* Cross-continental Karma
* Blending Bliss
* More fresh hop winners
* Hop profile: Columbus
* Read and listen
Welcome to Vol. 9, No. 7. Brewing Industry Guide has posted a story I wrote about recent research related to hop maturity and picking windows (yes, it is behind a paywall; I’ve explained why in the past). It will be in print in a couple of months. As happens, some things I learned did not end up in the story. In this case, it was how Freestyle Hops in New Zealand uses its knowledge about how Nelson Sauvin matures to create Nelson Bliss, a blend of intense tropical character with wine-like complexity. The process intrigues me, so I am passing it along here.
KARMA
Yes, new hop varieties with names ending in “a” keep coming. Last month, Hops Direct announced the availability of Karma, which is grown only at Puterbaugh Farms in the Yakima Valley. She is also available from Charles Faram in the UK.
Charles Faram and Puterbaugh Farms/Hops Direct began working together in 1998, cross trading American, UK and European hops. Planting a seedling from the Charles Faram breeding program at Puterbaugh Farms in 2015 was a logical next step. Karma is a daughter of Mystic and a disease resistant UK male. Her grandmother is Jester and great grandmother is Cascade.
In an Instagram post welcoming Karma, Hops Direct wrote she brings a punch of Orange Creamsicle, with bright notes of beer and mint. Other descriptors include soft lemon, blackcurrant, pine and peach.
The basics: 7-9% alpha acids, 3-4% beta acids, 0.5-0.9 mL/100 grams total oil.
NELSON BLISS
When I wrote Dave Dunbar at Freestyle Hops to learn more about Nelson Bliss, he provided this information:
“With our Nelson Sauvin lots we have quite a few breweries chasing maximum tropical intensity. This tends to be expressed as heaps of sweet exotic fruit (I think of it as mango, papaya, yellow nectarine types of notes) in finished beer when used as post-ferm dry hop. Getting that maximum tropical intensity isn’t a free lunch though; we are losing yield and some of the bright, wine-y character to achieve it. Ideally, many breweries would like that super tropical character to still retain a good degree of wine-y complexity and have some bright citrus-y notes.
“For bigger breweries with lot selection and great attention to process, this is easily solve-able by selecting a little bit of a very bright, citrus-forward lot of Nelson Sauvin along with their super tropical lot and blending to get the desired outcome. Our ‘Bliss Process’ does that blending at the farm (pellet mill) in ratios that we think are going to do a great job of achieving that super tropical but with brighter complexity result. In most years we think that blend is roughly ~70% super tropical with ~30% bright and wine-y, but it will vary somewhat to account for season-to-season variation.”
The process is not simple:
“1. The sensory for our Bliss Process Nelson is mainly our normal in-field sensory that we are doing across all varietals and lots for harvest timing and sequencing purposes. We are also doing sensory on all the kilned hops and use that as a final sense check to make sure we are 100 percent happy with the blending plan.
“2. In order to do this we are baling the bright citrus-y lots and blending them into the super tropical ones. That’s done because they are harvested earlier than the super tropical lots. Every now and then we get enough variation between blocks that we could just hold a lot on the kiln floor for a couple days and then blend, but that isn’t typical.
“3. The Nelson Sauvin character (in a normal season) goes through a progression from i) somewhat vegetal and dominated by green fruit character (gooseberry, etc.) to ii) brighter citrus-y with grapefruit-like notes to iii) bright, wine-y and complex with passion fruit notes to iv) building tropical complexity with brighter citrus fading to v) super tropical with sweeter citrus notes to vi) tropical with light dank and solvent-y notes to vii) fading tropical with lots of weird, random characters ranging from O/G to berry fruit. Extremely late Nelson Sauvin tends to vary quite a bit from season to season and can express a wide array of characters, including appealing and un-appealing ones.
“4. The peak of cone weight (yield) with Nelson Sauvin is at an early point in harvest (probably around phase ii in my description above), so chasing more complex and tropical results always comes with some yield loss. The amount of yield loss varies from year to year.”
FRESH HOP WINNERS (LATE HARVEST)
This list wraps up the winners from the Best of Craft Beer Awards fresh hop competition, adding the late harvest winners (scroll down for early harvest medalists). What I particularly enjoy about the report is that it includes which farms the hops came from. Viewed through that lens, Coleman Agriculture was the big winner.
