Hop Session is in. Starting with a blend of west coast hops for a balanced, bitter effect. We close the session out by late hopping the beer for a nice resiny mouth feel.
Best when fresh, this beer is not intended for aging.
Single Hop Session Series
As often as we can, we brew a 15 gallon batch of our year-round Hop Session Ale with three additions of a single hop variety. The result are available by growler fill only at the brewery. Here our Head Brewer Chris shares his notes on each batch:
- 5/4/12 - Northern Brewer Addition
This month we’re happy to release Single Hop Session: Northern Brewer Addition. Moving away from the grapefruity american hops, Northern Brewer is a Goldings descendent (which means British). Created in England in 1934, Northern Brewer has been used as a parent hop for many varieties bouncing around breweries today, including Super Styrian and Perle. Look for this beer to be not distinctly hoppy, but more british ale in character. Maltier than the previous two batches, with a dense, bushy bitterness, SHS Northern Brewer is sure to please!
- 4/6/12 - Warrior Addition
Featuring one of my favorite hop strains, SHS Warrior is literally made for me (but you can have some too). This one was a big pain and took forever to finish, but it’s ready now, so you can quit calling. Look for an upfront punch of tangerine and other mild tropical fruit on the nose. Warrior’s high alpha acid content (16%) and relatively low cohumulone ratio make it a perfect bittering hop for american ales. It also sounds super rad. Warrior. This one is one the sweeter side in the malt profile, with a good amount of back end bitterness, which is where we like it. We hope you like it. Northern Brewer is next.
- 2/3/12 - Millennium Addition
Welcome to the first installment of the Single Hop Session series. Today White Birch Presents to you Single Hop Session: Millennium Addition. Our first stop on this voyage down the long road of alternative hopping finds us in Northwestern America where a mad scientist crossed the Nugget and Columbus hop varieties to create a mildew resistant strain of high alpha hop called Millennium! This bad boy ranked in at 16% AAU, which is quite high by any standard, ‘Merican or otherwise. At 3.7% ABV this little guy is a fighter. Quaffable in strength but mighty in bitterness. A pithy almost rindlike bittering addition begins the beer that is shortly followed by a lingering breath of grapefruit peel. Fascinating stuff! The aroma is largely of lemon and tropical fruit. The bitterness lingers proudly and reminds you that you just drank a beer. Get your pizza and wings ready, and make them spicy, because this beer can take it!
As of 5/14/12:
