Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Two words....dry hopped

My dear friend Steve is a great educator. His latest effort has been teaching me all the ins and outs of brewing beer. The one thing I have learned has to be about dry hopping. Now hops are a part of every beer, it's what gives beer it's "bitter" characteristic and is usually introduced in the "wort" part of the process (the boiling of the malt and hops). Most all US domestic beers brew this way. The mass American market is not very hop friendly. I have blogged before about my love of hops here. Steve knowing about my love of hops taught me about "dry hopping". After the boiling of the wort, it is cooled and then more hops are added to the cold wort for the fermentation process. The advantage? Why I'll tell you. The aroma is not destroyed from the heat. It carries over so that when you lift that glass to your nose you are hit with a floral/green essence that enhances the taste like none I have ever had.
The front runners are Hop Devil, Hazed and Confused from Boulder Co. and my favorite as of late is Surly Furious made in MN. What a great beer.
Steve, if I am mistaken in any of my info, please feel free to correct....oh Obi Wan Kanbeerme.

2 comments:

Mark Aubrey said...

I like the Car and Sock varieties.

Steve said...

Obi Wan Kanbeerme? Oh, I get it;/ It's a reference to Bar Wars.