Page 43 - Demo

38the standard 20-25 IBUs of pale ales at the time.114 Owens arguably created the first American India Pale Ale by focusing on hoppiness. IPAs are the number one selling craft beer in the US, followed by seasonal beers including pumpkin ales.115 Owens followed Alimony Ale with Hearty Ale, an Imperial IPA brewed in honor of Buffalo Bill%u2019s bartender who survived heart surgery.116Hearty Ale was one of the first Imperial or Double IPAs, a beer style name that would not be coined for another decade. The term imperial or double refers to a recipe that has higher levels of hops and malt than the regular version of the beer style, leading to a stronger or higher alcohol style.117 Finally, in 1985, Owens received a mysterious package in the mail, three small cans, each about the size of peanut cans and stuffed with hop pellets from Tasmania. So he brewed an imperial version of Buffalo Amber with only Tasmanian hops and called it Tasmanian Devil with an image of the marsupial on the logo.118 Owens was the first US brewer to make anAustralian-hopped beer, leading to more publicity. Unfortunately, that press got the attention of Warner Bros., who threatened to sue Buffalo Bill%u2019s Brewery for trademark infringement of the Looney Tunes character. Owens was deposed in Los Angeles and swore under oath that he was not inspired to create a beer by a cartoon. Though Warner Bros. did not pursue a lawsuit this controversy created more publicity for Buffalo Bill%u2019s Brewery. All four products (Pumpkin Ale, Alimony Ale, Hearty Ale, and Tasmanian Devil) were bottled by hand at Buffalo Bill%u2019s Brewery with priming sugar, a labor-intensive process (see figure 19 for an example of hand-filling beer). Over time, Owens introduced other seasonal and one-off beers including wits or spiced Belgian wheat ales, Octoberfests, brown ales, Christmas ales, Russian imperial stouts, and barleywines.119 Figure 18 shows various labels used over the