Recently we were approached by one of our hop suppliers Charles Faram about taking part in an experiment titled 3.2.1 A Cross Style Hop Showcase. In the experiment three breweries were each given a different, experimental British hop variety and asked to brew two contrasting beers with that hop.
We accepted the challenge and were assigned CF386. If you're wondering why it has a boring name it's because the hop hasn't been commercially released yet, these trials were designed to give them more feedback on promising hops from their breeding programme before release.
I decided to brew an Amber Lager (Timber) and a Hazy Pale (Amble) with this hop, utilising polar opposite hopping techniques in each. Timber was brewed with a base malt and a touch of Crystal malt to give colour and a hint of sweetness. I used Timber as an opportunity to find the base properties of this hop, adding it early on in the boil so almost no aromatics or discernible flavour was left - just good ol' fashioned bitterness. I fermented it with a German lager yeast and conditioned it for 4 weeks.
The resulting beer is crisp, clean and slightly sweet with a balanced bitterness. It's easy drinking but it's not going to blow any minds. It does however show that this hop is perfectly capable of working in a lager to offer up a spicy, herbal bitterness to compliment the sweetness of the malt. This was a measured, by the book attempt at using the hop.
When it came to brewing Amble we threw the rulebook out, then burned it.
On rubbing the hops when they first arrived I picked up feint grapefruit pith and coconut aromas. They seemed really delicate, or volatile if we're talking brewing terms - which we probably should. I really wanted to capture those compounds but knew any exposure to heat, oxygen or a feint westerly wind would blow them away so I decided on a slightly controversial method. We began sensibly, the malt bill for Amble is very similar to our flagship hazy pale Love Letter, a mix of extra pale and pale malt layered with oats, wheat and a touch of cara for colour. Next up, the boil and time to add the hops and here's where it gets interesting because, well... I didn't add any. It just so happened that Ruth, our Account Manager from Charles Faram came along to brew this beer with me and I'm pretty sure she hadn't banked on brewing a beer with no hops that day!
Because CF386 is still in development stage there is only a limited amount picked each year, so I had a limited supply. I decided to save what I had left to add as a 'dry hop' - which misleadingly, is actually added in the fermenter when the beer is cold rather than in the boil, cold hopping is a much better name for it. Adding hops in the boil creates bitterness, and up until recent years was believed to be the only way to add bitterness to a beer. We now know that dry hopping also adds bitterness of sorts but the main benefit, and the reason I saved all the hops until now, is dry hopping imparts aromatic, fresh top notes that are otherwise lost.
I'm quite proud of the resulting beer. The coconut aromas from the hop come through strongly, though there is less pithiness than I'd have hoped. It's a smooth, easy drinking beer that definitely holds it's own against more aggressively US hopped beers.
The culmination of all of our efforts was a panel discussion and tasting at SIBA BeerX - The number 1 craft brewing exhibition in the UK. Alongside the two other breweries I cracked open cans of each beer in front of over 100 of my brewing peers. If you're interested you can listen to a recording on Charles Faram's podcast here
You can also buy cans of both beers for a limited time in our Taproom or on our online shop. So sit back, drink along and let us know what you think of the beers!
Cheers
Mike