Bred in England in 1934 from a Canterbury Golding female plant and the male plant OB21, Northern Brewer is one of the original hop strains used in the first stages of breeding at Wye College in the early 1900s. Northern Brewer has been used in the breeding process of many varieties of hops including Hueller, Perle, Record, Northdown, Challenger, Viking and Saxon, among others. Easily identified by its dark green leaves, Northern Brewer has a moderate alpha acid profile and a pleasant aroma making for a great bittering hop that is also sometimes used as a late boil addition. As the featured hop in California Common Beer, this hop is woody and features a light minty profile. Today, we offer a taste of Northern Brewer in our Craft Beer Crosscut 4.28.17: A Flight of Northern Brewer.
Anchor Brewery Anchor Steam
4.9 % ABV
The legendary lager from California! Anchor Brewing has crafted this beer in San Francisco since 1896. It’s particularly well known for this style, and has even trademarked the use of the word “steam” on its labels. While the origin of the name remains shrouded in mystery, it likely relates to the original practice of fermenting the beer on San Francisco’s rooftops in a cool climate. In lieu of ice, the foggy night air naturally cooled the fermenting beer, creating steam off the warm open pans. Northern Brewer hops are enjoyable in the flavor, but the rich, almost chewy malt is the best aspect of this brew. It’s complex, rich flavor, deep amber color, and its thick, creamy head make it an instant classic.
Hair of the Dog Fred
10% ABV
Fred Eckhardt’s book, A Treatise on Lager Beers, published in 1969, was the first modern book about beer. During his stint as the Oregonian’s first beer columnist he penned The Essentials of Beer Style, helping many homebrewers understand their craft and in turn helped launch many craft brewing careers, including Hair of the Dog Brewery’s Alan Sprints, who created an American Strong Ale simply named Fred. Fred, the beer, is a deep golden color. It is made with aromatic and rye malts and includes 10 different hop varieties — Northern Brewer, Progress, First Gold, Crystal, Fuggles, Willamette, Tettnang, Chinook, Spalt, Saaz and Strisselspalt for caramel, bitter hops and some alcohol.
Elysian Superfuzz
6.4% ABV, 45 IBU
In 1996, the SuperSonics reached the NBA Finals, Nirvana released “From the Muddy Banks of the Wishkah,” and Elysian Brewing Company poured its first beer in Seattle’s Capitol Hill. A lot has changed since, but the beer is still flowing from Elysian, 21 years later. Four years ago this month, Elysian took an easygoing blend of Northwest Pale, Munich and Dextri-pils malts, Citra and Amarillo hop cones, Northern Brewer for bittering and a dusting of blood orange peel, called it Superfuzz Blood Orange Pale Ale and all was groovy.
Oskar Blues Dale’s Pale Ale
6.5% ABV, 65 IBU
“Voluminously hopped” with Northern Brewer for bittering, Cascade and Columbus for flavor, and a big, post-boil addition of Centennial for aroma, Dale’s Pale Ale is an IPA by anybody’s standard but their own. Toffee and caramel flavors take the lead at first, but lively, aggressive hops soon kick in with bright grapefruit and peppery spice, followed by a nice bitter bite. This Oskar Blues flagship beer was the first craft beer in the United States to be distributed in a can. The brewery’s founder, Dale Katechis, ever the outdoorsman, wanted the benefits of a lightweight, all-terrain package that was infinitely recyclable to have on the go. The can revolution carried on and has now been adopted by breweries across the country.
North Coast Old Rasputin
9% ABV, 75 IBU
According to legend, it took copious amounts of poison, three gunshots, a beating and a drowning to take down Grigori Rasputin. Fortunately, Old Rasputin is more refined than its namesake and easier to drink than most of the imperials we’ve come across. North Coast Brewing‘s Old Rasputin is a giant beer, true to style, with an alcohol content of nine percent by volume and a huge hop bitterness of about 85 to 95 IBUs, thanks to Northern Brewer, Cluster hops and Centennial hops. Black as night and tasting of dark roasted malts and bitter chocolate, this is a complex, strong beer, both in flavor and alcohol content. Though slightly astringent, Old Rasputin finishes clean and refreshing.
LINK: Peaks and Pints Beer Flights archives
