Hopthema

Heroes Hop Drama IPA
Brewed by Heroes Restaurant & Brewery
Style: India Pale Ale (IPA)
Riverside, California USA
IBU: 80   EST. CALORIES: 195   ABV: 6.5%
COMMERCIAL DESCRIPTION
A beautiful mélange of hops creates a fruit aroma evocative of wafts from an alluring fruit bowl. The ever-hanging hop scene forges the freestyle of each unique batch (www.ratebeer.com/beer/heroes-hop-drama-ipa/266594/).


You might not realize that hops—one of four necessary ingredients in beer—are only fresh, or "ripe," for a 6- to 8-week window every year. That's usually from mid-August until mid-September when, amazingly, all the hops in America are picked from their bines. The vast majority are dried, often to be turned into pellets or extracts, in order that breweries have a hops supply for the other ten months of the year. But, an incredibly small amount of these fresh hops are immediately thrown into brew kettles for a beloved style of beer called wet hop ale which only hits the marketplace during this brief harvest season.
What if I told you this is all about to change and—for the first time ever—you will soon be able to drink wet hop beer year round?
The Yakima Valley in Washington is one of the world's meccas for hops growing. In fact, Sierra Nevada Brewing Company founder Ken Grossman has been traveling there since 1976, back when he was nothing more than a homebrew shop owner. He opened his iconic brewery in 1980 and since then has developed direct relationships with many of the area's hops farmers. It was one such farmer who inspired the brewery's latest innovation, one that could completely change the beer industry (www.esquire.com/food-drink/drinks/a32539/sierra-nevada-hops-hunter-ipa/).

Lancaster Hop Hog IPA.  This is the 12oz bottle packaging and this classic IPA will remain at 7% ABV and 60 IBU (http://en.paperblog.com/lancaster-updates-hop-hog-ipa-packaging-1042393/).


Funky Buddha Hop Gun IPA 6pk 12oz
BEER ABV 6 - 7.4
BEER STYLE IPA
COUNTRY U.S.
REGION Beer East Coast
SIZE 6pk
In a veritable sea of India Pale Ales, what does it take to leap out from the rest? To us, the answer is Hop Gun IPA. Lift a pint – from first sniff to last sip, our flagship IPA drinks like an ode to hoppy goodness. Galena, Cascade, and Nelson Sauvin hops burst forth with an unmistakably heady aroma. Flavors of grapefruit, honey, melon, and pineapple mingle with a malt body that balances caramel and biscuit character with a pronounced dry finish.
Pairing Suggestions: Washed rind cheeses, chipotle chicken wings, Thai red curry, hoisin-glazed roast duck, Moroccan-spiced lamb chops, fresh-baked cherry pie (www.luekensliquors.com/beer/funky-buddha-hop-gun-ipa-6pk-12oz).



Troubadour Magma Special Edition 2011: The brewer is featuring the Cascade hop in this Magma 2011 edition of the award-winning Troubadour Magma, which features Simcoe hops. You will find a new Magma edition every year beginning in October while supplies last. This ale is a one-time offering to the American consumer, so please get your bottle now (http://beerpulse.com/2011/07/new-beer-labels-odell-widmer-duclaw-uinta-samuel-adams-musketeers/).


Sierra Nevada Harvest Single Hop Yakima #291 IPA
The first beer, a single hop IPA shipping nationwide next week, features the unnamed hop 291, which seesaws between intense floral aromas and notes of blueberry and black pepper. Another single hop IPA, as well as fresh hop (Southern Hemisphere Harvest®), wet hop (Northern Hemisphere Harvest®) and wild hop IPAs, round out the lineup. Sierra Nevada always hunts for rare and exciting hop flavors, and the Harvest series offers a year of sampling some of the brewery’s pioneering beers and latest hop discoveries.
“I’ve long been enamored with the aromatics and flavor of whole-cone hops, and breeders and growers are in craft’s corner pushing the limits of an ingredient that brings all of us—brewers and drinkers—a lot of excitement,” said Ken Grossman, Sierra Nevada’s founder. “Our Harvest series is a fun glimpse at the future of hops, and it’s something we hope to repeat each year with bold new varieties.” (http://beerpulse.com/2014/02/sierra-nevada-harvest-single-hop-yakima-291-ipa-kicks-off-2014-harvest-series-2384/)


