By Greig McGill
Americans, eh? They really can drive innovation, can’t they? In the relatively short space of 35ish years, the world has moved from mocking beer from the USA with the famous “making love in a canoe” joke, and references to the urine of various animals, to following almost every trend and beer style that comes out of those 50 states. Yes, other countries have older and perhaps more refined beer histories and cultures, but the USA has dragged itself up from the wet blanket of prohibition, and even after the industry ravaging effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, now has almost ten thousand breweries! This is a country that has taken the beery ball and not just run with it, but positively sprinted!
Where the USA goes, the rest of the world follows too, at least as it pertains to beer. Craft beer culture, such as it is, was invented in the USA, and it has driven the styles and trends of developing beer cultures all around the world. All that innovation and creativity has also driven the hop industry. Once limited to a mere handful of US-grown hops pre-1970, there’s been an explosion in hop varieties, each trying to woo the brewer with more and different flavours. And wooed we have been!
… and that’s not even all of them!
Since Brewshop.co.nz stocks many of these US hops, and since there have been a few relatively new and unfamiliar to New Zealand brewers, I thought I would cover off my sensory impressions of them. Luckily, I was in the USA last May for the Craft Brewers Conference, and spent some time on the expo floor. Technically, I was shopping for a new keg washer, but there was free beer everywhere, and hops for the rubbing and smelling (and tasting in some of the aforementioned free beer). I mean, what’s a brewer to do? So here goes…
Azacca
Although Azacca has been around since 2013, you don’t see it pop up in too many beers. I’m not sure why, as the aroma on rubbing was intense! Papaya and Mango are often used as descriptors, and while I got some of that, for me it was an intense note of guava, a slight peach character, and a really bright woody pine character. In a beer, it was similar, though that’s where more of the mango came through. I think this would blend nicely with NZ hops, and I keep meaning to give it a go!
El Dorado
Dating back to 2010, El Dorado has made more of a splash, often included in hop bills in a lot of the “hype” beers like big juicy haze bombs that the kids like these days! For me, the aroma on this one was a little muddled and had a strange aroma of overripe nectarines. It was complex though, with a lot going on. It leaned a little to the “sweaty” character that can happen in high-alpha acid hops after a certain point in their harvest window. This one didn’t come with an accompanying beer featuring it solo, but it was a component in several and I liked what it brought to the party. For me, this is a blending hop rather than a solo feature, but I did enjoy it as a component, and didn’t perceive the sweaty note in the beers I tried.Idaho 7
Released in 2015, this is another hop that has popped up in a lot of hazy beers. Unlike the others, I tried a beer featuring Idaho 7 solo before I gave it the old rub’n’sniff. In the beer, it showed off an interesting herbal note - like damp autumn leaves, but in a pleasant way. Of course, it also showcased big tropical flavours - mango, guava, and papaya, as well as pleasant dried apricots. On the rub, the herbal note was more tea-like, and guava and lemons emerged dominant. There was also a noticeable hint of pine needles. This could be a good hop to blend with an old classic hop like Centennial for the contrast and also the citrus/pine complement.
Strata
Winning the prize for my favourite hop on the day, Strata was the most unique hop that I evaluated. There were also two beers to try it in, one as the solo hop where it worked very well, and one which was a blend with Citra and Galaxy, and it really brought something special to the party. Rubbing alone, it just shone with so many different aromas it was hard to pin it down. One second you’d swear you were smelling fresh strawberries, the text grapes, grapefruit, a slight savoury herbal note, and the typical US signature note of pine needles. In the beers, it was certainly strawberry forward, but there was also a nice hint of bubblegum that some brewers (looking at you, Germans) might call a fault! Not this brewer.
Meridian
I was a little short with my note taking on this one… some of the beer had probably started to have an effect! I recall a sweetness, and intense bright berry notes, blueberries and raspberries, as well as that it wasn’t featured in a beer, which was a shame as this one made an impression on me, even if not enough to take more comprehensive notes! Sorry all… I do think I’d like to try this in a more old-world style like an ESB.
Sabro
I think you probably all know about Sabro by now. It was released in 2018 (“the before times”) and I don’t think I’ve seen a hop make a bigger splash since Mosaic. One of the new types of Neomexicanus hops originating, as the appellation implies, from New Mexico, along with Zappa (more later), and having unique flavour and aroma characteristics. Specifically; that coconut thang! Yep, this is that hop you’ve probably tried before in one of the slew of beers purporting to be “like a Piña Colada”. And it is. There’s some nice passionfruit notes underneath, but it’s predominantly slightly minty coconut both in the rubbing and in the beer.
Zappa
This one isn’t currently stocked at Brewshop.co.nz but I thought I’d mention it, because it was being touted as “the new Galaxy”. It’s another Neomexicanus hop, and in the case of this one, I feel a little bad for them defiling Frank Zappa’s name by association with this weird hop. Oh. Weird. I see it now. Anyway, it was a confusing muddle both in the beer and on the rub. I suspect it is designed for blending, where you want to perhaps enhance multiple characteristics of very different hops, perhaps acting as a kind of “glue”. Unfortunately for me, the beer created with it had an extremely dank, slightly catty aroma, and tasted overly woody and herbal. The rub gave a little more berry, and some overripe mango, but it was also intensely sweaty and dank. I think I’d like to try it in something dark but hoppy - perhaps an American Stout or Black IPA and see how it goes.
So there you go - a roundup of some of the newer and more interesting hops you can (mostly) buy here at brewshop.co.nz. I haven’t included blended hops like Zythos or Falconer’s Flight because I didn’t spend any time with them at the expo, and to be honest, I was taking notes for myself at the time - the thought of this roundup hadn’t yet been born!
I hope some of this will provide inspiration to mess around with hops, change up the old routines, and see what can be created. Happy brewing!