How to get your Lady to like Beer Part III:Leaping into Hops

I Hop, you Hop, some of us Hop for Hops

In the previous "How to get your Lady to Like Beer" installments, we covered basic lagers and ales and progressed to the malty, high-gravity styles like Russian Imperial Stouts and Belgian Quads.  Today, we're going to leap into hops, which can be a rather acquired taste compared to the previous styles.

In a previous, severely unread post (What's in your Beer), I explained how hop varieties and their unique alpha acid (AA%) characteristics impart International Bittering Units (IBUs) to beer through the boiling process.  In addition to bittering, hops also produce aromatic compounds that give beer its floral, earthy, piny, and/or citrusy bouquet depending on what varieties are used.

Admittedly, very hoppy beers are not for everyone, and unless it's done in a balanced way, extreme IBUs can, in my opinion, be overwhelmingly bitter and painful to drink.  In recent years, a good handful of American and a couple of European breweries have engaged in a bit of a hops arms race where each has attempted to brew a beer with higher IBUs than its competition with little consideration given to how the beer actually tastes (Mikkeller 1000 IBUs).) I find this practice to be poppy cock, and I will have none of it. However, for better or for worse depending on your tastes, slapping on an "American" in front of a style (e.g. American Pilsener) almost always implies it contains higher IBUs than its European namesake.  More hops is as American as cherry pie and Jason Biggs. 

After that warning, it's important to reiterate that a beer with high IBUs doesn't necessarily mean it will taste extremely bitter.  Very malty beers, like Russian Imperial Stouts for example, finish with high IBUs, because generous portions of hops are necessary to balance the amount of  malts required to bump the gravity up.  In all the beers featured in this page, you will easily detect the IBUs due to the lower malt profiles' lack of sweetness, which won't mask the bitterness of the hops.  So let's get hoppy, because life's too short.

NOTE: The below IBU range statistics are taken from the BJCP 2008 Guidelines Here

Step I: English Pale Ale  IBUs: 25-50
The English pale ale is a great introduction to the world of hops, and I personally love the style.  EPAs are sessionable ales characterized by low gravities, medium maltiness, and mild, floral hop usage.  These are the type of beers you can drink pint after pint of at the pub and still be sober enough to watch The Mighty Boosh when you get back to your flat.  EPAs are further broken down into the following categories from ascending IBU order:

Standard/Ordinary Bitter: e.g.Boddington's, Fuller's Chiswick Bitter, Tetley's
Special/Best/Premium Bitter: e.g. Fuller's London Pride, Young's Special, Goose Island Honkers
Extra Special/Strong Bitter (ESB): Fuller's ESB, Bass, Old Speckled Hen

EPAs and the Mighty Boosh are my favorite British exports

Step II: American Pale Ale (APA) (IBUs 30-45)
The American Pale Ale is the style that launched the U.S. craft beer movement and the utilization of purely American hops.  APAs are one of my favorite styles, because they showcase uniquely citrusy and earthy American hops (Simcoe, Cascade, Centennial, Citra, Chinook e.g.) without going overboard with the IBUs.  Of course the paradigm of the style is Sierra Nevada's Pale Ale, which I maintain has been the best APA for over 30 years.  APAs will serve to acclimate your lady's palette and nose to American hop styles, which will be in abundance in the American IPA style coming up.

Sierra Nevada now grows their own hops on their property.  Try their Estate Ale for a beer with optimal hop freshness.

Step III: English IPA (IBUs 40-60)
The English IPA (India Pale Ale) style originated from the need for beer to last the months-long journey from England to it's "Jewel in the Crown" colony, India.  A generous addition of antibiotic hops helped to preserve beer and prevent it from becoming infected.

 I love English IPAs for their delicate use of hops and malt balance.  English IPAs tend to consist of more floral hops and aromas than their American counterparts and come in at much lower IBUs.  The lack of extreme IBUs, in my opinion, allows you to appreciate the hops much more, because it won't destroy your palette.  If you ever have a chance to try an English IPA on cask (warmer temperature and softer carbonation), do it!  Hop aromas and flavors shine brightest in cask IPAs, because they aren't masked by high carbonation and unnecessary cold serving temperatures.  Commercial examples include: Samuel Smith India Ale, Fuller's IPA, and Goose Island IPA.

Inbetweeners is another excellent UK export

Step IV: American IPA (IBUs 40-70)
We're now venturing into acquired taste territory, which may not be for everybody.  Compared to English IPAs, American versions tend to ramp up the IBUs and utilize dry hopping.  Dry hopping is the process of adding hops to the beer after the boil.  Since hops only release bittering Alpha Acids when boiled, the only point of dry hopping is to enhance hop aroma in the finished product.  With that said, American IPAs smell and taste strongly of native hops. 

AIPAs can range from pale yellow to jet black (Black IPAs), and abv% should run from 5.5% to 7.5%.  Good or bad,  IPAs have completely dominated the American craft beer landscape for the past decade or so.  Just about every American brewery has their own version of an IPA  Fortunately for us, the beauty of IPAs is that there are literally an infinite number (is that an oxymoron?) of hop, malt, and brewing technique combinations you can use to brew one.  No two IPAs are the same, so you have a lot of drinking to do.  I could write an endless list of commercial examples, but some of my favorites are Heavy Seas Loose Cannon, Bell's Hop Slam, and Victory Hop Devil. 

Step V: Imperial IPA/Double IPA (DIPAs) (IBUs 60-120)
To be honest, I'm not a big fan of this style and wouldn't hold it against you or your lady if you just cower from this final hop step.  Imperial IPAs wrench up the ABV to 10+% in many cases and can feature a ridiculous amount of hops that will literally burn your throat.  Unfortunately, brewers will often abandon taste and balance in favor of a high IBU number on the label to attract rabid hop heads who jump over themselves to drink a beer that threatens to obliterate their hardened taste buds. 

If you want to try to find an Imperial IPA you might like, ask for a sample before you order a whole glass.  It can be pretty tough to finish a whole 10-12oz pour (customary for high gravs) of these babies, especially if you're fairly new to hops.  Caveat Emptor. 

Well my friends, we've been on quiet an epic beer journey from fruit beers to Russian Imperial Stouts, to Double IPAs.  I think at the end of this, we can all come clean and admit this guide has been more for you than for your "lady" friend, whose real name may or may not be Ronaiah Tuiasosopo. 

Beer goes great with catfish

For those of you reading in the US, UK, and Germany and other far away places, thank you, and continue to do so.  Recently, I realized my comment section had been disabled for non-followers. It should work now, so let the insults fly.  Cheers!