What are hops?
Hops are the coned shaped flowers of the humulus lupulus. Inside each cone are small yellow pods or glands called the lupulin which add bitterness, flavour and aroma to beer.
When are they used in brewing?
When brewing hops can be added during the boil (hot side) or during fermentation (cold side)
The earlier on you add hops to the boil the more you extract from the hops. To add bitterness hops are added at the start of the boil to extract as much as possible. Towards the end of the boil hops are added more for flavour and aroma.
Adding hops to the fermenter is called dry hopping. These additions add minimal bitterness and add more flavour and aroma. Temperature plays a key role in what gets extracted from the hop.
Where are hops grown?
Hops are grown all over the world but the earliest hop cultivation recorded was 736 in the Hallertau region of present day Germany. As well as Germany other countries growing hops today include the United States, Czech Republic, Poland, Slovienia, Australia, New Zealand, England, Spain, France and now even China.
What hops do we use at the brewery?
We use quite a few different varieties in our beers. Here are a few we use.
East Kent Goldings
Grown in East Kent this is actually one of our favourite hops. Its such a versatile hop creating earthy, honey and spicy notes although we find it also can produce citrus lemon notes which is why we use it in our citrus pale ale as well as more darker traditional ales such as Wodehouse and Portside.
Cascade
Grown in both the US and the UK we use it as the only hop in Mainsail as well as in our American IPA SkIPA.
It can have a flowery, spicy, citrus like quality with grapefruit notes. Different years and regions of crops will have different characteristics.
Citra
Grown in the US its one of the most recognized and popular hops known for its citrus aroma and fla-vours. We use this in our New Eng-land IPA Planet Citra.
Galaxy
Grown In Australia Galaxy is another popular hop often used in big hoppy hazy beers. Can give passion fruit, citrus, peach and tropical flavours and aromas. It pairs well with hops such as Citra.
Hop Breeding
To create new and exciting hops selected hops are cross bred together to create desired unique attributes.
