Tag: hops

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Hop Forecast

Hoppy, with a chance of bitterness. All kidding aside since you should not trust any LA based weather prediction, here is the news from the hop bines….
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The latest report from the Hop Growers of America points to a sunnier future for this IPA crazed drinking nation.

Hop inventories in the U.S. have increased by 10 percent in the last 12 months compared to last year. That doesn’t mean your local brewer will be able to brew up an exotic SMaSH beer because only a portion of that 10% will go to what is called the Spot Market (the not already pre-ordered part of the market). The rest will fulfill contracts that are purchased years in advance.

This year will mark the fourth year in a row that the acres of hop fields have grown here in the U.S.. In addition, it is the third year internationally with Germany expected to increase its acreage of hops by 10%.

Part of me sorta hoped that the supply would stay tighter as it would force brewers into different styles or be more creative with their personal hop supply. That is the same part of me that wishes that George Lucas always had to work on a shoestring budget for his Star Wars and not rely on the old green screen so much.

This will certainly help logistically for many breweries who had to really plan out their brewing schedules and will hopefully trickle down to the new brewers who don’t have the access to hops that the established brewers do.

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Review – IPA Fest (The Leftovers)

First things first. At the 2016 LA IPA Festival, 3rd Place was Lupulin River from Knee Deep. 2nd to two-time winner Noble Ale Works with That’s Unpossible and the winner was Bonkers IPA from Highland Park. (When that beer is fresh, it is insanely good so I totally understand it winning).

Secondly, do not even try to get in on opening day. Yeah, you will miss the winners mentioned above(they always tap out the first night) but you will save yourself waiting in line and being jostled around like a pinball. Plus you won’t have to put up with whiners who will complain about the lines as if it were some strange otherworldly happenstance that makes IPAs popular. And my favorite reason: flights so you can taste the variety of hops on tap.

I showed up fairly early for a lost hour Sunday and started with a flight of four ranging from the new-to-me, Jambi from Mason Ale Works in Oceanside to The a Winning Team from local favorite Eagle Rock, Stolen Valor from Arts District and the much hyped Peter David inspired beer, Hops are a Preservative from Transplants Brewing. ERB may not have won the voting but it won my first taster tray. (as it did in the People’s Choice Awards too)
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Tray #2 included Recursion 8.0 from Bottle Logic, Anthia from Unsung Brewing of Orange County, Hop Drizzle from Honey Wagon and finally Inclined from Santa Monica Brew Works. The aroma and initial taste of Anthia was the best of both groups but I would still choose the Eagle Rock beer the winner of my informal tasting. Odd, that this group was uniformly yellow in color while group 1 ranged from amber downward.
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Where are IPA’s headed?

Where will hops go next? That is a question I have had swirling in my mind since I saw the Facebook invite for the Mohawk Bend IPA Festival this weekend. There have been Session IPA trends, single-hop IPA trends and this year fruit IPA beers are big.
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Then I saw this Beervana piece (which itself was commenting on another piece from Willamette Week newspaper) and found myself wondering how these trends start and how they move around the country. Is it really from one area? Does a can of Heady Topper hopscotch from brewer to brewer until that beer becomes emulated from coast-to-coast or is it sales number that drive every last brewery to introduce a grapefruit IPA?

Adding another “Or” to the mix is the hop supply. I remember when there simply wasn’t enough Citra hops to meet the demand, and then to add another layer, Mosaic and other new and exotic hops showed up on the scene blunting a full-fledged Citra take-over.

How does a certain IPA sub-style grab the attention of both brewers and craft beer fans alike? Obviously it has to catch the zeitgeist of craft beer fans but my personal theory (without hard Nate Silver data to back it up) is that for a trend to take lasting hold it needs to have an unobtainable avatar of the style as well as well-regarded local and easily available options as well. Much like a hit movie, it needs to have lines for tickets but also be on enough screens for the curious who might walk away from the ticket window if the line is too long. But that rollout from whale to common needs to happen in a short window otherwise the momentum dies on the bine and the beer stays as Moby Dick and doesn’t enter the popular conversation which is on a different plane and only tenuously connected to blogs and industry chatter.

This is why Sour IPA’s haven’t taken flight nor have coffee IPA’s. Yet. They have been oddities or taproom specials but have not gone nationwide. They may have caught the fancy of the early and adventurous beer consumers but have not reached a critical mass of breweries and beers to push into mindsets and store shelves.

Which leaves me back at the start. Is there a new hop lurking and about to create a national stir? That is a wait and see game.

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Featured Review – Jolly Folly from Green Flash

Yes, it is past Christmas. And yes, it is also past New Year’s but one can be jolly and be involved in a folly later in January. So let’s get to reviewing Jolly Folly IPA from Green Flash Brewing of San Diego and Virgina Beach.

This “accidental” IPA pours a clear, bright orange with a big dank aroma with an underpinning of orange peel. The bitterness really hits the palate with this one and drys out really quickly. When cold, there is more of a fruit punch taste underneath. As it warms, that fruit note fades out and you are left with an orange pekoe tea with a touch of pine to it.
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Jolly Folly might just satisfy both the earthy hop lovers and the citrus hop lovers in equal measure.

