Two regular dudes who happen to be huge fans of American craft beer.
By scot in Lounge on Sunday, February 9th, 2020
The hop landscape is ever changing and the changes are now a snowball rolling down a huge hill, gaining speed, faster and faster and I don’t see it slowing down anytime soon. It makes for a very exciting time for home brewers and craft beer fans that appreciate the hop. The new hops are combining high alpha acids with great aromas and flavors that are also unique and didn’t exist five years ago. Increased storability, resistance to disease, increase in harvest per acre, etc are creating so many interesting hops that old favorites are falling to the wayside. There is also the race to be the hop far that creates the next Simcoe, Citra or Galaxy hop that drives sales and profits.
I became a home brewer to experiment, these new hops are allowing me to do just that and more. I am having a hard time keeping up with the changing hop landscape.
I crated a section on the site that isn’t linked to have my own library of hops. The goal is to use this as a quick look for a hop profile, allowing me to build beers easier. Having to search multiple sites to determine a single hop profile (some are incomplete and I want to see consistency across sites) can add a lot of time to crafting of a new recipe.
I have close to 100 varieties on the new page but probably could easily add another 50 while also building up the profiles of those that already exist. I try not to add brand new hops as information on them is sparse, not consistent, and the name can change like the wind. Also, there is the possibility that the hop isn’t well received and will never be grown in large amounts.
I am really looking forward to what the next five years of hop experimentation will bring. I think it will make the last five years seems sparse and infantile. Exciting times are ahead. Enjoy1
Tags: home brewing, hops, India Pale Ale