Peaks and Pints Pilot Program: Hop Blending Bunch

Here’s the story
Of a Yakima Washington
Who was bringing up three very lovely hops
Chinook, Centennial, Cascade are all famous
Like their hop farms
The youngest one with pine drops

It’s the story
Of a man named Tasman
Who was busy with three New Zealand hops of its own
They were newer hops
Growing all together
And they were all fruity cones

‘Til the one day when Yakima met Tasman
And they knew that it was much more than a hunch
That this hop blend of old and new must somehow form a beer
That’s the way they all became the Hop Blending Bunch

The Hop Blending Bunch, the Hop Blending Bunch
That’s the way old school and new school hops became the Hop Blending Bunch

Today’s hoppy beers are an avalanche of new hop varieties from fruity southern hemisphere hops. However, before we had Galaxy, Vic Secret and Rakau we had American old school hops — The four C’s (Cascade, Chinook, Centennial and Columbus), which arose as steadfast and permanent components of American craft brewing with their assertive pine and grapefruit flavor and versatility. Today, we marry the new school New Zealand hops with the old school hops straight outta Yakima into each beer in our to-go beer flight, Peaks and Pints Pilot Program: Hop Blending Bunch.

Stoup No Sleep Til Ballad IPA

6.5% ABV, 27 IBU

Born and bred in Ballard the USA, this IPA rocks the old school and new school hops. Chinook and Centennial hops from Roy Farms in Yakima bring the pine, grapefruit and lemon while New Zealand Vic Secret hops pack a pineapple, passionfruit punch. To keep this party rockin’ 8 days a week, Stoup Brewing kept the malt bill soft and gentle on the palate. “Like a lemon to a lime, a lime to a lemon” you’ll sip this def ale with all the fine women … and men … or whoever you want to sip it with.

Barlows Dual Sport IPA Series: Elsinore

6.5% ABV

Barlow’s Brewery  sits on Southeast Mill Plain Boulevard in Vancouver, Washington, which is operated by Eric Van Tassel and Bryan Hochrine, who came from Fat Head’s and Von Evert Brewing, respectively. The clean Dual Sport IPA Series: Elsinore IPA features a blend of new-school Galaxy hops and classic Chinook hops for notes of lime, tropical, grapefruit, and subtle sweet pine.

Hopworks Joker Imperial Hazy IPA

8.1% ABV

Kohatu, meaning “stone” or “rock” in Maori, is a hop released in 2011. it’s named after Kohatu, a small town nestled by the Motueka River, south west of Nelson, New Zealand. The hop has an intense aroma of tropical fruit and freshly crushed pine needles, and adds a fresh character to beer. Hopworks Urban Brewery adds this new school hop to old school hops Chinook and Cashmere for huge bursts of juicy, tropical hops with slight pine.