Hop to it: exploring craft beers key ingredient
Hops are at the forefront of the craft brewing process, often spoken about and key in shaping modern craft beers character. These tiny green cones may look unassuming, but they pack a serious punch when it comes to flavour, aroma, and character. Here at our Cornish brewery we love hops, we love trying new hops, experimenting with combinations of them and playing with when we add them to the brewing process, it's what helps craft unique hazy craft beers.
We've been bending the ear of the brewing team again this week to better understand hops.
What Are Hops?
Hops are the flowers (or seed cones) of the hop plant Humulus lupulus. They're primarily used in brewing to add bitterness, flavour, and aroma to beer, balancing out the sweetness of the malt. But hops bring more than just bitterness to the party, each variety brings its own unique flavour profile, from tropical fruit and citrus to pine, spice, and even bubblegum.
Why are hops so important?
Here's three key things that the humble hop helps to manage in the brewing process:
Bitterness: Hops help to balance the sweetness of malt and help define the style of the beer.
Aroma & Flavour: Depending on when they’re added, hops can add layers of complexity ranging from floral and earthy to juicy and citrusy.
Preservation: Historically, hops were used to preserve beer during long journeys, particularly in the creation of India Pale Ales (IPAs) that spent many months at sea.
How Are Hops Used in Brewing?
The way hops are used in the brewing process have a huge impact on the final style, taste and impact of that beer.
Adding the hops early, during the boil will usually be added with the idea of contributing to the bitterness of the beer.
When the hops are added to the process mid-boil brewers are aiming to bring out more flavours from the hops.
Late additions or whirlpooling hop additions help to capture aroma and add subtle flavours.
Dry hopping is used to deliver more punchy, fresh aromas without adding extra bitterness, ideal for modern hazy IPAs and pale ales.
What hops do we use?
We are pretty picky about what hops we use as we are always striving for the very best beers, so we select the hops for particular flavours and styles in our craft beer line-up.
Here's a few of our favourites.
Simcoe – Complex and piney with notes of apricot, berry, and earthy citrus. Great for IPAs and we use this one alongside Idaho 7 on our flagship beer Slipway IPA.
Idaho 7 – A newer variety that bursts with tropical fruit, juicy orange, and a touch of black tea. As above, this one is used to help create Slipway.
Galaxy – Hailing from Australia, this hop is intensely fruity with passionfruit, peach, and citrus character. Perfect for super hazy and bold beers like Destination DIPA, which uses additions of Galaxy.
Citra – A craft favourite for good reason. Citra offers massive mango, lime, and grapefruit notes. This hop is one we have used in multiple beers, it is currently part of the hop line-up used to create Destination DIPA.
Motueka – A New Zealand gem, Motueka delivers bright lime and lemon zest flavours, along with herbal and floral nuances. We use this hop alongside two others to create Mean As DDH NZ IPA, because it helps to create truly bold flavours.
Chinook – Bold and resinous, with spicy pine and grapefruit. A classic American hop that adds bite to IPAs and robust amber ales - you'll find this one in Meor IPA.
Solero – A tropical powerhouse. Still relatively new on the scene, Solero brings ripe mango, passionfruit, and a hint of vanilla. We use this hop in our crisp and refreshing Helles Mouth Cornish Lager.
If you want to explore the hops in more detail, then we highly recommend ordering yourself a mixed case to go on a taste journey!
