Beer Blotter

Hops!

This past Thursday and Friday I attended Hopunion‘s Hop School in Yakima, WA and I can wholeheartedly say that it was one of the best experiences I’ve had in a long time.  Not only did I learn a lot, meet a lot of amazing people, and get to experience some of the most grounding, of terroir elements of beer making, but I got to drink amazing beer pretty much the entire time I was doing it.  I’d strongly suggest the experience to anyone interested in beer, especially those, like myself, thinking about opening a brewery someday.

It all got started for me on Wednesday night following a 2.5 hour drive over the mountains.  After checking into the hotel I was shuttled to the Hopunion campus where the closing/opening party was going down.  That is, closing for the first session (Tuesday, Wednesday) and opening for the second (Thursday, Friday).  There was a pig roast and what seemed like endless coolers of beer.  The first thing that really grabbed my attention was the beer, of course.  There seemed to be a lot of interesting options.  More specifically, there were many offerings from Colorado breweries that don’t distribute to Washington.  I still don’t really know why they had these beers but it added just another little element of excitement.

The first thing I got my hands on was Funkwerks White.  I’d never had anything from those guys before so I was super excited.  By the end of my time at Hop School I also got to try Funkwerks Saison and Maori King.  It ended up being strange timing that I had Maori King just two days before beernews.org posted an article about how there was a massive uproar about the name from not only the Maori peoples themselves but many others.  If you haven’t read the article yet check it out here.  Since, the brewery has decided to change the name to Southern Tropic.  A brief tangent.

I also ended up having New Belgium‘s newer Lips of Faith beer called Clutch during this opening shindig.  Read more about it here.  It’s fantastic, but that kind of goes without saying as far as I’m concerned.  I ended up spending most of the evening under the wing of Wyeast‘s Owen Lingly.  He has become a good friend of mine and has been through the school in the past.  He showed me the ways.  These “ways” included hanging out in Hopunion’s awesome game room above the main offices (billiards, air hockey, foosball, table tennis) and then a later trip to Sport’s Center, a bar that has become the go to spot for students through the years.  There ended up being a lot of people that I recognized at the bar and at this point in the evening, the social lubricant was applied liberally.

Some notable conversationalists included staff from White Labs, Midnight Sun Brewing, American Homebrewers Association, and Norther Brewer Homebrew Supply.  There was a whole lot of beer, whiskey, and brewing talk that evening and I kinda wish I remembered it better.  Welcome to Yakima.  Night 1 was a blast and classes hadn’t even started yet.  The biggest challenge was ahead…waking up in the morning.  More on that in part 2.

Hopunion, a veritable force in WA hops.

As depressing as it can often feel to discuss the end of summer, in the beer world, it’s actually a relief.  Beer is arguably at its most boring in the hot months.  Summer lagers and hefes and wits and all things sessionable.  Don’t get me wrong, there is a place in my heart for all of those things, but beer is ultimately lighter in body and flavor in summer.  Often, with lighter comes lamer.  I’m excited for flavor to happen again.

The fall brings thoughts of rich, full bodied Marzens/Oktoberfests, as well as highly notable Northwest specialties like spicy pumpkin beers (thank you Dick Cantwell of Elysian) and the ultimate prize – fresh hop beers.  Praise sweet sweet mother nature!

Yakima, WA’s Hopunion just issued three press releases of sorts to their customers with some pretty heady details.  I got a hold of the info via my employer, Homebrew Heaven, but I get the sense that the same flyers were sent to the breweries as were sent to the homebrew shops.

Fresh Green Hops

With the 2011 hop harvest quickly approaching, now is the time to reserve your fresh off the bine Hopunion hops.  This year we will be supplying 6 varieties to meet your green hop brewing needs including Amarillo VGXP01cv., Cascade, Centennial, Chinook, Citra HBC394cv., and Simcoe YCR14cv. hops.

Yeah, that about covers all of the super flavorful and aromatic hops that really matter in America. I can’t imagine the need for any other varieties.

Hopunion doesn’t sell retail.  I don’t know for sure if they would sell to you if you don’t have a legitimate brewery or brew oriented business, but I do know that you can only buy from them in bulk.  For fresh hop purchases, “orders must be in 10 lb. increments”.  As an individual homebrewer though, 10 lbs. really isn’t an over abundance of hops.  When you consider that you need to use at least 5 times as many fresh hops as you would dried hops, you could literally use the whole lot in 2 bold IPAs.

I can only imagine that homebrew clubs have pooled together their membership and attempted to make a special order.  Since I am not yet a member of such a club, I’d love to hear some feedback from those that are via comment.  At the very least, all homebrewers should make a few calls and let the shops know that there is a demand for fresh hops at home.

Falconer’s Flight Continuation and Brand Expansion

Due to the unprecedented success of the inaugural flight, Hopunion is pleased to announce the continuation and brand expansion of Falconer’s Flight.

In case you forgot, Falconer’s Flight hops are named after Glen Hay Falconer.  Amongst other things, Glen was a brewer at Steelhead and Rogue.  He passed away in 2002.  This hop is a blend of 14 different hop varieties including Citra, Simcoe and Sorachi Ace.  It is described as “…imparting distinct tropical, citrus, floral, lemon and grapefruit tones”.  Hopefully this means that homebrewers will have a little bit easier of a time acquiring said hops.

Hopunion goes on to explain how they will also begin producing a hop called Falconer’s Flight 7C’s, a hop that contains a blend of 7 “C” hops and additional experimental varieties.  Genetics sure is something.

Introducing, ZYTHOS

The third and final release form Hopunion tells of yet another new variety that they will soon breed and offer brewers.  They explain that the demand for “unique IPA style hops” is as strong as ever and that varieties like Simcoe, Amarillo, Citra, and Palisade have been very successful for them.  The need for a new and exciting hop that “replicates the chemical structure of the finest IPA/Pale Ale finishing hops” is needed.

Hopunion worked with Alpha Analytics to create a hop that “delivers aggressive alpha acid levels, balanced beta acid levels and low co-Humulone levels for a smooth finish”.  The new hop is called ZYTHOS and is named after the traditional Greek word for beer.  The target alpha and beta percentages are 9.4 and 5.5 respectively.  I can’t wait to see what our local brewers come up with to display the unique characteristics of this hop.  I have a strong sense that it’s going to impress the hop lovers amongst us.