hops

Tired of hops? Consider featherbowling

MONDAY BEER LINKS, MUSING 06.22.15

Believe in featherbowling.
My favorite read of the week, maybe month. I’ll admit the beer connection is minimal, but the Cadiuex Cafe was an early outpost for flavorful beer in Detroit. Delightful on the cafe side, fascinating on the bowling side. [Via ESPN the Magazine]

Doom Bar and the Question of Origin.
The quick summary: the popular UK beer Doom Bar is brewed outside of Cornwall as well as in Cornwall, which is not what the brand’s owner Molson-Coors would have drinkers believe. Now that the cat’s out of the bag, Boak & Bailey write, what does that mean? Among other things they “suspect it will take months for most people to clock this news and, even then, many won’t care — it’s a popular beer which presumably sells to the trade at a competitive price and it’s still Cornish-ish, right?” I wish they weren’t right, but I figure they are. [Via Boak & Baley’s Beer Blog]

June Hop Acreage Report.
If You Drink It, They Will Grow: A Changing Landscape for Hops.
More on Hops: Prices and Future Growth.
Peak hop: Obsession with flavour may be dulling our beer palates.
Hops are giving you man boobs? Poppycock.
As I noted last week on Twitter, a few years ago hardly anybody beyond hop farmers paid attention to the USDA June Hop Report. That’s changed. Bart Watson of the Brewers Association analyzes it in depth (first link), the Bryan Roth goes deeper (next two). The fourth link isn’t about production, but beyond reminding us of the new interest in hops dredges up the notion that an obsession with hops keeps drinkers from exploring other flavors in beer. I disagree. The last link is to something I posted Friday, about the silly statement that hops give men man boobs. You’d be dead from alcoholism long before you could consume enough 8-prenylnaringenin to result in estrogenic effects.

Should I be drinking local or sustainable beer?
“Which is greener: beer brewed on wind energy that is trucked 1,000 miles to the consumer, or beer brewed on coal energy with minimal transport needed?” [Via Grist]

New Chinese Beer Saves Rhinos By Using Fake Rhino Horn.
Ingredient of the Week No. 1. [Via Eater]

Carrot craft beer is being brewed in Australia.
Ingredient of the Week No. 2. The beer is called Wabbit Season. [Via Mashable]

How Solid Are The Breweries In Your State?
“The question was which states have the breweries that have the most above-average beers, and which states have the breweries that make the most superlative beers.” Hop science I get, this I don’t. [Via BeerGraphs]

Hops are giving you man boobs? Poppycock

Yes, drink enough IPAs and you could end up with man boobs — so the headline on Wednesday’s much passed around story is, technically, a bit more accurate than the second paragraph: “Yes, you read that right: Hops are giving men man boobs.”

The article relies on “Sacred and Herbal Healing Beers” to demonize hops. The book drew controversial conclusions in 1998, and there considerable research since, unearthing plenty of contradicting evidence.

The villain is 8-prenylnaringenin, a phytoestrogen mentioned in the story. Maybe the villain; not even that is exactly clear. But there is a bottom line; 8-prenylnaringenin is “abundant” in hops only when compared to the average plant. Research in Germany, cited in this 2004 Brauwelt story, notes that “levels in hops are very low. The concentration is below 0.01% and thus e.g. about 100 times lower than that of xanthohumol.” Hop researchers have been studying xanthohumal for some time, trying to promote its health benefits. The problem is you’d have to drink so much beer to enjoy to get the benefits you’d probably die from alcoholism.

Various studies found that between 0.02 and 0.24 mg/l of 8-prenylnaringenin end up in finished beer and that “humans would have to consume more than 1000 liters of beer daily to achieve detectable estrogenic effects.”

Hops add no calories to beer. But drink enough 200-calorie IPAs and you’ve got a good running start on man boobs. Just don’t blame the hops

Whither the German Pilsner?

German pilsner bitterness unitesHere is a chilling thought: “If this trend of reducing the hop-content in (German) Pilsner beer continues, by 2030 the Pilsner beer will have similar composition to today’s export or lager beers.”

The Journal of the Institute of Brewing and Distilling recently published a study that indicated the bitterness level of German pilsners had remained relatively constant between 1983 and 2006, but since then has dipped, now brewing with about 27 International Bitterness Units (IBU) rather than 30. Just in case you thought hops were making a comeback everywhere.

The report suggests there are several possible reasons for the results. “One may be purely economic reasons in times of a declining beer market in Germany. This is probably true for so-called ‘discount’ beers, which are regularly at the lower end of the legally permissible range regarding original gravity but also regarding (bitterness units). Another reason may be a change in consumer preference towards less bitter beers (a statement that
has often been made during our contacts with industry but which is currently not scientifically verifiable). Or is this an apparent case of consumer deception, because the consumers’ expectations may have been intentionally changed by the subtle decline in hop-dosage during a 40 year period? Clearly, a German Pilsner beer today is not what is was in the last century.”

The story concludes with a discussion about German food laws and if there should be a way to legally enforce the bitterness level of pilsners. That’s not going to happen.

The chart at the top compares four single breweries to the overall trend. The dark blue band on the left represents 1986-2003, the middle band 1998-2004, the one on the right 2005-2013.

Hops and the law – ‘Neato’

MONDAY BEER LINKS, MUSING 06.01.15

We just finished moving our books, beds and other essentials under a new roof. So notes taken during the Craft Brewers Conference about some of the various hop-related things going on at Brewery Ommegang are packed in a box somewhere. I don’t remember all the details, but I do remember that Nirvana IPA, which is made for Ommegang at Boulevard Brewing, is brimming with bold American hop aroma. However, only available in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut.

Three 1700s English Court Cases About Hops.
A post about hops that concludes with a one-word sentence: “Neato.” How could I resist? [Via A Good Beer Blog]

Farm brewery still a go in Lucketts—but without Flying Dog.
A bit confusing what might happen to the farm brewery in Maryland that received considerable attention because Flying Dog Brewery was to be a partner. Now Flying Dog has backed away. However, a hops facility on the same farmland, which will receive grant money from the state and county, is not affected by the change and will go ahead as planned. [Via Loudon Times]

Hops yesterday, today and tomorrow.
Hops yesterday, today and tomorrow (part two).
The decline and rise of hopping rates. [Via Shut Up About Barclay Perkins]

ENOUGH HOPS? HOW ABOUT THESE?

From Vikings To The War Of 1812: An Interview With Right Proper Brewmaster Nathan Zeender On Recreating Historic Beer Styles.
I’m pointing to this even though it includes a favorable shout out to Stan Hieronymus (always a bit embarrassing) because it serves as an excellent reminder that the theme The Session #100 on Friday is Resurrecting Lost Beer Styles. [Via War on the Rocks]

5 craft beer bits from Founders, New Holland owners.
Among the takeaways: What aspect of the job has gotten tougher over the years? “The hangovers are worse.” [Via MLive]

Czech village toasts success of self-service pub.
Machine dispenses homebrewed beer for the same prices as lemonade, 20 Czech koruna (80 cents) a pint. [Via The Guardian]

I Started a Fantasy Beer League, and So Can You.
You’ll just have to read it. [Via Paste]

Vaping hops, of the dankest kind

Sentences you would not have read in the Washington Post in 1980, or likely many years after, from a story about events around the District during SAVOR:

“And on June 4, Lagunitas is serving up hops in an unusual manner. The California- and Chicago-based brewery will have a vaporizer set up with fruity vape juice the at Smoke and Barrel (2471 18th St. NW; June 4, 5 p.m., free) so patrons can vape hops while getting buzzed on eight of its dankest drafts.”