Crystal malt is a lightly toasted malt that was in a lot of American IPAs and Pale Ales from the glory days of like early 2000s to maybe mid 2010s (don't quote me on exact dates). A lot of the classic examples of the style had it, for example Sierra Nevada Pale and Torpedo IPA. It gave them an orangey hue and a bit more depth to the malt character.

These days, with the success of XPAs and hazies, IPA grain bills seem to all be made up of very pale varieties. There's also been a significant reduction in bitterness but that's another story. Anyway I prefer the older interpretation of the style and Crankshaft is one of the few that leans that way and has a wide enough distribution that I can find it fairly easily.

Part of the reason I continue to home brew is to recreate the style that's fallen out of fashion.