There’s a change in the air for many beer drinkers, and you can smell it this summer in the fresh herby, piney, fruity, floral, and earthy aromas wafting from bars and patios. Hops are on the rise.
Originally published in the Georgia Straight June 30th, 2011.
Written by Tony Montague
Brewers have long used the green, pinecone-like flowers to balance the sweetness of malt with complex flavours and palate-cleansing bitterness, as well as to provide fragrance. And no style of beer has a bigger, bolder hop character than India Pale Ale.
“Not long ago there weren’t a whole lot of IPAs made in B.C.,” says brewmaster Gary Lohin of Surrey’s Central City Brewery. “Now I can’t even think of a craft brewery around here that isn’t producing one. And it’s not just guys drinking it—when we hand out samplers at beer festivals the women really love the IPA.”
The beer has intriguing origins. British brewers developed it in the late 18th century as a pale ale for export, mainly to the imperial forces in India—hence the name. The voyage took months and the tall ships had to cross the equator twice, causing regular brews to go off. The answer was to raise the alcoholic content and add lashings of hops as preservatives. The beer became hugely popular.
Fast forward more than 200 years to the West Coast, where craft brewers are creating innovative IPAs using a range of improved hop varieties, many locally produced. Lohin’s Red Racer IPA, which weighs in at 6.5 percent alcohol, is a great representative of this style. It’s golden amber in colour and lightly carbonated, with big upfront aromas of grapefruit, orange, and pine. The malt balances perfectly with the hops to provide a rich blend of flavours—caramel, tangy citrus, and tropical fruit—and the dry bitterness leaves a long aftertaste.
Last September, Red Racer IPA bagged gold at the Canadian Brewing Awards and helped Lohin and Central City gain the coveted title of brewery of the year. No wonder it’s the brewmaster’s favourite tipple.
“I seem to have found a winner in the design of the recipe,” says the genial Lohin. “All my hops come from the Yakima Valley in Washington, except for bittering hops from Germany. I use several top-quality Maris Otter pale malts from Britain, which…allow me to add more hops and achieve a better balanced beer. It’s a 90-minute boil in the kettle, and I use my bittering hops for at least an hour. The rest I put in near the end of the boil. The art of the brewer is in using different combinations at different times.”
The powerful fragrances of Red Racer IPA come from dry-hopping. “After three weeks or so of fermentation and maturation, and once the yeast is settled, I’ll push the beer to another tank in which I’ll have big bags of whole-leaf hops. I just leave them to soak in it—like steeping tea—to extract all the floral aromas.”
More than 30 Vancouver locations offer Red Racer IPA on draft, including Morrissey’s Irish Bar and Restaurant, the Railway Club, the Hyde Restaurant, and Timbre Restaurant. You can find it in cans at most LDB stores and many private outlets. Other excellent locally made IPAs to check out on racks are Howe Sound Brewing’s Devil’s Elbow, Granville Island Brewing’s Brockton IPA, Russell Brewing’s IP’eh!, and R & B Brewing’s Hoppelganger. On tap only are Steamworks’ Imperial IPA, Yaletown Brewing’s Brick & Beam IPA, and Storm Brewing’s Hurricane IPA.
Rich and complex, the bitter flavours of an IPA stimulate the appetite, and it pairs well with fried seafood, moderately spiced foods, and stronger flavoured meats such as lamb or game. Try a pint of Hurricane at Vij’s Restaurant (1480 West 11th Avenue) to go with the Rajasthani-style goat curry, or at the Whip Restaurant and Gallery (209 East 6th Avenue) with the crispy calamari tossed in a ginger-and-chili relish.
IPA’s clean, sharp dryness makes it unmatched as a quencher of summer thirsts. So go with the continent-spanning flow—the U.S.–based Brewers Association forecasts that next year IPA will be the most popular ale in North America
Read the complete article in the Georgia Straight.
Be sure to get tickets and come to CAMRA Vancouver’s Fest of Ale – Too Hop to Handle, showcasing Hops. There will be IPA’s and lots of them! Vancouver brewers all going to the extreme to take you and your taste buds to hop heaven and back.
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