Pick ’em if you’ve got ’em.
We’ve just gone through hop season, and the new rage in the microbrew industry is fresh hops, a key ingredient only hours old when it’s dropped into the brew kettle.
The hop plant, known botanically as Humulus lupulus, is what gives beer its bitterness and also acts as a preservative. It’s been used for hundreds of years. There are dozens of varieties, but the favored ones are Cascade, Centennial and Cluster. Fresh hops provide a subtler hit of bitterness, with a grassy aroma and citrus flavor, than ones made into pellets, which are more potent.
Buddy Schmalz, who runs the small Dostal Alley Brewery and Casino in Central City, picks his own hops that grow wild around his neighborhood in the old mining town. Hops grow everywhere in Central, a legacy of the early-day German brewers who always made sure miners had plenty of lager.
“This whole hop business is the goofiest thing,” said Schmalz, who picks his hops, dries and freezes them for use year-round. A severe hop shortage a couple of years ago led brewers to lock in long-term, and sometimes expensive, contracts. Now there are plenty. Schmalz isn’t sure which ones are in his beers. “We’re convinced there are a variety of hops (in Central City). We just throw them all in a big bag and shake them up.”
Brian Dunn, owner and head brewer at the much larger Great Divide Brewing Co., in Denver, takes a more traditional approach. He buys his from the Yakima Valley in Washington, long a source for American brewers.
Great Divide gets Cascade and Centennial hops shipped overnight in a refrigerated truck to maintain the intense aroma and citrus hop flavor — an expensive but worthwhile process, Dunn feels.
This is the eighth year that Great Divide has produced its Fresh Hop Pale Ale, a light but flavorful brew. “It’s been a really fun beer for us,” Dunn said. “We’re limited by how much we can brew, only 400 barrels, before the hops go bad.”
Brewers are at the mercy of the hops. When they’re ripe, generally the last week of August and first week of September, it’s time to take action. It takes another month to brew the finished beer.
It’s worth the wait. And it goes good, says the beer’s label, with grilled trout, grilled bratwurst, garlic/ginger sweet potatoes and, yes, Epoisses (it’s a French cheese, OK?). Dunn expects the beer, sold only in 22-ounce bottles, will be in local stores until Thanksgiving.
The folks at AC Golden have joined the hop celebration with their Colorado Native Fresh Hopped Lager, released last month.
AC, which also makes Herman Joseph, first produced Colorado Native last year, but it was a tad short of being “all Colorado” by a few hops. This year, the brewers went over to Montrose to pick up a batch. Now it’s truly Colorado grown and made.
Not “leftovers”
Andy Brown, head brewer at Wynkoop Brewing in LoDo, deliberately holds back a keg of everything he brews during the year, then turns them all loose at the pub’s annual Beers of the Year celebration, taking place from 1 to 4:30 p.m. Saturday.
Last year’s inaugural event was such a success — and overcrowded — that Wynkoop is expanding the tasting area in its upstairs pool room. They’ll roll out about 35 beers, mostly their own, for the tasting. Tickets ($20) are available at the brewery’s website, , or at the door Saturday.
Beer notes
A great combination: Hops and Pie, 3920 Tennyson St., where craft beer meets creative pizzas, pouring 20 beers on tap, including Colorado’s Avery, Odell, Left Hand and Upslope. . . . The opening of the Yard House, boasting 100 beers on tap, has been pushed back to December on the 16th Street Mall. . . . New releases: Peachfork Wheat from Breckenridge Brewing, made with peaches from Palisade. One of the best highly hopped seasonals is Isolation Ale from Odell Brewing in Fort Collins, back for its 11th year. . . . Quotable: “One reason I don’t drink is that I want to know when I am having a good time.”— Lady Astor
Dick Kreck’s e-mail: rakreck@yahoo.com. Send mail to him c/o The Denver Post, 101 W. Colfax Ave., Suite 600, Denver, CO 80202.
