While professional brewing events offer a great deal of educational opportunities on a variety of topics spanning the entire industry, as anyone who regularly attends them can tell you, some of the best things come out of the casual moments between keynotes and seminars, or even during the networking that occurs away from the host venue. Such as the case at last year’s Craft Brewers Conference for Steve Burchill, a former head of production for The Lost Abbey who is now Southwest Regional Sales Manager for Hollingbery & Son Hops.
While catching up with Societe Brewing Vice President of Brewing Teddy Gowan and Research Chemist Tim Wallen from Virgil Gamache Farms and its affiliated QC lab program HopTechnic, the trio got to talking about how great it would be to put on an event dedicated to showcasing some of the new, more interesting hops being introduced to the market. All it took was Gowan raising his hand to offer his brewery as a host locale and they were off to the races planning for what would become known as “Best of the Bale”.
“The goal is to bring brewers, merchants and growers together to discuss and explore beers made with new or exceptional lots of hops,” says Burchill of the event, which will coincide with the Hop Growers of America’s (HGA) 69th annual American Hop Convention, taking place from January 22 to 24 at the Coronado Island Marriott Resort & Spa. “We thought it would be fitting to have one of each targeted attendee group – grower, merchant, brewer – as a host. Hollingbery and VGF have worked together in many ways over the past years, from sourcing hops, planning collaboration brews and utilizing the HopTechnic program for technical support, and Societe is well known for making fantastic beer.”
Best of the Bale will take place on the evening of Tuesday, January 21, and while it’s an industry-only event, it figures to make a big impact on brewers which will trickle down to the hop-centric beers that they produce and their patrons ultimately consume. Organizers selected a handful of specific hops, then asked several California brewing companies to produce beers utilizing those varietals. The resultant beers will be available for attendees to sample so they can learn more about the hops’ attributes through first-hand sensory experience. Attendees will also be able to provide feedback about the beers via online sensory data app, Sample Ox.
The varietals selected for the inaugural Best of the Bale include Anchovy, D5-055, Tangier and Zumo, all of which were introduced by hop-breeding icon Martin Ramos of Segal Ranch’s at its experimental fields in Washington’s Yakima Valley. Also included is Pink (AKA: Experimental ID-158) from Wilder, Idaho’s Jackson Farms (the innovators of Idaho 7 hops) and Vista hops from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s public breeding program. Rounding out those new-school varietals are time-tested workhorse hops Amarillo and Columbus.
“The Amarillo and Columbus provided for this event were both managed by HopTechnic’s harvest timing program, the only program of its kind which optimizes harvest picking windows by monitoring compounds via chemical analysis in hop field samples to ensure consistent flavor and aroma profiles each year,” says Burchill. “This is important because Amarillo has a very wide flavor spectrum from earlier picked Amarillo that has bright lemon and grapefruit [characteristics] to later pick, which can have more intense stone-fruit, orange and even a bit of dank, cannabis-like character.”
Best of the Bale’s participating breweries include San Diego County’s Burgeon Beer Co., East Village Brewing, The Lost Abbey, North Park Beer Co., Societe and TapRoom Beer Co., as well as Everywhere Beer Co., ISM Brewing, Radiant Brewing, Ronin Fermentation Project and Russian River Brewing. These operations were not provided with any guidelines regarding the style or composition of their creations. The following is the list of beers they produced:
- Burgeon Beer Co.: Extra Pale Ale with Tangier & Zumo Hops
- East Village Brewing: Double IPA with Amarillo & Columbus Hops
- Everywhere Beer Co.: Rice Lager with Vista Hops
- ISM Brewing: Pale Ale with Amarillo & Columbus Hops
- The Lost Abbey: Double IPA with Anchovy Hops
- North Park Beer Co.: West Coast Pilsner with Tangier Hops
- Radiant Brewing: Hoppy Pilsner with D5-055 Hops
- Ronin Fermentation Project: Pilsner with Amarillo
- Russian River Brewing: West Coast IPA with Tangier Hops
- Societe Brewing: Hazy Pale Ale with Pink, Amarillo & D5-055 Hops
- TapRoom Beer Co.: Double Dry-hopped West Coast Saison with Tangier Hops
In addition to being available at the event, the beers will also be poured during “hoppy hour” at the HGA event. On the public-facing front, Burgeon’s extra pale ale, Sunny Showcase, is on sale in cans at the company’s four locations throughout the county, while TapRoom’s saison, Ethereal Gaze, is on tap at the North Park brewpub along with another HopTechnic collaboration, an extra pale ale brewed with early-pick Chinook hops.
Other industry-geared events will be taking place in San Diego during the American Hop Convention, including “A Night Celebrating Hops with Friends” at Blind Lady Ale House in Normal Heights on Tuesday, January 21. Presented by CLS Farms, it will also showcase beers brewed with select varietals from East Village Brewing, Societe, Stone Brewing, Everywhere Beer and Highland Park Brewery. And the day after the convention, the San Diego Brewers Guild will hold a “Tap Into Knowledge” seminar for its members on the topic of “harnessing hops”.