The hops you select don’t always bring what you loved about them to the finished beer. Hop Butcher for the World cofounders and brewers Jude La Rose and Jeremiah Zimmer explain how Cryo hops, blends, and process tweaks can help you nail that target.
Known for juicy IPAs dripping with hop character, Hop Butcher for the World cofounders and brewers Jeremiah Zimmer and Jude La Rose share what they’ve learned about choosing, blending, and employing hops for punchy and alluring aroma and flavor.
Brewers are experimenting with a variety of ways, old and new, to squeeze even more aroma and flavor from their hops and cram it into their beers. But how much hop saturation is too much for drinkers?
Bale Breaker’s location on the family hop farm, Loftus Ranches, offers proximity and access to hops of which many brewers could only dream. Brewmaster Kevin Smith shares perspective on brewing hop-forward beers, gleaned from decades growing up on—and now brewing on—the farm.
Eric and Claire Desmarais, fourth and fifth generation hop farmers, and Alex Nowell, former director of brewing for Three Weavers and an advisor to CLS, dig into the recent evolution of hop farming, current harvest challenges, and tools that brewers can use to select better hops.
What does it take to propel a new hop variety from seed to field to brewers’ kettles? These two breeders for Yakima Chief Ranches and John I. Haas discuss the process behind hop breeding, from parentage and crosses through elite status.
His recent published study on hop terroir backs up what brewers have known anecdotally—that where a hop is grown can have significant impact in flavor and aroma. But just how much impact is possible, and what causes it?
Brewers today are used to choosing punchy hops for their IPAs. However, great lagers require a different approach and a different kind of bitterness—yet, they need not copy the classics. Here’s how some new varieties are pointing the way toward lagers that still taste like lagers, “but with a twist.”
For De Ranke, looking back was looking forward. When the Belgian beer industry was minimizing bitterness, De Ranke embraced it instead, carving out a hop-forward niche that’s been influencing fellow brewers for nearly three decades.
For Denver’s Our Mutual Friend, subtle tweaks and improvements over years of brewing have brought their hoppy beers into medal-winning form, but the big and brash flavors in their smoked beers showcase their penchant for dramatic statements.