Two faces of Citra

Earlier this week, Yakima Chief Hops posted information about a flash sale on Instagram, drawing attention to changes in the way customers may compare hop lots. The details:

“Review the brewing values, sensory characteristics including charts, and grower information anytime via our revamped Lot Lookup Tool. Just input the Lot Number into the tool. You even have the ability to compare HOT LOTS to each other. Enjoy the assurance of knowing exactly the aroma characteristics of your Spot order will be.”

You need to be a customer to use the tool. I am not. [A correction of sorts, and thanks to Max Coleman. Brewers who have a lot number may use the tool.] anybody can get a look at it here. The Instagram post included spider charts for a few lots, including the two posted above.

I originally thought to post this because for too many years I’ve received the occasional email asking, “What happened to [add your favorite hop name]. It is not the same as it used to be.” My catchall answer is that hops are an agricultural product. These charts are proof, but . . .

There is something else to consider. That’s a T90 pellet lot at the top, and a Cryo lot at the bottom. That the T90 lot is quite woody and the Cryo lot not at all woody suggests removing green matter (which happens when hops are cryogenically concentrated) eliminates the woody character found in “old fashioned” hops. Cool. Unless there’s something else in the green matter that might make the beer taste like some of us prefer.

This is not going to turn into a post about the pros and cons of concentrated hop products. Just something to think about. Scott Lafontaine, whose expertise I have leaned on multiple times, will be talking about “Deconstructing the Chemical Composition of a Hop Cone – a 21st Century Fractionation Approach” at the World Brewing Congress in August. Should be interesting.

A final note: These charts represent T90s and Cryo pellets before they are introduced during the brewing process. Biotransformations = change.