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.