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70 Magnificent’s Later

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Yup, this IPA has 77 different hop varieties!  Enough to scare off Brynner, McQueen, Bronson and Coburn.  The hops are  “sourced from seven different countries, ranging from a few ounces of New Zealand’s Wai-iti hop to pounds of classic American varieties like Citra.”

Here are some other interesting factoids from LoneRider Brewing who created this brew:
• Hop additions went to the extreme. Six additions took place during a 77 minute boil, then seven days of dry hopping with different varieties, followed by 14 more varieties for an additional seven days.
• It clocks in at 7.7 percent ABV and 77 IBUs.
• To source all the hops, they used eight different hop suppliers, from online retailers spread across the country to local options in Durham and Raleigh, North Carolina.
• By their count, Lonerider staff could find 84 different varieties, but chose 77 to play off their theme and the famous Western movie, Magnificent 7.
• Lemon Drop, Huell Melon, Mosaic, Saphir, Nelson Sauvin and more started rolling in. Using alpha acid content and flavor descriptions of each hop.
• Brewers worked to create a recipe to match up qualities as best they could for hop additions at 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 and 77 minutes during the beer’s boiling process.

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Review – IPC from 101 Cider House

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My jury is still out on hopped ciders.  I haven’t (yet) run across one that has melded the right hop to the right apple.  But as with Black IPA’s, I am still trying to find the perfect one.

The latest comes from 101 Cider House here in Los Angeles.

Here is the website description of their IPC, “A blend of american cider apples, and fragrant west coast quince. This cider is the product of a wild fermentation, without the addition of sulfites or other preservative methods. After several months of natural malolactic activity, this dry cider is then twice hopped. The primary hopping (a blend of Amarillo, Cascade, Nelson, and Simcoe hops) adds a rich earthy texture, followed by a secondary hopping of 100% Citra hops. Tart, fragrant, naturally sparkling, and explosive with citrus notes.”

The aroma is really vegetal.  A little too off-putting for my nose. There is a sourness vying for attention with the grassy notes of the hops or maybe that is the Nelson contributing too much wine/grape.  The cider pours a very, very light yellow.  Nearer to hazy white.  The taste is tart but not really bitter to my hop addled palate. Almost too sparkly too.  Bit of an assault on the tongue.  The apple is too dull and the hops just aren’t pulling this together.  Thumbs down on the IPC but I will try the regular ciders in their rotation.

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Ruin2

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Thirteen years of Ruination and now there has been a reformulation from Stone Brewing. New Hops (Citra, Simcoe and Azacca) added alongside Magnum, Nugget and Centennial.

Plus you get the “Enjoy by date” on the neck of either the 12oz or 22oz bottle.

Hopefully, the new version has more nuance to it and isn’t as unbalanced as the old Ruination. Which to my mind was a one note attack of bitterness.

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The Hop Puns would be Endless

While perusing one of my favorite beer blogs, Beervana.  I ran across this POST about how Goschie Farms in Oregon.  (Which I have had the pleasure of visiting once) is working on mixing the related hops and cannabis.  Oakshire Brewing of Eugene has been the brewing portion of the R&D for what is being called Harlequin Cascade.

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Now, will this be a viable hop for market?  I think there are far too many hurdles for that to happen.  Even on a home brewing front.  A. The full U.S. hop market, would not be available.  Some states simply would not allow it. I don’t see home brew shops risking it, even in the more legally lenient states.

The troubles and risks for breweries would stop people as well.  Getting a keg collar would be difficult and getting a label approved would be near impossible.

I applaud the creativity and science of hop cultivating but I don’t see this “growing” bigger.

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Review – King Harbor IPA

IMG_3635 I am so glad that King Harbor is bottling. And also glad the bottle design is cool, compared to Beach City and Bell’s which are also in fiber beer shoppes.

Enough art talk though. What about the IPA?

It pours a dark yellow and the aroma toggles between pineapple, grape and cat pee in equal measure. The taste is solid to above average. I am a big fan of their Swirly beer, so I think they target my darker malt palate but I do enjoy this IPA. It has a nice mixture of flavors without being beat upon the head with hops.  I much prefer this method so den though the finish is a little alcohol burn heavy for me, I still like this offering.  And I hope for more bottles in the future.
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French Brewery # 1 – Brasserie du Mont Saleve

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You can call them fabrique de bières artisanales de Haute-Savoie.  Even without French lessons, a craft beer geek should be aware of what La Brasserie du Mont Saleve believes in.

And they have quite a selection to try from which made selecting a taster tray all the harder (plus I had to dust off my lack of French skills)  but lets get to it:

First up will be the Special Bitter, then on to the French takes on the German Weizen and the American IPA, then onto more hops.  The Admiral Benson which features Nelson Sauvin, Mademoiselle which is Aramis hopped and finally Sorachi Ace Bitter.  And I haven’t even touched on the darker beers in their repertoire.

Sounds like a good way to enjoy the ingredients of beer à partir de malts, de houblons, de levure et d’eau.

(I also don’t use good French grammar either)