American Hop Trilogy

The weathers turned a bit cold, but that has nothing to do with this post!

We're introducing theme months to our beers on tap in the Brewery and April's theme is American hops.

We will have our American style Pale Ale, one of our favourite seasonals, Cranky Pants, a big hoppy American style India Pale Ale and introducing for the first time - No Pants - a very big American Style Imperial India Pale Ale.

American hops often have fruity flavours; orange and grapefruit are the classics, but you can have passionfruit, rockmelon, lemon & the list goes on & on & on and when you combine two or more hops their character becomes something new and sometimes very different to any of the individual hops used. It makes for a whole load of fun to brew and even more fun to taste. Each of the beers mentioned above have fruit character, but that's not the whole story. The beers also have a great whack of malt to balance the bitterness bought on by using an excessive amount of hops and this malt improves the flavour profile. And, we haven't got around to talking about alcohol; which also changes the taste and mouthfeel. The Pale, Cranky Pants & No Pants come in at 5.2%, 7.5% & 9% abv respectively and the flavour of alcohol adds another dimension to the beer; tasting the beers next to each other provides a fantastic learning experience.

India Pale Ales came about when the British had an army in India and the troops wanted to drink beer. A fellow called John Hodgson brewed a very hoppy beer (which also makes it a very bitter beer) and a beer with a bit more booze in it. This recipe allowed the beer to hold up during the many months long sea voyage from Enlgand to India and in fact the beer improved during the voyage; mellowing some of the harsher characters. Our version is called American syle because we use hops that come Washington State in the USA. 'Imperial' or 'double' simply means that the beer is a stronger version than is typical; our Imperial IPA has more bitterness and uses more hops than is typical for the style.

And if the hops aren't for you, don't worry our otehr regulars are all on tap alongside our popular Chocolate Porter and Oyster Stout (yes it does have Oysters in it!).

Happy tasting, from the brewery team.