First Hop Harvest Bitter

When brewing this beer and starting to write this post I was dealing with a terrible sinus infection and hadn’t been doing a good job keeping up with my brewing or my blog. I was out of CO2 in my kegerator and had multiple beers that had recently been kegged or were in need of a keg, so they were likely getting oxidized and I didn’t have the time or energy to deal with them. While I thought about also cancelling this brew day to rest and recover I didn’t want my first year hop cones to whither on the vine so I picked them and brewed a small bitter of sorts.

Centennial Hops a couple weeks before harvesting

I ended up with only a touch over 1.5 oz of fresh wet hops (1.115 oz centennial, .385 oz Comet and just .125 oz Goldings), which is around the equivalent of .3-.4 oz of dry hops per most conversions I’ve seen, so any ideas about making a super hoppy IPA (or even American pale ale) went out the window and I instead reworked the Special Bitter I had been planning to brew later in the year to instead be a lower gravity and half volume batch in order to give the hops some chance of shining through in the finished beer. Just 3 pounds of base malt (equal parts Maris otter and golden promise) and a quarter pound each of a few flavoring malts (victory, torrified wheat, and crystal 70/80) hopefully got the recipe in the ballpark of what I was looking for: a very small beer with an emphasis on hops but enough malt backbone to remain balanced and drinkable. Due to bad weather and my struggles with illness I brewed in a bag on my stovetop, only popping outside at the end to chill the wort. While half an ounce of commercially bought Goldings pellets were added for the full 60 minute boil to provide bitterness the fresh wet hops were added post-boil during the “whirlpool” around 150F and left in until the full chill and transfer to carboy had completed. While I slightly undershot my expected gravity and came in at only 1.030 I’m hopeful this will still be an enjoyable, if not overly expressive or impressive, beer. 

The hops smelled great off the vine, all three seemed pungent with classic pine and citrus hop goodness (though I had a sinus infection so I was working hard to smell much). After picking I found myself too tired to start the brew day so I packed them up and went back to bed. After sitting in ziplock bags in the fridge for a day they had changed a bit with the Goldings only really smelling of leaves and unripe fruit, maybe they were underripe? The comet had a bit of tropical mango aroma mixed with a floral, earthy, and grassy character reminiscent of a meadow, and the centennial carried aromas of tangerine, pine, and fresh cut grass. It was interesting to see what these fresh scents were like after having only experienced dried hops for so long and I was excited to see what, if any, of that character comes through in the beer.

Tasting notes:

Smell: Not strong on the nose but what does come through is nice: predominantly malt character of graham crackers, granola, and sugar cookies with more moderate yeast and hop notes giving a touch of orange peel, grass, and basil. Searching hard I also find some very subtle dried fruit/raisin character that may be from the crystal malt or a combination of factors.

Appearance: Surprisingly clear after a few weeks in the keg. Small very white head with nice bubbles lasts throughout. Head was larger previously but this hasn’t had any CO2 added in a while. Color is somewhere between a copper and gold depending on the glass and lighting. All around a very appetizing look to my sensibilities. Nice lacing shows as the glass empties.

Taste: Leads off very subtly but the malt, hops, and bitterness catch up and come through late in the swallow. The malt slightly leads with lightly toasted bread, honey, and graham cracker. This is followed by mild green/herbal/earthy notes that are reminiscent of black tea followed by a moderate bitterness that helps balance the subtle malt character and lead to a surprisingly long finish that includes characters from the malt, hops, and bitterness. The malt character builds some as I continue to drink but it all seems well I’m balance. None of these characters are strong but everything about this beer seems more interesting and characterful than a 3% abv has any right to be.

Mouthfeel: One of the things that initially jumps out, even when pouring, is that, as intended, this beer is very lightly carbonated. This probably wouldn’t appeal to a lot of American palettes but I find it very nice for letting the subtle flavors shine through. The body is fairly light but doesn’t feel too thin due to the low carbonation, moderately low attenuation, and maybe the torrified wheat.

Overall: I don’t think this is a great beer and most of the people who have tried it (albeit mostly non-beer drinkers) haven’t been very impressed. I don’t drink many ordinary bitters (in part due to them being very hard to find in the US) but I doubt this would be considered an exceptional example of the style. That said, this is a beer I’m extremely happy to drink and proud to have made. Nothing about the beer is necessarily exciting yet every time I pour a pint of it and raise it to my lips I find a big smile come across my face. Everything in the glass is enjoyable and balanced. The homegrown hops don’t exactly shine through but they seem well integrated with the malt and I’m happy with the decision to have used them here. Like some of the other pale British beers I’ve made over the years it’s a nice beer that I’m happy I made and my only real complaint is that I don’t have a nice dimple mug to quaff it from.

9/11/22
Brewday. No real notes beyond what's listed above.

9/15/22
Kegged with very little pressure (10PSI in several short bursts). Aiming for just over 1 vol CO2 for a cask-like effect. Beer is surprisingly flavorful but unfortunately it’s mostly malt flavor. A small herbal note but hard to tell if that is from the fresh hops. At worst this seems like a pretty enjoyable and ultra-low gravity drinker, if not the best expression of my homegrown hops.

9/16/22
Hit the beer with another short burst of CO2. Pours pretty well off the stout tap giving a nice big head and a lovely copper to gold body (lighter than it appears in the photo). A touch hazy but no complaints for less than a week grain to glass. Hops are still subdued compared to malt but there seems to be a lot going on for a 3% abv beer and overall it’s quite nice. One of those beers that makes me wonder why I don’t brew beers like this more often.

9/22/22
Found a few hops that were either missed during the harvest or were late bloomers. Added a comet cone to a glass of this beer, no obvious flavor impact but a fun visual.

 

9/28/22
Finally recovered enough to provide the full tasting above.