Beer 101: Lesson #5 - The Bitter Flower Part One
Jason Foster
Hops make up only a tiny fraction of a beer recipe - almost un-measurable. Even in the most bitter of beers, hops makes up less than 2% of the total mass of the ingredients (excluding water). Malted barley makes up the remaining 98% in weight. Throw in the reality that beer is mostly water, and the total significance of hops in terms of components becomes infinitesimally small.
Yet that little flower throws a big wallop. It offers all the bitterness and much of the flavour and aroma in beer. Whether you are a hophead or like a crisp light lager, hops is crucial to your appreciation.
So, let’s take a look at hops for a bit. First, it is, indeed, a flower from the plant Humulus lupulus, an aggressive vine that is in the same botanic family as cannabis. The hop flower, which actually blooms only on females of the species, grows overlapping green petals forming a shape similar to a pine cone. In fact the flower is usually referred to as a “hop cone” for that reason. These cones are the only part of the plant used for brewing.
It isn’t really the petals brewers are after, but the yellow dust found inside the layers, called lupulin, which contains resins (alpha and beta acids) crucial for brewing. This stuff is intensely bitter, which is why it is so sought after.
But why hops at all? Barley is different than grapes. Barley sugars are more complex, meaning the yeast cannot consume it all, leaving a degree of sweetness behind in the finished product. This is a good thing. However on its own barley-alcohol is too sickly and cloying. A brewer needs to balance that sweetness with something tart, bitter or earthy to make it drinkable.
Before the 1500s brewers used all kinds of things - tree bark, heather flowers, spices, vegetable roots, and so on to create that balance, with hops only a minor player. However things changed for two reasons. One, hops has a potency unmatched by any other agent, meaning smaller volumes could be used for similar bittering results. Second, politics came into play. Certain kings in England and Bavaria (the leading brewing cultures at the time) had certain “interests” in common with the hop farmers, and passed a variety of laws and tax rules to favour the use of hops over other traditional ingredients. Soon, hops were the dominant bittering ingredient, and the brewing world never looked back.
Hops are used in three ways to affect the perception of your beer. Hops added at the beginning of the pre-fermentation boil give beer bitterness - the sharpness you find at the back of your mouth. Hops added near the end or after the boil will impart a hoppy aroma and subtle flavour to the beer. Finally, if hops are added after fermentation is complete - called “dry hopping” - they add an intense flavour and aroma.
The easiest way to determine the flavour and aroma effects of hops would be to do a side-by-side taste test. Pour out a glass of O’Hanlon’s Yellow Hammer and then beside it some Tree Cutthroat Pale Ale. The grain bill in these beers is similar. What is different is the hop schedule. The hops in the Cutthroat will quickly make itself known to you.
Your palate will quickly learn to discern hop bitterness, flavour and aroma. And with such knowledge you will be able to distinguish different beers by their hop quality. The big commercial lagers from Molson or Labatt are very lightly hopped. Alley Kat’s Full Moon Pale Ale or Anchor Steam, by contrast, use hops more liberally without losing overall balance. And then there are BIG hoppy beers, like Tree’s Hophead or Half Pint’s Humulus Ludicrous (which proclaims to be Canada’s most bitter beer).
Understanding the separate roles of malt and hops can help drinkers figure out where their personal preferences lie. Hop bitterness, unlike the universal attraction of sweetness, can be an acquired taste. Many beer fans can attest to how their interest in hoppy beers grows as they experience beer. Many beer drinkers become bona fide hop-crazy - we call them “hopheads” - and seek out increasingly hoppy beers.
You don’t have to go that far to appreciate a nicely-hopped beer. Personally I continue to prefer a beer that isn’t afraid of hops but remains committed to overall balance.
Going this far is important for understanding hops, but there is another step that hop-interested beer drinkers need to go. In our next lesson I want to talk about the varieties of hops and their impact on beer. But for now go do some homework and seek out a nice pale ale or pilsener on which to practice your new hop skills.