It shouldn’t come as any surprise that craft brewers are a little obsessed with hops. The dominant (in terms of production and consumption) beer in the craft world is IPA. Hops present easily identifiable (and desirable) flavors. The hops cone is in many ways the symbol of beer, at least in the modern era. When it comes to hops, though, the times (bines?), they are a-changin’. Hops are being used in new ways, the hops themselves are changing, and the role of hops in the development of styles and flavor profiles is now a defining feature of the industry. Even more than weather, the large and increasing role of hops in defining and guiding the craft-brewing universe is worthy of scrutiny.
Putting Hops to Work
If you started brewing—home or craft—any time before, say, 2012, you probably got a pretty standard education on how hops are used in beer. Add a certain amount at 60 minutes for bittering, a certain amount at 30 minutes for flavor, and a certain amount at 10 minutes for aroma. Some radicals even went so far as to dry hop their beers.
Today, hopping has become a recipe playground for brewers. In addition to the tried-and-true methods, many brewers are relying more and more on late-in-the-boil hops additions. The advantage, of course, is that you increase your hops flavor and aroma while still adding the same level of bitterness. While some drinkers might enjoy a nice 120-IBU hops bomb, they’re probably not going to enjoy more than one of them; if I hand you a beer with the same hops flavor intensity but without the teeth-ripping bitterness, you’re much more likely to order another. Some also claim that the character of the bitterness is different, with large late-hops additions imparting a softer-feeling bitterness than an equivalent IBU load from an earlier addition.