Friday, December 23, 2011

What's Hoppening to Hops?

The Federal government just concluding their report for the 2011 Hops Crop and confirmed that production was down again. As you may be aware, hops are an important ingredient for brewing beer in that they assist with a bittering flavor and also the aroma.  


The State of Washington grows nearly 80% of all the hop crop in the USA and primary hop varieties include Cascade, Super Galena, Zeus, and Columbus/Tomahawk. These four account for 49% of Washington's output.  Oregon is another important producer of our hops, especially for supplying Nugget and Willamette.  Idaho rounds out our states with a focus on hop growers, as the third largest supplier.  Although Idaho's production of hops was actually up (nearly 10% to 5,454,100 pounds) , the fact that Washington (51,310,000 pounds) and Oregon (over 8million pounds) were down created a decline in the over all USA production.  Note, the total USA hop production for 2011is 64,781,600 down from 2009 at 94,677,900 and 2010 at 65,492,600 pounds.


Although the decrease from last year to 2011 was only down 1%, it is down significantly from 2009 and the trend for 2012 is forecasted to once again be down.  We believe this is a result of more profitable corps being substituted for hops, some of which are actually being grown for alternative energy. Most of the breweries will contract out a year of two to confirm a steady supply of hops.  Homebrewers might be wise to buy their favorite hops now, while inventories are in good shape.  Hops, maintained in an airtight container in the freezer will stay fresh for 12-18 months.

Note: the five most popular hop varieties for USA brewers include Cascade at #1, Centennial, Willamette, Chinook, and at #5 is Goldings.




Friday, December 9, 2011

Porter Beer Style

The modern day Porter Beer continues to be brewed and marketed as a dark and full bodied style, but it is no where near the same as when it was first introduced. Porter Beer is an Ale (top fermenting) and has a somewhat roasted, sweet flavor profile, although not to the same extent as its heavier bodied companion, the Stout.  Porter Beers are now brewed at around 5% ABV (down from over 7%), they are somewhat sweet, and are low in bitterness.  The USA east coast (mainly New England and Pennsylvania) breweries in the 18th century focused on Porter Beers.  This style gained its origin or at least its name, because it was a popular drink with the transportation works (porters) on both the rivers and streets of London.


The Porter style generally  has an original gravity of 1.040 and up, low bitterness at 20-35IBU, and dark in appearance at 20-40SRM.  This full bodied appearance can be deceiving in that most Porters can be very refreshing, yet a full body taste and good carbonation.
The Nor'easter Brewery will be brewing and marketing a Porter styled beer for their Fall offerings.

Friday, December 2, 2011

More on Testing the Limits of Alcohol

Several readers commented directly to us on our release dated September 11, 2011 on our article called 'Testing the Limits of Alcohol'. We decided to conduct some additional research on the topic and found some additional observations and thought we would report on these.
Nor'easter is a craft brewery in planning and it is our objective to brew and market beer, but we also will be socially responsible and although we would like you to order plenty of our beer and have reported on actual health advantages in our tweets, we also wish to provide some caution on aggressive drinking.
-You should always consider your body weight, any health concerns, and your age. Use common sense when drinking.
-Eat some food before drinking.  This will prevent rapid absorption of the alcohol and thus drunkenness.
-Drink moderately and slowly, most people can consume about two drinks every three hours.
-Consider alternating a nonalcoholic beverage between beers, especially important is to drink plenty of water before bed.
-I was reading a study that outlined a 'healthy intake' is no more than 14 drinks/week for men and 9 per week for women ... spread out over the week.
-A 'drink' is considered 1-12oz beer 5%ABV; 1-5oz glass of wine 12% ABV; or 1-11.5oz shot of Spirits (Whiskey, Gin, Vodka, etc.) Preferable mixed with something.
Please drink responsibly.  Cheers!