Beer Brewing

Vic Secret is the Australian hop that delivers the most intense pineapple character I’ve found in a non-specialty variety.

Ekuanot is the hop that gave my NEIPA the melon and berry complexity I was looking for after Citra and Mosaic produced a good beer that felt predictable.

East Kent Goldings is the hop that defines what I mean when I say a beer tastes “British.” I’ve been brewing English ales for over a decade and EKG is in nearly every one of them — the floral, earthy, …

Northern Brewer is the classic dual-purpose bittering hop that I associate with traditional American homebrewing from the 1980s and 1990s — it was one of the standard hop varieties before the explosion of specialty craft varieties, and it earned that

Fuggle is the hop that I associate more than any other with the character of traditional English ales.

Hallertau is the German hop that I consider the benchmark for noble hop character — the variety that all other European noble hops are implicitly compared to, and the one I use in Helles and Märzen recipes when I want …

Jester is a UK hop variety I started using after reading that it had been bred specifically to bring American-style grapefruit hop character into the British market using UK-grown hops.

Brewer’s Gold is one of those classic English hop varieties that has largely fallen out of fashion but deserves more attention than it gets from modern homebrewers.

Glacier is one of those American hop varieties I keep coming back to for English-style ales and session beers where I want hop presence without aggression.

Palisade is a Washington State hop variety that I’ve used primarily in American amber ales and English-style pale ales where I wanted something approachable — floral, earthy, slightly fruity without the sharp citrus edge of Cascade or Centennial.