On what they expected to be a short and rather perfunctory visit to Spring Valley Brewery in Japan seven years ago has turned into a growing network of brewers across the U.S. Over time, however, conversations were had, stories were shared, studies were conducted, and a game of hoppy telephone began to spread across the globe as brewers worked to unravel and advance dip hopping. The method was used in a number of the brewery’s beers, including the Grand Kirin beers, but received little attention in the larger beer world, especially as a younger generation of brewers were largely focused on giving a never-ending bear hug to the double dry-hopped method. In 2012 Kirin, the Japanese brewing conglomerate, began talking about “dip hopping,” a technique that its brewers had developed that boosts pleasant hop aromas while suppressing or removing unpleasant off-flavors, like myrcene, and aromas that are derived from fermentation. And brewers are working behind the scenes to find new ways to work with hops that not only slake drinker’s desires, but also make the most of the remarkable little flower that is fueling the industry. Hop growers are ramping up programs to develop new varietals that bring exciting flavors and aromas to the forefront. A simple listing of certain varieties on a beer label will send buyers into a tizzy. The beer also won gold in the Sessionable Hoppy Beers category of the 2017 Oregon Beer Awards.Modern beer consumers have an insatiable desire for hops. She described the hop as having flavors of guava, passionfruit, grapefruit, orange zest, dank earth and lemongrass. Lydia Jones, with Worthy, said the Strata beer is the company’s best-selling product. The company began bottling Strata in September 2017 and began selling it in cans over the summer. Solberg said Worthy’s owner, Roger Worthington, co-founded Indie Hops with him, so his brewery was the first given the opportunity to produce a year-round beer with Strata. Solberg said to this point many beers featuring Strata have been limited-run productions, with the exception of Worthy’s Strata IPA. Strata is at an intersection of those traits, he said. Solberg, a member of Corvallis High School’s class of 1979, said the challenge in developing a new hop variety is in finding one with the positive traits like disease resistance and productivity that also has a unique aroma. Townsend said his program does the plant breeding and then assesses the plants for things like yield and disease resistance, and Indie Hops then does sensory assessment on the hops, both evaluating cone aroma and brewing trials. Strata, the program’s first release, is moving into commercial production a bit earlier than normal due to significant demand by brewers, and due to this genotype’s strong agronomic performance,” Townsend said. “In plant breeding, certainly hop breeding, we plan on at least 10 years of effort before we might have something ready to release as a new cultivar - the process requires significant time to identify the superior plants. Strata is the first release from OSU’s aroma hops program, which was founded in 2010 under Shaun Townsend. Solberg said the company expects to harvest about 200,000 pounds of the hops off about 100 acres of farmland near Independence.Īlthough OSU famously developed hops like Cascade, Nugget and Willamette, those came from a United States Department of Agriculture affiliated program at the university. Portland-based Indie Hops began harvest on its first year of commercial-scale production of Strata in late August. “It’s gonna quickly get a whole lot more exposure.” “Mid-September you will see a lot of fresh hop Strata beers,” he said. Jim Solberg, co-founder of Indie Hops, the company that funds OSU’s Aroma Hops Breeding Program, said there are 30 to 40 breweries in Portland alone looking to use the Strata hop and some were planning to pick their order up the day after it was harvested. Currently if you want to try a beer featuring the new Oregon State University-developed Strata hop, your best bet is a can of Worthy Brewing’s Strata India Pale Ale.īut in just a couple of weeks? The hop could be everywhere.
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