct Grain
OG: 1058
ABV: 6.0%
Grainbill: 80% Pale, 20% Rye Malt
Hops: 43% Columbus (60 min), 23% Simcoe (30 min), 34% Centennial & Simcoe (at flame-out, then whirlpool)
IBU: 55
Colour: golden amber
Yeast: Ringwood brewery dual-strain yeast

Boulevard Unfiltered Wheat
Boulevard Brewing Company in Kansas City, Missouri, USA
Style: American Wheat Ale
OG: 1045
ABV: 4.4%
Grainbill: 56.5% Pale, 22% Wheat Malt, 19.5% Unmalted Wheat, 2% Munich Malt
Hops: Magnum (60 min), Simcoe (10 min)
IBU: 14
Colour: hazy golden
Yeast: American Ale

Dogfish Head Indian Brown Ale
Dogfish Head in Gaithersburg, Maryland, USA
Style: American Brown Ale
OG: 1074
ABV: 7.0%
Grainbill: 71.3% Pale, 7% Flaked Maize, 6.9% Dark Crystal Malt, 6.4% Amber Malt, 3.9% Brown Sugar, 3.5% Coffee, 1% Roasted Barley
Hops: Warrior (60 min = 33IBU), Simcoe (at flame-out = 17 IBU), Vanguard (dry hop for 21 days)
IBU: 50
Colour: brown
Yeast: Ringwood brewery dual-strain yeast

Great Lakes Blackout Stout
Great Lakes Brewing Co in Cleveland, Ohio, USA
Style: Stout
OG: 1096
ABV: 9.0%
Grainbill: 88% Pale, 5% Crystal 77L Malt, 4% Black Malt, 4% Roasted Barley (+ coffee added to fermentor)
Hops: Northern Brewer (60 min), Simcoe (10 min)
IBU: 50
Colour: black
Yeast: historic Worthington English ale strain, available as Wyeast 1028 and White Labs WLP013

Kirkstall Three Swords
Kirkstall Brewery in Leeds, West Yorkshire, UK
Style: Best Bitter
OG: 1044
ABV: 4.5%
Grainbill: 97% Maris Otter, 3% Crystal Malt
Hops: Centennial (90 min), Simcoe (45 min), Citra (at flame-out), dry hop with small quantity of all three
IBU: ≈30
Colour: light golden amber
Yeast: American Ale

Schlafly American Brown Ale
Schlafly in St. Louis, Missouri, USA
Style: American Brown Ale
OG: 1051
ABV: 5.0%
Grainbill: 80% Pale, 15% Dark Crystal Malt, 5% Pale Chocolate Malt
Hops: Amarillo extract (60 min), Chinook, Simcoe (15 min), Simcoe (dry hops)
IBU: 30
Colour: dark brown
Yeast: American Ale

Seymour Simcoe Mild
St. Louis, Missouri, USA
Style: (Americanized) Mild Ale
OG: 1038
ABV: 4.0%
Grainbill: 72% UK Pale, 14% Torrified Wheat, 9% US Cara 40L Malt, 4% UK Black Malt, 1% UK Chocolate Malt
Hops: Simcoe (First Wort Hops in a 60 min boil, 20 min, 5 min, and at flame-out)
IBU: 45
Colour: dark reddish brown
Yeast: Ringwood brewery dual-strain yeast

Shipyard Double Old Thumper Ale (big brother of Ringwood Old Thumper, brewed under license)
Shipyard Brewing in Maine, USA
Style: English Strong Ale
OG: 1108
ABV: 11.2%
Grainbill: 93% UK Pale, 5% Crystal Malt, 2% Chocolate Malt
Hops: Challenger, Progress (60 min), Goldings (15 min), Simcoe (dry hops)
Colour: deep copper
Yeast: Ringwood brewery dual-strain yeast

Hey, everyone else! Care to share your favourite Simcoe recipes?

Cheers,
-Seymour

[Clibit]

Thanks for these Seymour, I'm a Simcoephile and these look great. Will see what I can dig out.

[oakwell]

thanks for the recipes. I brewed this one last year and thought it was one of the best pale beers I'd brewed.
Style AIPA
OG 1067
ABV 7.3%
Grain 86% Pale Malt, 5% Munich Malt, 7% Crystal (Pale) Malt, 2% Crystal Malt
Hops Magnum (75 min), Centennial (10 min), Simcoe and Amarillo (5 mins)
IBU 76
Colour 21 EBC

[seymour]

There you go, oakwell. Sounds delicious, thanks for making an even 10. Anyone else have Simcoe recipe suggestions?

[gibbiem]

Seymour, this thread is gold! Unfortunately I've had to go on to kits for a bit due to a house move, got a coopers real ale kit, do you know if simcoe would work with that and how I could adapt it?

[Clibit]

Here is one I adapted from the Dark Island recipe you can find online:

Batch Size (L): 10.0
OG: 1.048
FG: 1.007
ABV: 5.43 %
Colour: SRM 18.3 EBC: 36.1
IBU: 43.1

1.500 kg Maris Otter Malt (79.37%)
0.110 kg Brown Sugar, Light (5.82%)
0.110 kg Crystal 40 (5.82%)
0.100 kg Wheat Malt (5.29%)
0.070 kg Chocolate (3.7%)

7.0 g Simcoe Leaf (13.2% Alpha) @ 60 Minutes
10.0 g Simcoe Leaf (13.2% Alpha) @ 15 Minutes
10.0 g Simcoe Leaf (13.2% Alpha) @ 5 Minutes
10.0 g Simcoe Leaf (13.2% Alpha) @ 0 Minutes

[seymour]

Here is one I adapted from the Dark Island recipe you can find online:

Batch Size (L): 10.0
OG: 1.048
FG: 1.007
ABV: 5.43 %
Colour: SRM 18.3 EBC: 36.1
IBU: 43.1

1.500 kg Maris Otter Malt (79.37%)
0.110 kg Brown Sugar, Light (5.82%)
0.110 kg Crystal 40 (5.82%)
0.100 kg Wheat Malt (5.29%)
0.070 kg Chocolate (3.7%)

7.0 g Simcoe Leaf (13.2% Alpha) @ 60 Minutes
10.0 g Simcoe Leaf (13.2% Alpha) @ 15 Minutes
10.0 g Simcoe Leaf (13.2% Alpha) @ 5 Minutes
10.0 g Simcoe Leaf (13.2% Alpha) @ 0 Minutes

Oh yeah, great idea Clibit! Another "Simcoe Mild"-ish concept. I really think Simcoe is perfect on top of a dark, complex malty base. Dark Island is such a great starting point for any experimentation, isn't it?

[Clibit]

Oh yeah, great idea Clibit! Another "Simcoe Mild"-ish concept. I really think Simcoe is perfect on top of a dark, complex malty base. Dark Island is such a great starting point for any experimentation, isn't it?

Agree completely, Simcoe works brilliantly with this kind of grain bill, mild and brown ales. I've done this recipe three times so far, one with the Orkney hops, then with Centennial, and then Simcoe. All three were excellent.