DRINK AND BE MERRY
DRINK AND BE MERRY
Hops : The beer flower
Story by Chris Keller
I did my first real hop testing while training as a brewer . Our lab tech , Vince , came to the brewhouse and told us a hop seller had sent us some samples to check out . He had them in the lab and told us to come test them when we had a chance . My trainer , Sam , brightened up . He was eager to introduce me to hop testing and for good reason . Not only is it an essential part of choosing the hops we buy to use in our beers , hop varieties change crop to crop , year to year , and grower to grower and one choice crop could be the difference between good beer and great beer , but it ’ s fun too . On the way to the lab , Sam explained to me how he ’ d gone to Yakima , Washington the year before to select some of the hop varieties we were currently brewing with . He excitedly added that he had been invited to go with the brewery owner to Germany and the Czech Republic in a few months to select some of the European varieties we would be using next year . In the lab , Vince had laid several “ brewers cuts ” out on a table . A “ brewers cut ” is literally a cube cut from a bale of dried wholecone hops wrapped in paper . Sam inspected each one . They came labeled with descriptions of the variety , harvest year and grower as well as a detailed lab analysis . We opened them and Sam showed me how to properly test out the hops . You pinch a small amount from the brick and place it in the palm of your hand , taking into account the amount and quality of the lupulins , the yellow , sticky , resiny powder that contains the citrusy , oily goodness that makes hops hoppy . Now you rub the hops in the palm of your hand . As you do this you ’ ll notice that they begin to heat up because the acids in hops produce an exothermic reaction as they smash into each other . This is a fun reaction but it could be serious : hops have been known to spontaneously combust if they are stored too closely together . You continue to rub until the hops start to burn your hands then you immediately cup your hands to your nose . If they are high quality hops , the aroma should be incredibly intense , bursting with fruit , spice and / or herbal aromas . The more you do it , the more those lupulins and their sticky oils stick to your face . By the end of it , my beard was bright yellow , stiff and oh so sticky . I went to the sink and tried to wash it off using soap , but it barely helped at all ! Several of you might be thinking , ‘ I can ’ t stand hops , they ’ re too bitter ,’ but hops are very important to all beer , even malty , non-bitter beers . Beer is naturally a very sweet beverage which needs a bittering agent to offset the sweetness and be palatable . ( Bitter is the opposite of sweet .) Before the use of hops a great number of botanicals were used to bitter beer such as dandeli-
18 SUMMER EDITION 2023