Hoppy New Year!

This year for Christmas I received a gift to supplement my beer drinking hobby: a beer tasting and hop appreciation kit. Just as the gift is intended to do, I started to consider what hops are and how they contribute to creating a beer. Beers are often described as hoppy, but for those who don't know what a hop is, this can be difficult to understand.

As you may already know, beer is comprised of four main ingredients: hops, malt, yeast and water. Hops, or Humulus Lupulus if you want to be technical, are small leafy cones of flowering plants used for flavoring and stabilizing beer during the brewing process. The bitterness of hops are used to counteract the sweetness from the malt, creating a well balanced brew. The bitterness, flavor, and aroma of beer are all greatly affected by the hops. There are several different hop varieties used for brewing beer, and there are several methods of adding the hops, which all affect the complexity of the beer.

The point at which the hops are introduced to the beer creates a varying impact on the final product. Hops added at the beginning of the process create a bittering affect, hops added 15-20 minutes prior to the end of the wort boil contribute to the overall finish of the hop flavor, hops added at the end of the boil are used for aroma, and a process known as 'dry hopping' is used when hops are left in the beer for days while it ferments, providing another layer of complexity that adds additional flavor and aroma to beer.

The beer kit contains 13 jars of processed small pellets of common hop varieties. They are labeled by name, region, common styles of beer in which they are used, and include detailed descriptions such as "a mild and pleasant bite with a delicate floral aroma that is almost musty and leaves a clean bitterness." Smelling the hops while tasting a beer helps your mind and taste buds distinguish the ingredients in the beer.

The moment I received the gift, I cracked open one of the jars, inhaled deeply, then proceeded to eat one of the pellets. It was immensely bitter and dry and absorbed all the saliva from my mouth. The more I chewed, the worse it got. I had a strong inclination to spit the thing out, but seeing as how I had already committed, I forced myself to see it to the end, despite the awfulness. I immediately realized that eating the hops was NOT the intended purpose of the kit. They should really include a warning about that. Nevertheless, it was a good learning experience. So, here's to a new year and my new tools for learning more about beer.