Contrary to many, I am not necessarily hyped about IPAs or hops. Sure they can be good beers and sure I can appreciate them, but other beer styles are often just more interesting. In my humble opinion, that is.
Understandably, the Craft Beer Channel on YouTube spends many a video on IPAs and hops, as this is what the crowds do like. Many of their videos are great, even if I don’t always agree with their tasting notes, their way of tasting (don’t keep smashing that beer around, carbonization matters!) or their choice of exemplary beers for a beer thematic tasting. Recently, they released a series of documentaries on hops and IPAs and I found one of those especially well done, as it allows you to join along on their journey.
In “The hops that built craft beer”, Jonny and Brad take their viewers along the story of the role of hops in building the modern craft beer scene. Five hops are leading the show, four iconic beers are discussed with their original brewers. Interestingly, Siren Craft Brew brewed a homage to each of them. A series of four hop-forward beers illustrating the evolution of legendary hop varieties and development of a wide range of pale ale-based brews. I am not going to give much of the info away here, for that you can just watch the video yourself. I did buy the Time Hops Series of Siren and set out to taste along on the journey.
Hop breeding in the seventies and eighties
The US Department of Agriculture sponsored a hop breeding program in Oregon back in the early seventies. Cascade was one of the very first hops released from that program and is, unsurprisingly, still popular. It wasn’t all that easy though for this variety in its early days. Consumers weren’t all that used to aroma hops and flavors beyond just the bittering were alien to most. The whole reason for the breeding program was to get rid of a dependency on imported Hallertauer hops. Coors liked the variety, which was then still romantically called USDA 56013 and named it after the mountain ridge that protected the hops from the influence of the Pacific. It quickly became clear that the aromas of Cascade were too strong for Coors and just before the species would go extinct, Fritz Maytag from Anchor Brewing saves it by using it for their famous Liberty Ale. Cascade has become famous through Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, which uses this hop exclusively and copiously. The aromas are bursting out of the bottle already since the early eighties.
For me, it was a joy of recognition to open up and pour the first in the Siren series. In the years that I lived in the US, my fridge was mostly filled with “nothing box” Vienna Lager Yuengling (yes, I was on the East Coast), but the cute green-labeled bottles of Sierra Nevada Pale Ale would often join the beige cans. It was omnipresent, very affordable and a hell of a lot more flavorful. Not only in my fridge, but also in local retail and bars, Sierra Nevada was very often available and I had quite a few, about a decade ago. The nose of caramel, mixed with the spicy citrus aroma of Cascade makes the Siren brew a great copy of the original. Quite the homage to the beer that arguably started what would become the craft beer (and later the IPA) revolution! The bitters weren’t very hard yet, but rather balanced by a firm malt body. Balance, more than hop-forward.
As the West Coast style gained popularity, the hop bitters were gaining traction. Interestingly, the Craft Beer Channel and Siren picked Centennial as the hop variety to showcase this. The second beer in the line-up is a replica of Racer 5 by Bear Republic. The story of the creation revolves around a mistake on the malt bill by the brewer, which is then “corrected” by playing with the hop dosage (not nessecarily an unpopular technique, indeed). Interestingly, the hops mentioned on the Untappd page for Racer 5 do not mention Centennial, but only Cascade and Columbus. On the website, the full cast of hops stars is revealed, including indeed Centennial, but also still Chinook. The beer had a higher abv than what was common these days, but coming from Sonoma (known for its wine), the clientele of Bear Republic could handle it well. The Siren beer made after this West Coast defining brew is indeed strongly bitter and quite hop forward, but there is still a good malt body, too. The older days knew their balance! It has clear resin and spruce aromas, and it’s a bit dank (why did that become popular…?).
The rise of the hazies
Currently, a good fraction of IPAs consumed and created are fruit bombs. Juicy, strong on the aroma hops, with little to no bitterness and often hazy. I am not sure whether we have the consumer or the brewers to blame for this, but it is what it is. Perhaps it’s just hype, and I for one hope that the craft beer market will regain some balance in beer styles and flavor profiles.
An early example, and now considered a “whale” in his type of beers was Pliny the Elder, brewed by the “neighbors” of Bear Republic: Russian River. This classic beer is the only one in this series that I did not yet have, surprisingly. The Siren version of it, showcasing the Simcoe hop variety turned out rather hazy. It was proper dank, with the smell of weed, but also pinecone, orange and apricot. The fruity and juicy aromas are definitely taking over in the IPA evolution! It is rather boozy and still a tad bit bitter, but much less so than the Centennial beer before.
The really hazy New England IPAs that are so immensely popular these days came on stage more than a decade ago. I fondly remember a small-scale craft beer festival I went to almost ten years ago: the Zeebra Extreme Beer Festival. Only 150 people, and only rare, amazing beers. I had many a Bruery beer there first, and also two incredibly hazy, juicy IPAs by Vermont’s famous The Alchemist. Both Focal Banger and Heady Topper were available, from their iconic cans. It is after the latter that Siren made their fourth beer, in a canticle to the hop duo that has supplied a great many beers with fruity, exotic aromas: Citra and Mosaic. I am not always the biggest fan of Mosaic, but that’s just personal. Who would want to drink diesel with a finish of fresh onions and raw garlic? Apparently, many do. A properly hazy brew, with some pine, but a lot of tropical juices to finish up the series.
I wonder if the series would be continued towards other IPA sub-styles if it were made a couple of years into the future. I guess time will tell. For now, the documentary, together with the 4 beers was a joy. A great hour spent in front of the screen and another great hour to taste, experience and enjoy a fantastic line-up of beers with friends!
Tasting Craft Beer 
Leave a comment