Recipe Kit Cascade Single Hop Pale Ale

The Cascade Single Hop Pale Ale is a clean American-style Pale Ale built around one hop variety: Cascade. It's the hop that defined a generation of American craft brewing — bold citrus and floral aromatics, grapefruit and lemon character, with a clean, refreshing bitterness. This kit isolates it completely, letting you taste exactly what Cascade contributes without anything else competing for attention.

The case for single-hop brewing

Single-hop recipes are a favourite among brewers who want to understand their ingredients. When there's only one hop variety in the beer, you can hear it clearly — its aroma, its bitterness, how it interacts with the malt. Cascade is one of the best possible teachers: expressive, distinctive, and widely loved for reasons that become very obvious in the glass.

The malt extract base in this kit is deliberately clean and simple — it provides fermentable sugars and a light golden colour without adding complexity that would compete with the hops. You end up with a beer where every aromatic and flavour note traces back to a single variety, which is both a genuine learning experience and a very good pale ale at 4.4–4.6% ABV.

What's in the box

• Malt extract base with adjuncts (clean fermentable base, pale golden colour)
• Cascade hops — measured for a single-hop addition (delivers characteristic citrus-floral aroma and balanced bitterness)
• Brewery-grade yeast (clean attenuation, lets Cascade carry the beer)
• Full step-by-step brew day instructions with all measurements

Technical specs

• Style: American Pale Ale
• ABV: 4.4–4.6%
• IBU: 25–30 (moderate, satisfying bitterness)
• EBC: 8–13 (light golden to light amber)
• Original Gravity: 1.040–1.042
• Final Gravity: 1.010–1.012
• Fermentation temp: 18–23°C
• Batch volume: 21 litres (approx. 55 × 330ml stubbies or 28 × 750ml longnecks)
• Method: Malt extract kit
• Difficulty: Beginner–Intermediate
• Ready to drink: 3–4 weeks from brew day

Flavour profile

• Aroma: Floral and fruity — bold grapefruit and lemon citrus with hints of mild spice
• Appearance: Light golden yellow with a dense white head
• Flavour: Cascade citrus character over a clean, smooth malt backbone — grapefruit, lemon, faintly spicy
• Mouthfeel: Light-to-medium body with a fresh, lingering finish
• Bitterness: Balanced and satisfying — noticeable without being harsh

Who this kit suits

• Brewers who want to understand what Cascade actually tastes like — this is the kit that answers the question
• Anyone who's brewed a few batches and wants to start exploring individual hop varieties
• Great for side-by-side comparisons with our Galaxy Pale Ale — two different varieties, two very different characters
• Beginners and experienced brewers alike — a clean recipe with a lot to teach

Hamish's verdict

Cascade can turn harsh if fermentation temperatures run too high — 19–21°C is the sweet spot for this kit. It's also worth cold-conditioning in the bottle for at least a week before you crack the first one. The citrus and floral character is at its best when it's had time to settle and integrate.

Reviewed by the AHB Brewing Team — June 2026. Last updated: June 2026.