Man, blog posts about big things are hard to write. NMD, IOU beerfest and New Glarus posts, but tonight you get a further exploration of my relationship with hops.
First I had two beers from Brau Bros. in the space of a couple of days: a Ring Neck Braun Ale and a Sheephead Ale. Ring Neck is delicious! But that’s kind of a no-brainer. I’m pretty easy as regards brown ales and this is a fine one: round and mellow, sweet but not too, a little breath of hop freshness barely there alongside the earthy malt. I went in unprepared for Sheephead; I saw from Nikii’s glass at knitting that it poured amber and I didn’t realize it was an American pale. Smells of piney hops; tastes like bitter hops and lingering hops and ok, I’m ready to not be tasting hops now.
Then, the other day at the Birchwood, I revisited Bell’s Two Hearted. I tried it cold from the bottle once, a couple of years ago when I was still drinking just wheat beers, and my palate couldn’t deal at the time. Bitter! This one pours an almost opaque orangey amber, and I hadn’t known until I read the label right before tasting it again that Two Hearted also calls itself a pale ale. Bugger, I thought. But I forged ahead and it was delicious. Floral aroma, maybe a little citrus rind; the hops are front and center, but they let a little malty roundness come through.
What’s the difference? I’m not sure. The internets say that Sheephead uses wheat malt; maybe that has to do with why it tastes to me like not-malt. Or maybe these are two different hop varieties; I can’t find that info anywhere. The best I could do at putting into words why I liked Two Hearted was that the hops appear up front and then get out of the way instead of sticking around on my tongue all night. You don’t have to go home, hops, but you can’t stay here.
woolwine, and 
smole 11:57 am on August 31, 2010 Permalink |
Two Hearted Ale is one of my very favorite IPAs, and I like the floral hops in the nose quite a bit.
By way of explanation: I’ve always assumed that they use far fewer and less potent bittering hops than others, and add fewer of them at the beginning of the boil. Adding the hops later supposedly gives those excellent floral aromas with less of the bitterness, as would dry hopping or adding hops at the tap (like a Randall). Anywho… it’s hard to tell, as Bell’s doesn’t disclose the hops on their site. A better taster than me would be able to guess the exact varieties used, though.
woolwine 12:09 pm on August 31, 2010 Permalink |
Good to know! Everybody seems to heart Two Hearted; also, a friend of mine helpfully points out that it offers a lot of bang for the buck as regards ABV. Not that I need extra help in that department.