Hop Porn: Brewer's Cuts 2007 Hop Harvest
Why is it that you can find out from a brick of “brewer's cut” hops, the date of harvest, alpha acid, farm, lot number and where in the load that bail came from, yet we don’t know the same things about the chicken we had for dinner last night or the cow we have in the form of Tri-Tip steaks wrapped in the refrigerator? Not that I am complaining. I think the idea of a brewers cut and to take some classic brewing ingredient as hops and respect them that much, take pride in the farming practices and the end result that the brewer uses as paints in a well balanced palate of an English Barleywine to a mastery of West Coast hop perfection we call an IPA.
Amarillo
Age: 2007
Stats: 8.9% alpha acids
Hair: Mid-green with a touch of gold highlights
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What is a “brewers cut”? Think of a brewer’s wet dream... Hops picked and packaged, so fresh that they are less than 2 months old, some even younger. A small green brick weighing in a just over 5 ounces or so, wrapped nicer than the last Sunday’s Roast, held together with a decorative brad, perfectly cut showcasing the layering, compression of the packing, seeds, cone exposure, freshness and over all quality. This is something most homebrewers never see or hear about. This is like Hops Gone Wild available on 1080p with DTS-HD 7.1 with all the senses examining each nuance of the specimen, like a scientist dissecting the latest data. Hops so fresh, so fragrant that you smell things you just don’t get on the small scale. These packages are wrapped in a thin cardboard, no nitrogen flushed UV protected space bag here… Obviously to be used right after a harvest, not to store in a freezer until the next batch. No these hops are to play with. That’s right, play. Like back when you were in the sandbox, rubbing the grain together, take a small chunk of compressed hops, place them in the center of your palm and cupping them with your other palm, rub them together to warm the hop oils and crack open the cone to reveal the golden yellow lupilin powder, in all its splendor. One author was so inspired by the hop, he wrote the Lupilin Effect.
Here are this years centerfolds, almost like the twelve month calendar you would like hanging on your brewery wall, somewhere near the fermenter , to show them the love as you dry hop a tank.
East Kent Goldings
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East Kent Goldings
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East Kent Goldings
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East Kent Goldings
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Crystal
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Cascade
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Centennial
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