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With fresh hop season just about done, hops are back even more front and center than usual. And fresh hops are but one of the many variants that come from this one plant.
Which made me grateful for this post from The Crafty Pint which breaks down the different modes of lupulin transport into beer along with notes from brewers as well. It is a helpful list that I will keep for future reference.
Finally, some streaming beer content and it even name checks my hometown!
And if you want some companion material, head HERE.
Time to see how much you know about hops.
Head HERE to catch-up on your hop terms.
My particular favorite is Twiddling.
Maybe you were not as good as you could have been this year and if you feel like Santa is going to miss out on smartly decorating your beer drinking area because you are on the naughty list then maybe you will need to fix the situation yourself with some super snazzy hop art prints for your wall, click HERE to check them out.
I would have posted an image but I could not decide which I liked the most.
If you had to pick two breweries with a mastery of hops, I think many would have Firestone Walker and Beachwood Brewing on their bingo cards.
So here you go…
Russian River Brewing and hops go together like peanut butter and jelly. You may have seen their posts on social media from the hop fields and timed to that are two hoppy options that others may have seen but are brand new to me. Mosaic Stack and the metronomed Tempo Change.
Hop cones have been the subject of many pieces of art not just on labels but as art, art as well. Need proof? Well then look right HERE.
I am not going to add an image to force you to click the link.
Stone released their first anniversary beer under Sapporo and surprise, it is an Imperial IPA.
This triple dry hopped imperial IPA pours a surprising dark orange color. It is a shade under 10% ABV so it is quite a big beer with a very creamy malty mouthfeel to it. The hops coat the mouth with each sip. To start I get berry notes but that moves to a more lemon lime flavor as it warms up. Stone has a few hop tricks for what some might think is just another big IPA.
The more farm information on labels the better in my mind. And better yet to put it on the front with logos instead of tucked into small font wording on the back.
Radiant Beer Co. gives the shout out to Loftus Ranches as well as Yakima Chief for Every Hero Needs an Origin Story.
Starting with Idaho 7 and “supporting hops of Citra, Loral, and Simcoe make this a tremendously rich flavored experiment in hops. It’s crystal clear, with prominent aromatics of fresh pineapple juice, ripe cantaloupe, tangerine, papaya, and citrus zest, also showcased in its flavor as ripe tropical fruit, kaffir lime, and a wisp of pine. The finished bee is a zesty one, that’s dry, balanced, and easy to drink, with medium bitterness and bright carbonation.”
Ambitious Ales has a new can drop with what they are labeling a Cosmic Hazy IPA called Dream Tea.
Here is their description…
”We took our standard hazy base and supercharged it with Phantasm derived from New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc grapes in the whirlpool along with Citra Icognito and dry hopped with Mosaic Spectrum…
”Fermented with a hyper-thiol driving yeast strain designed to unlock some of the most intense fruity characters we’ve experienced in any fermentation to date! Dream Tea has a nice medium body with low bitterness and packed with huge notes of Fruit Gushers, Fresh Mango and Lychee while finishing with a touch of hoppy resin.”