Hops

In this first article in a Deep Dive series, Indie Hops’ Jim Solberg discusses how they screen new hops for brewing and market potential.

Whether it’s selecting very different lots of Nelson Sauvin or trialing new hop products to see what they can contribute, North Park founder and head brewer Kelsey McNair says he’s always looking for ways to squeeze in more hop flavor—but without leaving the realm of the familiar.

To brew a beer that’s bursting with great hop aroma and flavor, it’s critical to choose and use the very best you can get. North Park founder and head brewer Kelsey McNair explains their own discriminating approach.

You don’t want your water to get in the way of hop-saturated flavors. Here, North Park founder and head brewer Kelsey McNair sketches out a few different water profiles that depend on style—and why he might adjust those profiles, depending on choices made elsewhere.

North Park founder and head brewer Kelsey McNair shares his approach and various techniques for achieving fully saturated hop flavor in IPA, West Coast pilsner, or any hop-forward style.

It’s true. Strata has a nephew who is a stud. Breeding stock that is. Most males in the hop world die a sudden death once discovered to be males . . . unless they have something of value for future generations.

Intense, complex, and punchy, the hops of New Zealand are special—so, making the best beer you can with them deserves some special consideration. From Aotearoa, the Land of the Long White Cloud—or Middle Earth, if you prefer—here are specific tips from the brewers who know New Zealand hops best.

In recent years, the brewing world has learned a lot about terpenes, thiols, biotransformation, survivables, and more. Now, let’s zoom out to consider the essence of hop aroma—the oils that contain all those compounds—and make sense of them in a way that any brewer can use.

Here’s how homebrewers can punch up their pale ales with the bright flavors of New Zealand hops. Plus: a method for getting a whirlpool-like flavor burst without having to whirl anything.

Taking cues from modern Belgian pale ales such as Taras Boulba and XX Bitter, Sanguine is a balanced expression of ample hops and yeast character. “We chased this beer for four years, trying to find the flavor profile,” says Halfway Crooks cofounder Shawn Cooper. “This is where we ended up.”

Saaz, Kazbek, and ... Juno? Whether punching up lagers or adding interest to IPAs, newer Czech hop varieties—little known outside their country—are an overlooked source of distinctive flavors.

This style-spanning yearly celebration of the harvest is brewed in many ways and in many places—but the best place in the world to appreciate fresh-hopped beers is the Pacific Northwest.

As the lager category continues to expand beyond its historic roots, hops like Hopsteiner’s Contessa™, Lemondrop™, and Delta™ represent the future of thoughtful, domestically sourced innovation. When today’s brewers pair them with the functional benefits of Tetra additions, they can craft lagers that are not only true to style but are also uniquely their own, offering drinkers both tradition and modernity in every glass.

How John I. Haas is minimizing variability and maximizing consistency with Sensory Plus™.

Elevate your brews with Hopsteiner’s LLZ, a revolutionary, water-soluble citrus-flavored extract derived entirely from hops. LLZ seamlessly integrates into hop water, NA beers, and traditional styles, enhancing flavor without efficiency losses.

Ben Edmunds, cofounder and brewmaster of Breakside Brewing in Portland, Oregon, shares his insights on how to build and maintain a methodical quality program that can take your brewery’s beers from consistently good to consistently excellent.

In today’s hop-forward beers, whirlpool additions contribute many of the IBUs—yet the results are less clear-cut than adding to the boil. Research—some new, some not-so-new—may provide direction.

While the aromas aren't qualitatively the same, a relatively tiny amount of HyperBoost can effectively replace a large amount of hop pellets—with none of the wort loss. Paul Schneider, cofounder and head brewer of Cinderlands Beer in Pittsburgh, explains.

Brewers share strategies for reducing costs on craft beer’s most competitive style.

Before there was hazy or even a defined West Coast style, there was an IPA that emerged as a brashly hopped counterpoint to British ale. It never went away—but it evolved. And today’s brewers are making it better than ever.