Heinken’s California brewery, Lagunitas is going all types of hoppy in the near future. Adding hazy to their Sumpin’ line and then wet-hopping another seasonal. No use for filters in Petaluma.
Hazy with a Change
Improve Your Lupulin Vocabulary
If you are subscribed to the Hop Queries newsletter, well then what kind of beer rabbit hole geek are you?
At the recent Brewing Summit 2018,
hop aromas were broken down into these groups and I think it is quite useful to
have handy the next time you try an IPA that is new to you to see where it
lands……
Fruity – Citrus
Grapefruit, Orange, Lemon, Lime, Tangerine, Mandarin
Fruity – Tropical
Mango, Pineapple, Papaya, Banana, Lychee, Guava, Passion Fruit, Coconut
Fruity – Berry
Raspberry, Strawberry, Blueberry, Blackberry, Concord Grape, White Grape,
Gooseberry, Black Currant/Catty, Red Currant, White Wine
Fruity – Stone Fruit
Peach, Apricot, Nectarine, Cherry, Plum
Fruity – Melon
Cantaloupe, Honeydew, Cucumber, Watermelon
Fruity – Pomme
Apple, Pear
Floral
Geranium, Rose, Lavender, Jasmine, Elderflower, Potpourri
Woody
Pine, Resinous, Cedar, Tobacco, Sandalwood
Herbaceous
Black Tea, Green Tea, Mint, Rosemary, Bergamot, Dill, Thyme, Basil, Sage,
Cannabis, Skunk, Menthol
Grassy
Fresh Cut Grass, Lemongrass, Green Leaves, Hay
Spicy
Black Pepper, Clove, Licorice/Anise, Ginger, Coriander, Cardamom
Sweet Aromatic
Caramel, Chocolate, Vanilla, Bubblegum
Medicinal
Plastic, Rubber, Burnt Rubber, Smoke, Petroleum, Diesel
Dairy
Cheese, Cream, Waxy
Earthy
Musty, Soil, Marsh, Moss
Vegetal
Onion, Green Onion, Garlic, Green Bell Pepper, Celery, Asparagus, Cabbage
This is very useful to see where your favorite hoppy beers are so that you can pursue ones with similar aroma profiles and really hone in on your preferred IPA.
Protect the Hops
Beer is dependent on farming and so far the current shit government we have has not been very helpful. Basically throwing paper towels at people in the form of “cash for tariffs”.
Thankfully there are some trying to improve the lot of hop farmers at least.
Check out this New School Beer post about how Oregon Senator Ron Wyden is fighting for hop protection.
Let’s hope we, as a nation, can create a (literally) a better environment for farmers to work in.
Featured Reviews – Hops from Figueroa Mountain
Figueroa Mountain has expanded their canned offerings and for the first of two “doubled-up” reviews, I re-taste Hoppy Poppy IPA and Lizard’s Mouth DIPA for the first time from cans and for the first time in quite a while.
First up is Hoppy Poppy IPA which pours a real dark orange. On the nose is a soft orange blossom aroma but this tastes much stronger than a normal, regulation IPA. There is a really strong malt backbone to this beer along with some pine notes that lurk in the background.
Next is Lizard’s Mouth DIPA which also sports an orange aroma but this is more hearty than just a blossom. There is heavier alcohol with a bit of burn to it putting this closer to a Barleywine in my book. The Lizard also holds a big malt presence and it is bitter but more in a radicchio way.
From these two examples, it appears that FigMtn is just upleveled hop wise which would make a Session IPA more in the IPA realm. Of the two, I like the Poppy a bit better due to the less heavy presence.
Dribble
File this away for when Russian River really gets their new, bigger Windsor brewery humming and maybe more beer heads to us in SoCal.
Not only will you probably get a really good IPA, but you will be learning some agricultural history….
Rad Riesling
Mixing the two worlds of wine and beer with just the right balance requires some serious blending skill. And considering that 2017 was the hottest year on record, I will need something light and refreshing which makes this offering from the Union Wine Company intriguing on two levels. You get grapefruit juice, Riesling wine and two C-Hops (Crystal and Cascade).
Part wine cooler, part radler and part hops.
Rose, cider & hops
I haven’t been sold on the mix of cider and hops. Maybe I just haven’t had the right one for me. But this summer, Tin City may have the answer…
That answer is blending cider with rose AND hops. If I can find a can, I will see if the Paso Robles cider house has cracked the code.
Yakima Hops
Know a trip to hop country in Yakima, Washington would be better with a trip to the hop fields but there are a couple good ideas that I can wholeheartedly approve.
1. Hop Museum – This would be my first stop. Even a small museum would probably hold some excellent hop knowledge.
2. Bale Breaker Brewing – This is one of the breweries that I really want to visit. The whole idea of being on the farm AND the brewery is great.
Check out all the ideas for a long weekend trip HERE.
The Firkin for March 2018
I was listening to the Beervana podcast while navigating my way to a beer fest when the topic of Desert Island hops was brought up. Host Patrick Emerson and Jeff Alworth discussed what five hops they would want access to to keep their beer needs satisfied.
I thought it made for an interesting reasonings for what one finds inmportant especially considering that the other main beer ingredients, except maybe for yeast, can’t really be debated. Hard water or Soft? Please. Malts are super important but no one is ordering a beer based on it. Though you could argue they should.
Anyway, here are my choices….
1. Saaz – gotta have this crisp pilsner hop available.
2. Cascade – this is the base IPA hop.
3. East Kent Goldings – a heritage hop that I can’t imagine not being around
4. Nelson Sauvin – the best example of Southern Hemisphere hops.
5. an experimental hop – I want to have something fresh and new around as well since #independent beer is based on what’s next.
Can They Make it Hazier?
Back to science! Yeast, that fermenting wonder that can give a beer the aroma of banana without a banana in the vicinity of the brew kettle might just be able to replicate hop flavors. (Keep in mind, not all, just some)
You can read about the breakthrough work HERE but the upshot is that a genetically modified yeast could produce flavors that mimic Beers with hops. The question is how long would it take to, say, have a Citra Yeast or a Three-C’s yeast. Probably quite some time.
This research even has the imprimatur of brewing professor, Charlie Bamforth from the University of California, Davis as co-author on the paper.
Whether brewers will replace the dry hopping late in the brewing process with a GMO yeast with DNA from mint and basil plant is a whole different experiment.