Fegley's Implosion Pale Ale

This explosive, candy IPA — brewed with watermelon Jolly Ranchers — can be “detonated” by topping off your pint glass with a pinch of Pop-Rocks to add a little bang to your beer.

Bowen explains the recipe, “We have milkshake IPAs, cupcake IPAs, and now we have candy IPAs.

“Our buddy Dante Pasqualucci (who grew up in the shadow of Martin Tower on Bethlehem’s west side) said, ‘Hey, what are you doing for the Martin Tower implosion?’ I said that I didn’t really have a plan. Then he said, ‘Why don’t you add Pop-Rocks to a beer.’ And I said, ‘That’s a terrible idea.’

“Then I said, ‘Wait, that’s a good idea!’

“And it’s hard to find Pop-Rocks. I went to Five Below out on Airport Road looking for Pop-Rocks, and they have all kinds of Japanese candy and other off brands. Nothing. But, then I wound up going on Amazon and bought a few cases of Pop-Rocks. I bought a sampler … different flavors, you know, to see what would work in a beer.

“I brought some of our Brew Works’ Valley Golden home and started mixing and experimenting with this good base beer. I started dumping in these weird Pop-Rocks flavors. Candy Apple didn’t taste good. Strawberry didn’t taste good. Milk Chocolate didn’t work either. But then the watermelon Pop-Rocks … I thought, ‘That’s okay. I can work with this.’”

So, how many Jolly Ranchers did it take to brew the candy IPA?

“I was in the kitchen, experimenting some more … I melted down probably 2,000 Jolly Ranchers. Watermelon. I poured cup-by-cup into the fermentors (laughs). So it definitely has a watermelon profile. Of course it does.”

Weighing in at 6.8% ABV (alcohol by volume), “Implosion Pale Ale” was brewed with pale and Munich malts. Then, extra fruity hops including Huell Melon, Chinook, Mandarina Bavaria, Nugget and Calypso were added and fermented, along with the watermelon-flavored Jolly Rancher candies.

From The Morning Call: https://www.mcall.com/entertainment/food-drink/beer/mc-ent-implosion-pale-ale-martin-tower-beer-20190514-zixrexxncrf2bhllkpdzb3t524-story.html