NORTHERN BREWER: High Gravity Ale Kits (Extract)

India Pale Ale - Extract Kit

OG: 1064 / Ready: 2 months

The problem: How do you get ale from England to India and keep it in good condition? The solution: IPA. Brewed strong and hoppy to withstand travel and aging, IPAs from brewers such as Hodgson's and Burton's spent up to five months in casks on a ship, sailing to Bangladesh and points east. Fortunately, you don't have to wait that long or go so far. This IPA is true to the original: amber-red, bursting with hops, and plenty heavy.

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$38.24

Imperial Stout - Extract Kit

OG: 1086 / Ready: 4 months

Imperial stouts were first brewed in England for export to the royal courts of the Russian Tsars. The tsars are gone, the beer remains, and it's still the choice of 9 out of 10 great Russian novelists and Mir repairmen. Thick, heavy, hoppy, and dark, here's a beer to test your courage.

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$43.59

Scottish Wee Heavy - Extract Kit

OG: 1083 / Ready: 3 months

Some Scottish historians theorize that Charles Stuart didn't flee Scotland after the failed 1745 uprising; instead, he had a few too many Wee Heavies in the Outer Hebrides and then just sort of woke up in France. History may keep her secrets, but you can share the experience of a Wee Heavy. There's a little Jacobite Revolution in every bottle. These are the very strongest of all Scottish ales, with a garnet-brown hue, profound maltiness and high alcohol content. Our Wee Heavy showcases complex toffee and vinous notes and a restrained hop character. Best imbibed in small doses, this kit continues to develop with age and is great for cellaring.

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$39.24

Winter Warmer - Extract Kit

OG: 1069 / Ready: 2 months

Minnesotans know more about keeping warm than just about anybody in the world. That's why we patterned our delicious Winter Warmer recipe after a famous locally brewed winter ale. This beer starts big and malty, and finishes with a warming alcohol note. It is hopped with spicy Willamette hops. Don't forget, a bottle of Winter Warmer makes a great stocking stuffer!

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$38.24

Barley Wine - Extract Kit

OG: 1082 / Ready: 6 months

Send the kids to bed when you break this one out. One of our strongest beers, this one requires a lot of aging. BABW is a huge ale with a huge malt bill and lots of hops to balance it. Another great English invention, there's no better holiday beer. Just brew a batch, wait, and congratulate yourself in a year. Consider cutting this recipe back to 4 gallons to achieve a gravity of 1.100!

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$42.59

Baltic Porter - Extract Kit

OG: 1075 / Ready: 2 months

Baltic porter is a close cousin of Imperial stout. Replicating the rich, heavy stouts shipped through their countries en route to Russia, brewers from Eastern Europe and Scandinavia recreated an English beer using Continental ingredients and techniques. The result: a big beer of great complexity. Our kit spotlights massive roasty, chocolate, and toffee notes with a broad-shouldered malt character and assertive hop bitterness and flavor. The unusual use of lager yeast (ideally fermented around 65° F) leaves Baltic porters cleaner and less fruity than an Imperial stout or barley wine. Brew a batch and tell 'em St. Urho sent you.

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$42.99

Double IPA - Extract Kit

OG: 1083 / Ready: 3 months

For those about to hop, we salute you! The "Double IPA", sometimes called "Imperial IPA", is an emerging style of beer that is distinctly American. The goal is to get as many hops in the beer as possible. Making the beer of an extremely high gravity (and alcohol) helps you tolerate bitterness in excess of 90 IBUs.

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$54.59

Three Hearted Ale - Extract Kit

OG: 1064 / Ready: 6 weeks

Is this the river Hemingway was really writing about in "Big Two-Hearted River?" Did he change the name in the story, not to hide the presence of brook trout as big as his arm from other fishermen, but to hide the presence of this beer? Obviously. NB's Three Hearted Ale is a larger-than-life American IPA with a hop aroma so thick you can almost see it. American base malt and crystal malt create the big body, pale-amber color, and slight grainy sweetness, while Centennial hops deliver pronounced bitterness and a citrusy aroma and flavor. Hoppy and appetizing, this beer can't be beat with grilled lake trout and baby potatos on a cool evening. Brew one and make Papa proud.

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$44.59

New Old Ale - Extract Kit

OG: 1070 / Ready: 2 months

English old ale is like English brown ale's big brother: they both have the same caramelly/nutty malt character with toffeelike, roasty overtones - old ales just have a lot more of it, and they approach barley wines in terms of body and alcoholic strength. Our formulation includes a proportion of oats, which helps build a creamy, mouth-filling body and hold a dense tan head atop the deep reddish-brown beer. The unconventional addition of dark candi sugar boosts the gravity and adds a rich, rum-like dimension to the complex flavor profile. Although our old ale uses a healthy charge of hops, the overall impression is of malty complexity rather than hoppy and bitter. This beer does well as an after-dinner mug-filler.

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$38.59

Lord Fatbottom - Extract Kit

OG: 1123 / Ready: 8 months

This obscenely rich and decadent American-style barley wine pushes the envelope in terms of ABV, bitterness, and caloric content. A deep mahogany strong ale that pours with a tan head and a big whiff of sweet malt and pungent hops... so many hops, in fact, that you could mistake this beer for an overgrown IPA when it's young. After a year, the malt comes forward and this potent elixer becomes truly fat. Don't try this one without a yeast starter or harvest and use yeast from a batch of Extra Pale Ale or Chinook IPA.

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$81.59

Big Honkin' Stout - Extract Kit

OG: 1068 / Ready: 2 months

We took inspiration from American-style foreign stouts for this recipe, combining high bitterness and gravity and an intense roasted grain character to make a pitch-black ale that can't be ignored. Strong, dark roast coffee with a shot of hops and background notes of tar, dark fruit, and carmelized sugar in the nose, giving way to a big mouthful of malt, roast grain, and more hops with a lingering bittersweet finish.

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$36.59

Super Alt - Extract Kit

OG: 1066 / Ready: 2 months

A few times every year, Altbier brewpubs in Dusseldorf brew a one-off batch that is stronger and hoppier than their regular ale and put it on tap unannounced and unadvertised; they call it Sticke ("secret"). Now you can repilcate this characterful beer and enjoy it at peak freshness; whether or not you choose to tell your friends is up to you. Clean, dry and malty with yeast-bread overtones and a firm hop bitterness, this beer is a bit darker, bigger, and has a larger hop aroma than our traditional German Alt. Shhhh!

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$45.74