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Single-hop Cascade brewing is the most historically significant experiment in this series, the original American craft hop, the variety that changed what beer could taste like, and still one of the best single-hop showcases available. I’ve brewed all-Cascade pale ales more times than any other single-hop project, partly for the pleasure of it and partly because Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, the beer that introduced most Americans to hop-forward craft beer, is essentially a single-hop Cascade showcase at commercial scale.
Single-hop Cascade American pale ale recipe (5 gallon / 19L batch)
Target stats: OG 1.053, FG 1.011, ABV ~5.5%, IBU 38, SRM 5–7, clear golden-amber. Grain bill: 9 lbs (4.08 kg) American two-row pale malt. 0.5 lb (227g) Crystal 40L, medium caramel sweetness that is the traditional pale ale malt complement; Sierra Nevada uses Crystal 60L, but 40L better showcases Cascade’s grapefruit-citrus without the heavier caramel of 60L competing. 0.25 lb (113g) Carapils, head retention. Hops, all Cascade: Bittering (60 min): 0.75 oz Cascade, 22 IBU. Cascade’s moderate alpha (5.5–7%) and moderate cohumulone (33–40%) produce clean, slightly assertive bittering, appropriate for a pale ale that should have noticeable but not aggressive bitterness. Flavor (30 min): 0.5 oz Cascade, 8 IBU. The 30-minute Cascade addition is traditional in Sierra Nevada-style pale ales; it produces flavor character between the bittering and aroma additions. Aroma (5 min): 0.75 oz Cascade. Dry hop (5–7 days): 1.0 oz Cascade. Total Cascade: 3.0 oz. This is a deliberately restrained total hop rate versus modern NEIPA standards, Cascade single-hop pale ale is about balance and integration, not intensity. Fresh, well-stored Cascade at 3 oz in a 5-gallon American pale ale produces the grapefruit-citrus-floral character that the style was designed around without the saturation of modern high-dry-hop recipes. Yeast: Sierra Nevada uses their house Chico yeast (White Labs WLP001 California Ale, Wyeast 1056, or Fermentis US-05, all the same or closely related strain). Clean, highly attenuative, neutral ester profile that lets Cascade’s character lead. Ferment at 19°C (66°F). Water: Moderate minerals, calcium 75 ppm, sulfate 110 ppm, chloride 75 ppm. Sierra Nevada’s Chico, California water is moderately mineralized; the sulfate supports Cascade’s grapefruit bitterness without making it harsh. Process: Single infusion mash at 67°C (153°F) for 60 minutes. 60-minute boil. Single dry hop at terminal gravity for 5–7 days. Cold crash 48 hours. Fine with gelatin for the clear, classic American pale ale appearance. Package at 2.5 volumes CO2. Best consumed at 3–6 weeks, Cascade’s fresh citrus character is most vibrant early but the beer holds well for 8–10 weeks.
Common Questions
Is Sierra Nevada Pale Ale actually a single-hop Cascade beer?
Sierra Nevada Pale Ale uses Cascade as its primary and defining hop, the original recipe and current commercial version both feature Cascade prominently at bittering, flavor, and dry hop additions. Whether it’s technically single-hop depends on the specific commercial formulation at any given time; Sierra Nevada has disclosed that they also use Centennial in some addition stages in the current recipe. For homebrewing purposes, the Sierra Nevada Pale Ale clone that has been brewed by homebrewers since the 1980s uses Cascade exclusively, and the result closely matches the commercial beer. The more interesting historical question is the origin of the recipe itself: Ken Grossman and Paul Camusi brewed Sierra Nevada Pale Ale in 1980 specifically to showcase the Cascade variety that was available cheaply in Northern California at the time. The choice of Cascade was partly economic and partly the availability of the then-new USDA variety in Yakima. The fact that this economic decision produced one of the most influential beers in American craft brewing history, and effectively established Cascade as the defining American craft hop, is one of brewing history’s better accidents. The recipe above is a faithful homebrewer’s interpretation of the original Sierra Nevada approach: moderate, balanced, built around Cascade’s grapefruit-citrus-floral character at every stage.
