http://simplyhops.co.uk/news/the-underdog-project/?SID=jdvvjtoqsrabvlhlr9rpurs6d0
What would a brewer do if they were restricted from using the most popular hop varietal when designing the recipe for an IPA?
That is the question asked by the Underdog Project from Simply Hops. First, what if there isn’t enough of the “cool” hops and it becomes an agricultural imperative since a bad crop in a hyper-used hop could create a ripple effect.
Now the second year of the contest is upon us. Last year’s winner, Ben Howe, from Danish brewery Ebeltoft Gårdbryggeri with his winning beer “Straight Outta Boston”
Here are the (abridged) rules for the competition (sorry, US brewers, this is limited to: breweries in UK, Ireland, European mainland, Scandinavia and South Africa.
• The beer must be brewed to a recognisable IPA style including “American”, “Belgian”, “English”, “Session”,
“White”, “Red”, “Black”, “Imperial”, “Double” and ”Triple”.
• The Summit variety of hop must make up a minimum of 50% of the total hop addition used when brewing
the beer.
• Amarillo, US Cascade, Centennial, US Chinook, Citra, Galaxy, Mosaic or Simcoe varieties of hops cannot be
used to brew the beer.
• Natural adjuncts may be used as part of the brewing process but remember the tasting is blind.
• The beer will be judged purely on the flavour, aroma. The appearance of the beer (colour and clarity) will
not be a judging criteria.
• All entries will be judged by a panel of independent judges using the blind tasting method during January
2017.
• Winners will be announced on or before the 30th January 2017.
This might be a good task for our L.A. Brewers group to attempt.