I do like cider but rarely do I get it. I usually see so many beers that I want that the apples get shunted off to the side for another day. But when I saw a cider that was dry hopped with Cascades, well I picked it up.
Anthem ciders are crafted at the Wandering Aengus Ciderworks in Oregon. This one was an extremely light yellow and very bubbly. It wasn’t sour but it was stomach gurgly inducing acidic. The aroma was a battle of apple farm and that signature Cascade hop. A bit muddled to me. The taste grew on me even though it was much brighter tasting when cold. Again, though I got quite a bit of fight between these two distinct flavors. They didn’t seem to quite flow together. And though it did catch my eye and get me to pick up a cider, it did not win me over in the end. But it sure is a pretty beverage to look at.
Old Hops
Snoqualmie Brewery up in Washington state has a new brew that uses hops resurrected from 130 years ago
“But a century after time and trouble all but erased the Snoqualmie Hops Farm from the Valley, beer is once again being flavored with the wild descendants of those original Meadowbrook vines. In September, volunteer pickers collected hops from vines preserved at the farm’s interpretive center. Those flower buds were used to flavor a special, limited edition dry-hopped Meadowbrook Farm Ale,…”
Whiskey and Hops
If you can’t get enough hops and must have it in every spirit you drink, well you are in luck. A distillery fronted by Marko Karakasevic has made two version of hop flavored whiskey using Bear Republic’s Racer 5 IPA.
Yoy can get Charbay Hop Flavored Whiskey R5 Clear or the more expensive Charbay Hop Flavored Whiskey R5 Aged.
The website goes on to say, “The beer is distilled in double copper alambic charentais pots 24 hours a day for nine days straight before being aged for 22 months in French Oak. The result offers a definite whiskey taste profile with clear notes of hops, fruit, and malt when sipped. Distiller Marko Karakasevic, who started such experimentation with a pilsner-fueled light whiskey for Charbay nearly fourteen years ago, says he used 6,000 gallons of Racer 5 to produce 590 gallons of the spirit.”
Karakasevic is also working on a version using Bear Republic’s stout.
Randall Jr.
Occasionally, some Randall action happens at special beer events. But it is not commonplace at bars. But now for an Andrew Jackson you can get the Jr. version from Dogfish Head and start experimenting.
“So you’ve tried to acquire the Randall 3.0 and it’s either out of stock or out of your price range, right? Well, we heard you and here’s the answer! The same concept in a much more convenient size and price tag. The Randall Jr. allows you to infuse your favorite brew with just about whatever ingredients you can think up. Midas Touch with lime and mint? Yes please! World Wide Stout with espresso beans? You betcha! Just place the ingredients in the Randall Jr. and pour the beer right over them. Place in a cold climate such as the fridge for 10 minutes or so and you’ve got an amazing concoction on your hands! Share with a friend…or not…we’re not judging.”
Learn about Hops
I briefly mentioned the Simple Earth Hops people a while back and now Matt Sweeny has announced 2-hour educational “Brewing Up a Community Hops Webinars” in March, April and May of this year, on the third Saturday of each month with a morning and evening session on each day.
From the press release, “commercial topics to be covered include marketing local hops, establishing a commercial hopyard, processing hops, how to use earth-friendly growing practices and lots of time for questions and answers. The cost for each webinar is $20, tickets are available at Eventbrite” and a full schedule is available online.
Critical Hit
What do you get when you let Ninkasi go wild with 11 hops?
This: CRITICAL HIT BARLEY WINE “comes with a warning – It is hopped to high heaven. 11 varieties of Hops. Two-hundred and twenty pounds of them, for only 17 barrels of beer! Its high gravity nature has been mellowing for a year to warm the cheeks and soul. Critical Hit will be released for the first time in limited release 22oz bombers and draft. Available Jan, 2012 100 IBUs 11.7% abv”
And to learn about other Ninkasi beer releases head to the excellent Brewpublic site.
Aramis – Calypso – Sonnet
Since it is #IPAday. It is more than appropriate to talk hops. Specifically three new hops that we might see more of because Stone is using them. Will they take off like Citra or Falconer’s Flight?
Here are some thumbnail sketches and I will let you decide….
from the Stone Brewing blog: “The Aramis hop is a brand new hop variety from Cophoudal in Alsace, France. Its parentage includes the Strisselspalt hop, a German style hop from Alsace. Strisselspalt has a very unique aroma-herbal like a German noble hop, but with hints of lemon as well, but it also has a very low alpha acid content, which makes it tough for using in craft ales. Aramis was at 8% alpha acids, so a really nice level.”
Here is what a home brew supply store’s take on Calypso. It “is a new breed of high alpha-acid hop with a pleasant, fruity aroma and flavor, with hints of pear and apple. It is typically used in ales, stouts and barleywines.”
Sonnet is a variation on the tried and true East Kent Goldings with a bit of peach flavor.
Top 5 IPA’s
Happy #IPADay!
Last month, I tallied some figures about my first 1,000 beers that I have rated. So you know that my highest ranked IPA was the canned version of Punk IPA from BrewDog and that my favorite DIPA was the Kern River Citra.
Here are the other IPA favorites of the last two years…..
Russian River Blind Pig – better than PtY and more plentiful
Hair of the Dog Blue Dot – when fresh this has a great bite to it
BridgePort Hop Harvest – 2009 was a great year. Looking forward to 2011
Mikkeller Single Hop Nelson Sauvin – grape and IPA. And it works!
Mammoth IPA 395 – super spicy and herby.
Kiwi Hops
After reading about New Zealand in the current issue of All About Beer, I was intrigued by the new hops talked about and thought that a little hop education was in order. But since I am not a grower or brewer, I decided to let the descriptions from THE source do the talking. New Zealand Hops Limited
Pacific Gem
A high alpha hop with a pleasant aroma and a useful bitterness level of 13% alpha acid. Pacific Gem can produce a cask oak flavour with distinct blackberry aroma, along with a woody character. Used as a bittering hop by internationally famous European brewers.
Green Bullet
This hop variety has a unique raisin-type character, a slight floral note and has been likened to giving a Styrian style flavour to the beer. It consistently averages more than 12% alpha acid and its aroma qualities match its excellent bittering power.
Super Alpha
A very reliable variety always giving better than 10% alpha acid. Super Alpha has a very encouraging humulene-caryophyllene ratio, similar to European aroma hops. A unique cross of the best English and German hops, Super Alpha produces a crisp clean flavour and also has some nice resin character.
Southern Cross
A spicy and lemony character typifies this high alpha variety with some slight piney and woody hints. Southern Cross has an excellent essential oil profile and low Cohumulone, whilst still producing alpha acid of 12%. It produces a very “European” flavour in beers.
Pacific Jade
The most recent release of the New Zealand Hop Research Programme Pacific Jade is a high alpha hop, averaging 12-14%, with low Cohumulone and an excellent oil profile. Brewing trials have shown that this hop gives the beer a clean crisp taste, with a nice balanced palate.
Both Pacific Jade and Green Bullet intrigue me. But which hop would you like to see more of?
Naja’s IPA Festival
“And so… It’s time for Naja’s Place to kick off our…
3rd Annual IPA Festival on Thursday, April 21st, 2011 for one week.
To mark our 30th Anniversary, this year we will feature somewhere in the neighborhood of 50 of the baddest, rarest, and resinous IPAs, DIPAs, and IIPAs on the West Coast (and a few beyond).”
