Craft Beer--Beer Events Calendar--Information
Hoppy visited some of his friends at Crazy Horse Hops on Tuesday. It is the largest hop farm in Indiana and one of the largest in the Midwest. It is located in Knightstown. This year’s harvest has begun with Cascade and Chinook hops.
It is Hoppy’s favorite time of the year. Be on the lookout for fresh/wet hop ales from your favorite breweries. You can find more information here.
Pictures from the visit follow:
by
Gary Dean
In order to answer this question, I looked at statistics for hop plantings for last year, 2022. I found that the top five hops that were strung in the U.S. were the following:
(1) Citra 12,121 acres
(2) Mosaic 6,513 acres
(3) Cascade 5,075 acres
(4) Simcoe 4,526 acres
(5) CTZ 4,079 acres
Hops with the most increasing acreage from 2021 to 2022:
(1) Strata up 30%
(2) Eureka up 27%
(3) Chinook up almost 16%
(4) Cashmere up 12.4%
(5) Centennial up 9%
All of this information was gathered by Beer Maverick from the USDA 2022 Hop Planting Report.
In what forms are hops used to brew beer?
Hop Pellets – This is by far the most common form of hop in use for brewing today. They are made by shredding dry whole hops and compressing them into pellets.
Whole Cone Hops – These are hops that are dried and then pressed into bales for use in brewing.
Fresh (Wet) Hops – These are hops fresh from the bine that have not been dried or processed. For best results they should be used within 36 hours of their harvest. Because of this, they are only available at harvest time, in late summer or the fall. Brewers typically need to use five to six times more of these hops, by weight, as they have a much higher water content than dried hops.
Frozen Fresh (Wet) Hops – These are fresh hops that are flash frozen to seal in the moisture and aroma. Yakima Chief Hops provides more information on their product.
Other hop products include CO2 Hop Extract, Isomerized Hop Extract, Lupulin Powder and Cryo Hops, and Aroma Oil Extracts. A good description of these can be found here.
What are the aroma characteristics of various hops?
The aroma characteristics of the five most popular hops are shown below:
Citra – Fruity, Citrus, Tropical Fruit
Mosaic – Citrus, Floral
Cascade – Fruity, Citrus, Floral
Simcoe – Citrus, Tobacco/Earthy, Pine
CTZ – Citrus, Floral, Spicy, Herbal
The aroma Characteristics of other U.S. hops can be found here.
What were the top 5 hop producing states in 2022?
Statistics are based on the Hop Growers of America 2022 Statistical Report which shows a total of 61,177 acres of hops grown in the U.S. for 2022.
(1) Washington – 42,762 acres or 69.9% of U.S. hops
(2) Idaho – 9,267 acres or 15.1% of U.S. hops
(3) Oregon – 7,756 acres or 12.7% of U.S. hops
(4) Michigan – 380 acres or .6% of U.S. hops
(5) New York – 300 acres or .5% of U. S. hops
What hop farms are located in Indiana?
Cone Keepers Hop Yard, De Motte
Crazy Horse Hops LLC, Knightstown
Honey Creek Hops, Greenwood
Howe Farms, Crown Point
Indy High Bines, Indianapolis
Spring Hill Hops, Greensburg
White River Hops Farm, Jasper
What does DDH or Double Dry Hopped mean?
Double dry hopping originally referred to the addition of dry hops in the brewing process in two separate stages during the later stages of fermentation. This definition has since been corrupted to also mean a one stage addition of double the hop quantity.
Who is Bert Grant, and why should you know?
Bert’s accomplishments include the following:
Opened first brewpub in the U.S., since prohibition, in 1982.
Built the first hop pelletizing machine in the United States.
Patented the “isomerized” hop pellet.
Introduced the Cascade hop, one of the most prominent and widely used hops in craft brews, to breweries worldwide.
Brewed the first craft IPA in the U.S. in 1983. (Also brewed the first Scottish Ale and Russian Imperial Stout in the U.S. in his first year of operation in 1982.)
Helped to develop the first Fresh Hop Ale in 1997. (The hops he used for brewing were picked less than two hours before going into the kettle.)
He’s been called the “Dean of America’s Craft Brewers” and the Wall Street Journal called him “The Patriarch of the Micro Movement.”
More information can be found on Bert here, here and here as well as in his book, The Ale Master.
Factoids, or in this case, Hoptoids
Hops grow on bines, not vines!
The hop plant (humulus lupulus) has separate male and female plants. Only the female plant produces the cones used in brewing.
IBU stands for International Bitterness Unit, and it is used to measure the bitterness of a beer.
Anchor Brewing uses only whole cone hops in their brewing process.
Bert Grant carried a vial of hop oil with him, when traveling, to add taste to mega brewed beers that were lacking in flavor!
