Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/17/84; site opus.UUCP
Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!gamma!epsilon!zeta!sabre!petrus!bellcore!decvax!genrad!panda!talcott!harvard!seismo!hao!nbires!opus!rcd
From: rcd@opus.UUCP (Dick Dunn)
Newsgroups: net.wines
Subject: Re: "Young" ales and west coast hop character
Message-ID: <10@opus.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 26-Aug-85 00:45:06 EDT
Article-I.D.: opus.10
Posted: Mon Aug 26 00:45:06 1985
Date-Received: Wed, 28-Aug-85 02:35:16 EDT
References: <136@cadsys.UUCP>
Distribution: net
Organization: NBI,Inc, Boulder CO
Lines: 45

> 	I've noticed something odd about a number of brews being
> produced by west coast boutique breweries.  They all seem to have a
> certain taste in common.  In my drinking in Seattle, Portland, and
> San Francisco, I have found this taste in almost all of the
> bitter-style ales produced by the small brewers in these cities.
[description of taste follows...]
> ...so I'm wondering whether it is
> just the distinctive taste of Yakima hops, which Oly used to use a
> lot more of...
> 	On the other hand, it seems unlikely that a wide variety of
> breweries (I have found this taste in other boutique ales) would be
> using large amounts of Yakima hops...

The description of the taste and the beers characterized by it say that
it's Cascade hops that you've found.  Yakima is a major hop-producing area
of the U.S.; Cascade hops are among the most common.  It's certainly the
dominant hop character of Pyramid, Grant's IPA (I haven't tasted the
Celtic), Sierra Nevada, and several other West-coast boutique ales.

I've done some experimentation and was able to get a comparable hop
character in homebrew only by using Cascades both in the boil and as a
finishing hop.  I used 0.5 oz. Bullion and 1.5 oz. Cascade in the boil,
then another 0.5 oz. at the end of the boil and 2/3 oz. in the fermenter.
This was for a pale ale with 1.054 OG finishing at 1.012.  If you're not a
homebrewer, that translates to:  I used a whole bunch of hops, mostly
Cascade.  Whether you like it (I do), it DOES produce a distinctive taste.

I gather that the person who posted the original article isn't too fond of
the taste of an ale highly hopped with Cascades.  That's fair.  One of the
things that I noticed at the Great American Beer Festival earlier this
summer was the predominance of this type of ale from the smaller West-coast
breweries--and that's not a good sign.  You're unlikely to distinguish a
beer just by adding more hops (at least while Fritz Maytag and Bert Grant
are still alive)!  Moreover, I think it's time for brewers to start
experimenting with useful quantities of other sorts of hops, and even to
start blending several varieties.

Does anyone know whether the current popularity of Cascades is because of a
perceived market for that particular taste in an ale or because of hop
availability and price?  In other words, could Cascades be popular just
because they're available in large quantity at good price?  (Is the hop
market still covered by that bizarro federal market order???)
-- 
Dick Dunn	{hao,ucbvax,allegra}!nbires!rcd		(303)444-5710 x3086
   ...Cerebus for dictator!