Hoppy Days

I think it might be time for another 'pure' beer post. A few things have brought the topic of hops to my mind today.

1. The recent arrival of Schneider Hopfenweiss
2. My recent visit to England and the purchase of an IPA
3. My ongoing love of Hommelbier

For those in the know, read on and criticise my unscientific, inexpert post and for those who want to know a little bit more about what goes into beer, I hope this helps.

I did a recent post on ale and yeast here which may be of interest too.

Nowadays, virtually all beer contains hops. It gives beer it's bitterness and aroma, makes the beer more stable and has preserving qualities. Prior to the 1400's, when the Belgians exported hopped beer to England, British beer was unhopped. It is unclear, exactly, when hops were first used in beer but they were grown in Bohemia and Bavaria as early as the 8th century where beer was also brewed.

Hops share a common parent with cannabis and is grown on high trellises. It is the hop cone or blossom that is used for it's oils and acids in beer making, while the shoots can be eaten and are much considered a seasonal delicacy in Belgium.

Today's brewer has so many choices to make when it comes to using hops that there is an almost infinite number of permutations available.

Firstly the brewer must choose the hop variety; from flowery Saaz from Bohemia - famously used for it's aromatic qualities in Pilsener-style lagers to the varieties more known for their bittering attributes such as Goulding from East Kent right through to the spicy, very aromatic US cultivated Cascade. The choice is almost endless with each variety having different characteristics, depending on where it is grown - much like gape varieties and, like the winemaker, the brewer can use several different hop varieties or limit their palette to just one.

Having chosen their variety(s) of hops, the brewer must decide whether to use simply dried hop cones, hop cones compacted into pellets or a jam-like hop extract. Different brewers have their own ideas about which work best.

When it comes to adding hops to the beer, the brewer has huge choice. All beer brews are boiled for one to one and a half hours and hops are added into into the beer during this boiling stage. Hops added at the start of the boil impart bitterness, while hops added towards the end of the boil impart aroma to the beer. Hops can be added several different times during the boil and different varieties are often used at different stages.

Sometimes the hot brew is pored over further hops as it is strained to give even more aroma and following fermentation, the beer may be matured in vats with more hops added - this technique is known as dry hopping.

To come back to what has brought hops to mind, Schneider Hopfenweiss is a dry hopped, strong weissbier which is a collaboration between Brooklyn Brewery in the US (known for their very hoppy Brooklyn Lager) and Schneider of Munich (world famous for their weissbier). The resultant 8.2% abv, pale, cloudy beer has a creaminess balanced by an assertive hop aroma and bitterness - a wonderful, powerful special edition beer.

IPA or India Pale Ale was a style of beer developed to survive the three month journey by ship to India for the troops in the 18th century. As it's name suggests, it was a pale ale but with a higher than usual alcohol content (up to 7.5%abv) and brewed with more hops than typically used in pale ales of the day. IPAs are strong, pale and bitter with big hop aromas.

American brewers have a fondness this style and have developed what is known as American IPA. These beers can be pale to quite dark (despite the name), almost always strong in alcohol with huge amounts of American hops. If you want to know what hops taste like, then an American IPA like Sierra Nevada, SnakeDog or Hercules will tell you straight away.

Britain, on the other hand, seems to have lost sight of what an IPA is. I've had IPAs in England that were neither pale, strong or hoppy that left me at a loss as to why they were called IPAs at all. Although, my recent visit did throw up Marston's Old Empire IPA. This was pale, 5.7%abv hoppy ale. So, while it did fulfil the conditions of it's name, it was a rather uninspiring beer, not bottle conditioned and presented in a clear bottle (not good for keeping beer in) with the rather odd label of "Official Beer of England" (what does that mean). I'm sure there are great English IPAs out there - I just haven't had them yet!

I have had a very good Swedish IPA called Nils Oscar India Ale 5.3%abv.

One couldn't talk about beer and hops without mentioning Popperings Hommelbier.
This is a 7.5% abv, golden ale from the hop growing region, Watou in Belgium. It is yeasty, hoppy in both flavour and aroma and strong. It is bottle conditioned and presents very fruity yeast and hop flavours. Just in case you didn't know what was inside the bottle, the label depicts a hop plantation and has hop cones decorating the label.This full-on beer is one of my favourites.

The next time you taste a beer, think of the humble hop and try to detect it's bitterness and grassy, citrus aroma (not an easy task with a mass produced, bland, yellow lager).

My last drink was; Leffe Vielle Cuvée, 8.2%abv, 33cl