Super hopped. What does that sound more like to you, a really bitter craft beer or a beer loaded with 10 or so hop varieties? Historic 1800s India Pale Ales were generally single hop beers; usually SMaSH (Single Malt and Single Hop) beers, with East Kent Goldings, aka EKG, defining the style for many decades. Was EKG superior to the other varieties available at the time, or the 1800 peeps didn’t have hundreds of hop varieties that exist today? Modern day brewers brew craft beer with every strategy imaginable, including loading the recipe with eight or more hop varietals. Do craft beers with many different hops taste better than a single hop? So many questions. Peaks and Pints says super hopped means a craft beer loaded with seven or more different hops. Let’s taste five such craft beers. Peaks and Pints presents Craft Beer Crosscut 6.8.17: A Flight of Super Hopped.
Shmaltz Chanukah in Kentucky
8% ABV
In early spring of 2015, Shmaltz Brewing brewed a 50-barrel batch of Hanukkah, Chanukah Pass the Beer with eight malts, eight hops and 8 percent ABV. After fermentation eight guys filled first use Heaven Hill and Jim Beam bourbon barrels to age the luscious dark ale. Eight months later, Chanukah in Kentucky was born. The malts and Warrior, Chinook, Fuggle, Vanguard, UK Goldings, Willamette, Liberty and Centennial hops hit the nose with a mix of toasted malt, dark chocolate, woody oak, and the noticeable aroma of barrel bourbon. The first taste is slightly sweet with notes of dark cherry and a confection of toffee, caramel, and hints of vanilla. As it warms, the bourbon character fades making the toffee, chocolate, sweet caramel, vanilla bean and woody oak become more pronounced.
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, Fuggle, Willamette, Tettnang, Chinook, Spalt, Saaz and Strisselspalt for caramel, bitter hops and some alcohol.
Firestone Walker Luponic Distortion Revolution No. 006
5.9% ABV, 59 IBU
Firestone Walker Brewing’s Luponic Distortion is a series of craft beers that revolves approximately every 90 days, all of which showcase specific hops. The California brewery keeps a continuous “base beer” and alters the hops that are used with each new version of the series. Luponic Distortion 006 sports a blend of seven hop varieties led by two hops grown in the up-and-coming region of Michigan. This IPA ultimately provides a vivid taste of a unique hop Terrior for an earthy bitterness and resin with a gentle bready malt. It’s easy, tasty drinking.
Ninkasi Maiden The Shade
6.8% ABV, 72 IBU
Ninkasi Brewing Company unveils a new look for its summer seasonal Maiden the Shade Summer IPA. The updated look of this beer follows the evolution of Ninkasi’s branding, displaying a more hand-illustrated design created by its in-house team of artists. First brewed in 2009, this IPA captures a complex hop profile — bold, dank and bursting with floral notes — and an exceptional drinkability. It combines a crisp malt base consisting of 2-Row Pale, Vienna, and Flaked Barley with a vivacious array of Northwest hops — Summit, Centennial, Simcoe, Columbus, Crystal, Palisade, Amarillo and Magnum — for aroma of pot, pine, grapefruit and tropical fruit followed by pine, grapefruit rind, mango, and roasted malt flavors.
Stone Enjoy By 7.4.17 Unfiltered IPA
9.4% ABV, 90 IBU
Stone Brewing’s hop-driven quest to deliver the most devastatingly fresh IPA on the planet facilitated a paradigm shift in 2012 with the launch of Stone Enjoy By IPA. The timer has started and we’re on the clock for Stone’s Enjoy By 7.4.17 Unfiltered IPA. Brewed with 12 different hops — Nugget, Super Galena, Simcoe, Delta, Target, Amarillo, Cascade, Galaxy, Citra, Nelson Sauvin, Motueka and Helga — the California brewery brewed it specifically not to last after the Fourth of July. This version pours a hazy orange gold with a cotton-candy head. By letting this IPA go unfiltered, its peach and tropical fruit hop flavors are amplified. Expect citrus and sweet honey with each sip.
