Cheers is dedicated to delivering hospitality professionals the information, insights and data necessary to drive their beverage business by covering trends and innovations in operations, merchandising, service and training.
Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/121046
Company in Corvallis, OR, has a ���One Hop Wonder��� series,��� says Hardy. ���They work closely with the hop research program at Oregon State University, and have put out some great beers with new hop varieties.��� Other American breweries featuring single-hop beers include Bell���s Beer in Kalamazoo, MI; Rogue Ales in Newport, OR; Sixpoint Brewing Co. in Brooklyn, NY; Blue Hills Brewery in Canton, MA; Flying Dog Brewery in Frederick, MD; Stoudts Brewing Co. in Adamstown, PA; Ninkasi Brewing Co. of Eugene, OR; and many more. IRON HILL EXPERIMENTATION ABOUNDS Goose Island Brewery of Chicago began brewing its Honkers Ale nearly 20 years ago with a single hop, Styrian Golding. Denmark���s Mikkeller Brewery in 2009 launched an ambitious series of IPAs through the Single Hop Series of 19 IPAs. Each was brewed with a different hop, in the same ratio of hops to malt across all varieties. ���It was an interesting experience drinking the Mikkeller single-hop series,��� says Hieronymus. ���The IPA brewed with Citra [hops] tasted like tropical passion fruit, while the IPA brewed with Simcoe hops added at the same ratio was extremely bitter,��� like a raw orange peel, he notes. Rogue Ales launched an indigenous ale series under the Rogue Farms label, featuring brewery-grown malts and hops. The Rogue Farms single-hop ales use fresh hops such as Revolution, Freedom, Liberty and Rebel Hop. Rogue���s 15 pubs in the Pacific Northwest serve single-hop samplers, which are priced at $6 for four 4-oz. tasters. Ninkasi Brewing Co. began experimenting with single hop beers several years ago, with a beer called ���Smells Like Purple,��� brewed with the Meridian hop, says founder Jamie Floyd. The Meridian hop is a cultivar grown at the Goschie Farms of Silverton, OR, with flavor that ranges from bright blackberry to tropical fruit. ���We brew with hops that are unfamiliar to us, and the singlehop style lets us bring the most out of the hop, experiencing the full range of flavor possible in brewing and dry hopping the beer,��� Floyd says. ���We promote the single-hop beers for education and targeting the real beer geek.��� TASTIEST ON TAP Single-hop beers are ideally presented on draft, says Floyd, ���because that���s the freshest the beer can be, as kegs are kept cold and that allows the hop flavors and aromatics to stay intact.��� Plus, many single-hop beers are created in small batches for limited release, making them more appealing for draft presentation on premise. ���I like draft service for single-hop beers,��� agrees Julia Herz, craft beer program director for the Brewers Association in Boulder, CO. ���Fresh hop aromatics are volatile and so should be enjoyed the fresher, the better���and the more true to what the brewer intended.��� At Iron Hill Brewery & Restaurants, ���We rotate our singlehop ales on draft, and brew them primarily for our own brewers to experiment, and learn how to get the best character from that www.cheersonline.com Iron Hill Brewery & Restaurants rotates its single-hop ales on draft. specific hop,��� says Mark Edelson, director of brewery operations. The nine-unit brewpub chain is headquartered in Wilmington, DE, with locations in Delaware, New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Iron Hill brewpubs average 10,000 sq. ft., and about 1,800 sq. ft. of the space is allocated to bar seating and tables, with capacity for 30 seats or more. ���We have anywhere from 20 to 40 [tap] handles, all our own beer except for festivals on premise or other special occasions,��� Edelson says. ���We obtain 20% of sales from beer and 10% of bar sales from wine and spirits, combined,��� he says. Prices range from $5 and up per pint, though the singlehop ales are served in ���tulips or snifter glasses to capture the aromatics,��� Edelson says, and priced from $6 to $7. Iron Hill���s tasting samplers of the six house ales and two seasonal releases are priced at $12. Single-hop beers are ���an ideal way for breweries to differentiate themselves,��� says Bonnie Steinman of Hop Head Farms. ���Putting these limited-release beers on draft makes it that much more special, so that it���s part of the experience to enjoy the single-hop beers in the bars, away from home.��� ��� Lucy Saunders is a freelance food and beer writer based in Milwaukee, WI. APRIL 2013 | 23