In 1519 King Henry VIII of England was quoted as saying, “Hops are a wicked and pernicious weed.”
The Hop Capital of the U.S. is in the Yakima Valley in the Eastern part of Washington State, although it originally began in the Puyallup Valley in Western Washington.
Falconer’s Flight® Hop Pellets are an exclusive proprietary hop blend created to honor and support the legacy of brewing legend, Glen Hay Falconer. Proceeds from the sale of these pellets go to support the Glen Hay Falconer Foundation which provides brewing education scholarships. They have awarded 52 brewing scholarships since 2004!
The Alpha King Challenge began in 1999. Its purpose is to crown the most well-balanced and drinkable beers with 60 IBUs or more each year. The name of the event is inspired by Three Floyds Brewing, from Munster, and their famous Alpha King Pale Ale. The two founders of the award, hop and beer veterans, named it after Alpha King since they felt that it was the perfect example (strong, hoppy and delicious) that they were looking for in the competition. The list of all winners of the competition can be found here. (3 Floyds Brewing has been named the Best Brewery in the World in five different years based on reviews by individuals on the RateBeer website!)
Hoppy visited Klooz Brewz Brewery and Public House in Lebanon yesterday afternoon. Of particular interest in the pub, are pieces of history utilized and displayed which were found during their renovation process.
During his visit, he enjoyed their flagship IPA known as 1832 IPA. It is described as an American IPA with notes of citrus, lime and tropical flavors with a touch of cedar. It was inspired by the pioneer settler who founded Lebanon in 1832. It clocks in at a very low (for IPAs) 5% ABV but delivers bountiful flavor with its 70 IBUs.
He also sampled the following:
The Last Laugh DIPA – DDH featuring Strata, Bergamot and Mosaic hops in a juicy Double IPA. 7.5% ABV 70 IBU
Nameless DIPA – Double New England Style IPA which is juicy, dank and loaded with over 20 lbs. of hops. 8% ABV 85 IBU
While there, Hoppy ran into his friends from Indiana On Tap, who were there prepping for the upcoming Savor Lebanon Festival scheduled for May 7th. Hoppy is a member of the Indiana On Tap Tasting Society Marketplace and would recommend that you take advantage of their six month membership offer if you plan on attending Savor Lebanon. (See Here.)
Photos of the brewery and pub follow.
Hoppy attended the 5th Annual Savor Lebanon Craft Beer, Wine, Spirits & Food Fest in the beautiful town square in Lebanon. It was presented by the City of Lebanon in partnership with Indiana On Tap. There were a number of commercial craft brewers and a few home brewers on site. These included Bier, Black Dog, Chapman, Escape Velocity, Field, Goodwood, Hog Molly, Klooz Brewz, Moontown, Thieme & Wagner, Traders and Wabash. Klooz Brewz anticipates opening their brewery in Lebanon, across from the Courthouse, at 125 N. Meridian St., by the end of the month. (I have included pictures of the exterior of their brewpub.) Goodwood is out of Louisville, Kentucky and will be opening a brewpub in downtown Indy, in the former location of The Ram. They also expect to open by the end of the month.
Crazy Horse Hops was also in attendance.
Gary had the pleasure to meet and be interviewed by the Two Beerded Guys. You can check them out here.
Everyone attending the event appeared to have a fun time enjoying friends, imbibing, listening to the music, and playing the games of cornhole and fowling.
Afterwards, Hoppy decided to keep it dank by attending the after party at Moontown Brewing in Whitestown. (Pictures are included of the brewpub.) Their 1915 Room, which frequently has entertainment, was not open due to a wedding reception.
Yesterday Hoppy visited Four Day Ray Brewing in Fishers. Their name recalls their Nickel Plate District heritage drawn from the nickname of a railroad employee who continually called off work one day per week.
While there, Hoppy drank a flight of four beers that included the following:
Strawberry Lemonade Blonde which is described as having soft aromas and flavors of strawberries and cream with lemon citrus. The slightly tart finish is dry and refreshing. 4.5% ABV, 8 IBU.
Fishin For Hopliments, a Pale Ale brewed with Mackinac hops from Crazy Horse. It is fermented cold like a lager but hopped like a pale ale. It is bursting with pineapple and orange juice flavor and aroma. 5.4% ABV, 35 IBU.
Monks Blood Belgian Dubbel with dark fruit and grape nut aroma with hints of toffee, pleasant clove and esters with fruitiness in the finish. 7.2% ABV.
Monks Tears Belgian Quadrupel has an earthy aroma of spice, dark fruit and caramel. The flavor starts off with a caramel sweetness followed by fruity date characteristics and finishes with fresh plum as you exhale. 10.5% ABV.