IS SIERRA NEVADA’S CONTROVERSIAL HOP HUNTER IPA A REVOLUTION IN WET HOPS? Sierra Nevada and a certain hop hunting IPA. While most have focused on the now defunct lawsuit from Lagunitas over font and typography, there is an intriguing beer buried in the controversy. Now, SN is known for playing around with hops. They were the first to use wet hops long ago and you need look no further than the recently released Harvest Wild Hop IPA with Neomexicallious, a hop found growing in the wilds of New Mexico. For these hop dynamos, the announcement of a new IPA should come as no surprise, but the process in making this beer does.
The intrigue comes in the form of a Sierra Nevada engineered procedure that allows for the wet hopping of beer year round…in a way. Sierra Nevada Bill (Bill Manly, Product Development Manager for SN – seen below being told his beer isn’t for drinking) states the science thusly in a Beer Advocate forum reply:
“Typically, extracts are made from dried hops using a Supercritical CO2 extraction method, then after the pure hydrocarbon is removed from the hops, one of two things happens: The oil is either chemically adjusted and manipulated into kettle bittering products or used as aroma (downstream or cold-side) products–more common in craft brewing. Most commercial extracts are fractionated (refined) in polarized column stills to pull out specific flavor components and highlight some others… We’re literally using wet hops (undried) and using pure steam (hot water) to pull out the essential oils.”
While that is very important and sciencey brewer information, what is it that we, the drinkers of science, need to know? Essentially, SN has come up with a process to steam the oils from wet hops, which are only available twice a year (roughly September and March), and then separate those oils from the residual water. They anticipate that keeping the oil at the proper cold temperatures will maintain the stability and allow them to use it throughout the year. In fact, SN is adding Hop Hunter as a year round release, the first time a new addition has been made to their yearly lineup since 2009.
You may wonder, how is this different from hop extracts which already exist? Well you inquisitive and informed beer drinker, unlike extracts taken from kilned (dried) hops which are chemically altered, this steamed process takes only the pure oils, which provide that awesome hop aroma, and doesn’t include any resins (alpha/beta acids). The lack of acids means this extract doesn’t add bitterness to the beer, just the pure, aromatic wet hop goodness (http://drewsbrewsreviews.com/2015/01/14/is-sierra-nevadas-controversial-hop-hunter-ipa-a-revolution-in-wet-hops/).


Rogue Farms 7 Hop IPA - Rogue Ales
Brewed by:  Rogue Ales visit their website
Oregon, United States
Style | ABV
American IPA |  8.02% ABV
(www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/132/111176/)


ROGUE FARMS 7 HOP IPA
Type : Beer
Style : American IPA
Country/Region : US-Oregon
Brewery : Rogue
This is John Maier’s secret recipe that blends all seven hops grown in the hopyard of Rogue Farms. It is a true taste of the terror of the Wigrich Appellation, the oldest hops growing region in Oregon.
13 ingredients:
Malts: Rogue Farms DareTM, RiskTM, Maier & DareTM R-3
Hops: Rogue Farms Liberty, Newport, Revolution, Rebel, Independent, Freedom & Alluvial
Yeast & Water: Pacman yeast and free range coastal water
Specs: · 18o PLATO · 90 IBU · 79 AA · 17o Lovibond
8.02% ABV (https://bineandvine.com/shop/american-ipa/rogue-farms-7-hop-ipa-22oz/)


Dia De Los Muertos Hop On Or Die IPA
Brewed by Cervecería Mexicana
Style: India Pale Ale (IPA)
Tecate, Mexico
WEIGHTED AVG: 2.98   EST. CALORIES: 204   ABV: 6.8%
(www.ratebeer.com/beer/dia-de-los-muertos-hop-on-or-die-ipa/218794/)


Green Reaper Fresh Hop IPA (Phillips Brewing Co., 6.5%)
I won’t risk saying this is the first fresh-hop beer from Phillips because they’ve made pretty much every beer style under the sun, but it’s certainly the first to have such a relatively big release.
The resulting beer is a lovely, slightly hazed golden amber colour with a bright white, full and compact head that laces well on the glass.
Those vibrant fresh hops aromas come dancing out of the glass: Beefy, full vegetal skunk notes with sun soaked pine and some orangey citrus.
On the palate there’s an immediate hit of tangy, herbal peppered spice and scorched pine as a sumptuous juiciness washes over the tongue, before a full dryness coats the mouth. There’s a soft sweetness but not enough of a malt backbone to fully balance out the powerful hops. Thankfully the sturdy bitterness isn’t overbearing, and, despite lacking some complexity, the result is a brisk, drinkable, refreshing brew (http://blogs.theprovince.com/2012/12/05/green-reaper-fresh-hop-ipa-phillips-brewing-co-6-5/).


Fat Head’s Brewery will release its Hop Stalker Fresh Hop IPA in 16-ounce cans later this year. The wet-hopped IPA — made with fresh Yakima Valley hops flown in special for the brew
The Hop Stalker name stems from a trip he made with another Fat Head’s brewer to Washington. Cole travels out West at least twice a year to scout hops. He also has his three main hop growers on speed dial, and has his smartphone set up to keep an eye on the Yakima Valley weather.
In other words, he’s obsessive about his hops.
“We were out in a really late harvest in Yakima one year and we were driving around and chasing around some of the hop trucks to follow them back to the farms,” Cole said. “I looked at him and said, ‘We’re a couple of hop stalkers here.’ (www.ohio.com/blogs/the-beer-blog/the-beer-blog-1.273124/fat-head-s-to-release-hop-stalker-in-16-ounce-cans-1.507653)


Port Brewing Company - High Tide Fresh Hop IPA (22oz bottle)
ProducerPort Brewing Company
CountryUnited States
RegionCalifornia
StyleIndia Pale Ale
Sku21756 (https://woodbridge.jcanals.com/beer/Port-Brewing-Company-High-Tide-Fresh-Hop-IPA-w71405677b)