Hop To It !

The vine, technically a bine, winds and twists on the bamboo support, climbing ever up. I planted four hop rhizomes this summer and this single plant is the champion. I had visions of pounds of fresh aromatic hops, with which I'd brew a true local ale, but not this summer evidently. Which is just as well, the plant only reaches about three feet in height, and I still need to construct some manner of support for the promised harvest. One rhizome failed to sprout, one was eaten by the snails, presumably. The last is a dwarf still, just a few inches in height, a hop bonsai. Farming, gardening, so optimistic, so heartbreaking.

Last year, after nearly eighteen years, I decided to brew beer again. I envisioned a beer party at the end of the summer, friends and fellowship, and so procured the equipment and ingredients from the same brew supply house I used so long ago. I asked about recipes that wouldn't take too long, lighter ales appropriate for quaffing in the heat. Hefeweizen, I was told, was a good beginner's choice, a golden, yeasty brew, popular in the Northwest, revived locally by the Pyramid Brewery, often served with lemon.

"But, what do you like to drink," I was sagely asked.

"Me? I like hoppy beer." This was my public declaration that I was a Hop-Head. Hops are the flowers of the hop bine, a bittering agent, with astringent and preservative properties, they balance the sweet of the malt, complimenting the tang of the chosen ale yeast. There is a resurgence, in craft brewing, of brewing very hoppy beers, and a distinctly American-style IPA has erupted on the scene, with a very pronounced hop essence, striving to recreate the ales exported from Britain to India or the Baltic provinces, in the days before refrigeration. Long transit times necessitated a beer that wouldn't spoil, and IPA was developed, with a higher alcohol content and a very pronounced, exaggerated bitter hoppiness. Or so I have read. The truth is somewhat murky, lost in the centuries, probably discarded with the payroll records and receipts.

I was directed to a recipe for "Round the Horn IPA", named after the long voyage south, along Africa, and then east to the colonies of the Indian subcontinent. Memories of my previous brewing endeavors consist of an amazement that I didn't die, or worse, someone else, drinking my suspicious homebrew, and encouragement that "It tasted pretty good". Brewing is an old art, the details handed down from trial and error, science later explaining the fermentation and chemistry inherent in the process. With optimistic daring-do, I tried my hand at "Round the Horn".

Hops lend various qualities to a brew, depending on variety, the point at which they are added to the wort, their bitterness, measured in various ways: IBUs, AAUs and HBUs. There is much scholarly material that explain the bittering elements of hops, and I refer the interested to a BYO website for further information: Alpha-Hop Soup: Figuring Bitterness (IBUs, AAUs and HBUs)

Great Gods Above. Nectar. Ambrosia. Paradise. I could wax rhapsodic all day long. I have always favored IPA above other beer, lesser beer. "Round the Horn" has ruined me for life. It is the IPA by which I have come to judge all IPAs. I have since tried many, many IPAs, hoping for the same tender combination of floral hoppy fragrance and flavor, round, mellow malty tones, and the eight per cent kick. Only one brew has come close: Racer 5, from the alchemists at Bear Republic Brewery, in Cloverdale, California, and I compel you urgently to seek it out.

And so, I am now a nascent hop farmer, hoping my Columbus thrive and render their delicate fruit for my brewing efforts. They should do well on the south face of the house, soaking in the Seattle sunshine. Stay tuned.

The neophyte brewer may find this book helpful (I certainly did): The Complete Joy of Homebrewing Third Edition

Below is the (extract) recipe from the Cellar for "Round the Horn IPA" for your indulgence and delight.

6 lbs. British Malt Syrup
2 lbs. Munton & Fison Light Dry Malt
1/4 lb. German Light Crystal
1/4 lb. Dextrin (Carapils) Malt
1 3/4 oz. Galena Hops (Boiling)
1 oz. Willamette Hops (Finishing)
1 3/4 oz. Columbus Hops (Dry Hops)
3/4 cup Priming Sugar
1 pkg. Edme Dry Ale Yeast or
London Ale Wyeast
O.G. 1.060 - 1.065

"Relax - Have a homebrew!"