Drinking Beer For Science
Strata fresh hops. Courtesy: Indie Hops
Those of you who have had the opportunity to attune your tastebuds to fresh-hop beer know that it has particular and identifiable flavors. You can spot them by a mere sniff. What are those flavors and aromas, though? We don’t know, because no one has ever run tests to find out.
Until now.
I am so excited to announce research that will look into this very question. It’s a joint project by Dr. Tom Shellhammer at Oregon State University, hop-growers Coleman Agriculture, and the nonprofit Celebrate Oregon Beer (my other activity). It has three components, all of which will inform each other: 1) analysis of the chemistry of identical beers made with fresh and kilned hops, 2) a formal sensory panel who will use their noses and tongues on the same beers, and 3) a consumer survey that you—if you live in Oregon or Ohio—can participate in.
Here’s how it works. The research question is: “Do fresh hop beers have a different chemical composition that is appreciable to tasters, and if so, what are they?” Four breweries are participating, and each one will make two identical versions of the same beer. One version will be made with Coleman Ag fresh hops, one with hops taken from the same field, but dried conventionally. In each case, only that one variable will be different, meaning that if anything is different in the two beers, we can chalk it up to the fresh hops.
However, because other variables may affect the way fresh hops express themselves, each brewery has made a slightly different couplet of beers. Two breweries are using Centennial hops, two Strata hops. One using each of those hops will use the fresh hops in the whirlpool, with hot wort, and one each will use them as a dry-hop addition in cold beer. So, if the brewing method or hop variety is a factor in this equation, we’ll have a better chance of identifying it by looking at the two beers from each brewery and comparing them all. To make it a bit easier to grasp:
The breweries will send samples of their two beers to OSU, where Tom’s lab will look at their chemistry, and where a trained panel will examine their sensory qualities. Meanwhile, each of the breweries will have these beers on tap, and you can cruise in for a free 4 oz sample and a QR code to fill out a brief survey. If you complete the survey, you’ll receive a cool sticker—sort of like when you vote. This will help us learn how customers understand and enjoy fresh hops (or not). I regret to inform you that Breakside got out of the blocks a lot sooner than we expected, and not only have they served the Wanderjack, but it has blown. Nevertheless! If you live elsewhere, you can still get in on this:
Block 15 Brewing (Corvallis), available September 23 at their Southtown Taproom location only.
Fresh². ABV: 6.7%. Style: West Coast IPA. This beer features fresh-hop and freshly-kilned Strata in the whirlpool, paired with Cascade and Strata in the dry-hop.ColdFire Brewing (Eugene), available the week of September 8th.
The Henry IPA. ABV: 7.0% IBU: 60 Style: West Coast IPA. Hops: Centennial, Mosaic, Simcoe Experience: Lychee, Tangelo, Honeydew, Resinous, Tropical Berry Description: We brewed this beer in honor of our office mascot, Henry the Chameleon. Our long-time friend and confidant, Henry inspired a kaleidoscope of creativity and flavor. We miss you, good buddy, but your memory lives on! The Henry uses fresh hop Centennials in as a dry hop.Deschutes Brewery (Bend), available the week of September 8th only at the brewery taproom.
Independence Study. ABV 6.5%. Style: West Coast IPA. Deschutes uses fresh hop Centennials in the whirlpool.
In addition, Fat Head’s Brewery in Ohio will also be making fresh hop beers with Coleman hops. Although not participating in the portion of the study at OSU, they will be surveying customers–offering a different population of consumers less familiar with fresh hop beers. Fresh Hopped Head Hunter IPA uses Coleman Stratas in three places on the hot side in that beer. So Ohioans, get on it!
Of course, we will be excited to give you the results of the study as soon as they are available. Tom may also publish them and present them as well.
Celebrate Oregon Beer is involved in this work because I’ve long had a keen interest in getting more people to the state in September and early October for the fresh hop season. I’ve been around the world and seen a lot of cool beer celebrations, and I can tell you that this is among the most interesting anywhere. Learning more about the nature and chemistry of fresh hops and why they delight the palates of locals will help Celebrate Oregon Beer speak about the value of visiting Oregon during and after the harvest. I believe it is important and potentially groundbreaking research, and I am so thankful Dr. Shellhammer agreed to take the lead, and that Coleman has partnered on the grower side. The tagline for our nonprofit is, “Oregon, a special place for beer,” and this study is a perfect example.
If you didn’t know about Celebrate Oregon Beer before reading this post, please visit the website: it has a full, sortable list and map of every brewery and brewery taproom in Oregon, plus a ton of rich information about why the state is special. If you want to keep up to date on the news and events in our lovely state or read an original article about something happening (this week we have a story about a new opening), subscribe to the newsletter. We only send it every other week, and we won’t share your email—it’s nothing but good, interesting info.
And stay tuned for our next project, which will be getting underway soon. We’ll have an Oregon Homegrown collaboration in which breweries will be making beer with a locally-bred and grown experimental hop variety.