This recipe for a YPA (Y for yarrow, one of the principal flavors) came to me one summer afternoon after mowing the lawn. Yarrow, thyme, and savory have spilled out of my wife’s herb garden to become part of the lawn in one place, and they inevitably get mowed along with the dandelions and weeds that pass for grass. The aroma is amazing. One day after mowing, as I sat there sipping a very well-made local, commercially brewed pale ale, the aroma of hops, malt, and herbs mingled and I couldn’t get to my notepad fast enough to write down my latest brainstorm. And here it is.

(5 gallons, partial mash)

Ingredients:

• 2 lbs. pale malt
• 0.5 lb. medium crystal malt, 50° to 60° Lovibond
• 0.5 lb. malted wheat
• 6 lbs. unhopped light dry malt extract
• 1 oz. Fuggle hops (4% alpha acid) for 60 min.
• 1 oz. Northern Brewer hops (7% alpha acid) for 45 min.
• 0.5 oz. dried fresh yarrow flowers
• 1/8 oz. dried fresh savory
• 1/8 oz. dried fresh thyme
• 0.25 gal. English ale yeast culture (Wyeast 1098, for example)
• 1/3 cup corn sugar for priming
• 1/3 cup light brown sugar for priming

Step by Step:

Heat 1.25 gal. of water to 165° F, crush your grains, and add them to this water. Hold the mash at 152° F for 75 min. Run off the liquid and sparge with 2 gal. of water at 169° F. To the run-off in the kettle add the dry malt extract, then heat to boiling. Total boil is 60 min. Add the Fuggle hops and boil 15 min. Add the Northern Brewer hops and boil 45 min. more. Turn off the heat and add the yarrow, savory, and thyme (in a bouquet garni or fine mesh bag). Steep 30 min. as the wort begins to cool. Remove the herbs and chill the wort in an ice-water bath. Add to the fermenter after 60 min., along with enough cold, pre-boiled water to make 5.25 gal. At 68° F pitch the yeast culture.

Ferment near 65° F for 10 days, then rack to secondary and age an additional 10 to 15 days. Prime with a mixture of corn sugar and brown sugar, bottle, and condition cool (50° F) for three weeks.

Alternatives:

All-grain brewers: Increase the grain bill to 10 lbs. pale malt, 0.75 lb. crystal, and 0.75 lb. wheat. Use 3.75 gal. of mash water and sparge with 5 gal. of sparge water. Temperature and time are the same, as are the hop schedule and additions, but plan your boil to reduce the volume to 5.25 gal. Chill as quickly as you can after steeping the herbs.

All-extract version: Steep the crystal and wheat as above in 2 gal. of water and gradually heat to 170° F, then remove them. Increase dry malt extract to 7 lbs. and add 1 cup light brown sugar to the boil as well.

Herbs: The hops used in this recipe are for flavor and bitterness only. Aroma hops, a necessary part of an IPA, are replaced by a selection of very aromatic herbs from the garden, used essentially as dry hops. The combination given here is what I prefer, but of course you may use anything you like. This does have a bit of a medicinal aroma at first, but it mellows after a few weeks in the bottle. If you really want a fresh aroma and zing, use these herbs (or some additional) in the fermenter or secondary.

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