HOP PROFILE: COLUMBUS
The history around Columbus, Tomahawk and Zeus — three varieties that sometimes are traded by those names, but more often simply as CTZ — deserves a chapter in a book. In fact, Steve Carpenter devoted parts of several short chapters in “Our Relentless Pursuit of Hoppiness” to the varieties and related legal battles. This is a newsletter, not a book, so I suggest tracking down the book. Or listen to the No Dirt No Flowers podcast that has additional details, as well as “lawsuits, clones, sisters, cloned sisters, powdery mildew, international hop markets, and . . . car trunk roots.” Al Haunold’s 2010 blog post fills in more gaps, but itself became controversial. Be sure to read the comments.
The legal dispute arose because C, T and Z are alpha producing machines. That made them valuable 30 years ago, and are the reason that farmers today plant more acres of CTZ than any hop but Citra. What’s relatively new is the interest in Columbus as an “aroma hop” when she is picked earlier than in the past.
Earlier this year, Tim Wallen from Hoptechnic, Michal Frankowicz from Fort George Brewing, and Jake Watt from Trap Door Brewing gave a presentation at an MBAA Northwest gathering focused on Columbus. They collaborated on three well-hopped 6.3% ABV, 59 IBU not exactly identical beers.
The base was hopped for 60 minutes with Apollo CO2 Extract and Columbus T-90, for 10 minutes with Strata T-90s, for one minute with a blend of Strata and Amarillo T-90s, and in the whirlpool with Strata T-90s, Amarillo T-90s, and Columbus T-45s.
It was then divided into three parts for dry hopping. Each was dry hopped with Strata (57%), Amarillo (27%) and Columbus (16%). But the form for Columbus was different in each. Although the chemical analysis was similar for all three, the sensory profile was not. Take a look:
DT01 (with T-90s)
Aroma – Diesel, Grassy, Papaya, Kiwi, Berries, Resin.
Flavor – Grapefruit peel, Resin, Herbal, Juicy Fruit, Tart Berries, Earthy.
DT02 (with T-45s)
Aroma – Juicy Fruit Gum, Dried Mango, Pineapple, Papaya, Mandarin, Blueberry, Diesel.
Flavor – Papaya, Grapefruit, Mango, Strawberry, Pine.
DT03 (with Cryo)
Aroma – Mountain Huckleberries, Pink Starburst, Pine, Papaya, Pineapple, OG.
Flavor – Pink Raspberry, Orange Pith, Herbal, Lime Zest.
It seems as if nothing about Columbus is simple.
Heritage: Breeder Chuck Zimmerman never shared information about the genetic background of Columbus, but Haunold writes she “likely came from a USDA hop germplasm line that had Brewer’s Gold as one of its main components.” Others have suggested Columbus is a daughter of Nugget (which is 5/8 Brewer’s Gold). Columbus and Tomahawk likely are genetically identical, and Zeus is not too different. What about possible relative called River? You’ll have to listen to the podcast.
The basics: 14-16% alpha acids, 4.5.-6% beta acids, 2.5-3.5 mL/100 grams total oil.
Aroma qualities: You’ve probably figured out by now that there is an “it depends” factor here. Picked early, Columbus exhibits plenty of citrus character, spicy notes, and melon and apple/pear aromas. Picked late, onion/garlic is common. Typically, CTZ has been picked late, because most customers are simply looking for alpha.
GOOD READING AND LISTENING
Brewing with green hops. My favorite part is the Walthamstow Beer Project. “The volunteer-run community project is now in its 11th year, and boasts hundreds of members. The model is simple: Members pay a small fee to collect their hop plants in March, and then are responsible for growing the hops over the following months. By September, come rain or shine, they bring their freshly harvested hop bines to the industrial estate that houses East London Brewing
“‘We’ve noticed that the membership has got a lot younger and a lot of people bring their young families to the hop-picking day. Everyone really enjoys the friendly, laid-back atmosphere and the sense of community, says Mat Maddox, a project committee member.”
Building a better supply chain. The hop industry needs the sort of partnerships Isaiah Smith (of Our Culture and Creature Comforts) is talking about. (Yes, it is another No Dirt No Flowers recommendation, but no apologies.)
Michigan Hops: The Women Behind the Bines. I one hundred percent hope some of these women are at Michigan’s Great Beer State Annual Conference in January. “From harvest coordination and greenhouse propagation to research and land stewardship, they’re doing the work, just not always getting the credit.”