OK, now that I have stopped shuddering, let's look at the world with no hops - well not really no hops, but limited amounts. You may have all seen the stories about how there is a looming hop shortage that some predict will cause brewers to shut down. Here is an article from the WSJ if you need to catch up- I will post other links when I have some time. One piece of good news that read in the NY Times this Sunday was that ethanol production is fast outpacing demand and there will be a glut of ethanol on the market which will eventually drive down corn prices. Maybe then farmer's will return to growing what they used to grow - unless of course the mighty gov'ment steps in to further prop up corn prices - stay out of our hop fields you commie bastids.
I am not taking the sky is falling view and I don't think it will be as bad as some beer bloggers and writers are predicting, but yet I am preparing for the worst. There may be some shortages on certain varieties, and some breweries may have to come up with alternatives, and there will definitely be price increases, but breweries shutting down seems like crazy talk to me. I hope I am not just wishfully thinking that it won't be as bad. As a homebrewer, I think we may be impacted the most being at the bottom of the supply chain with no real financial pull as individuals.
So what will I (and some commercial brewers) do when there is no hops - or very limited quantities and varieties? I have been dreaming of all types of alternatives to the IPA's I love, but have never gotten around to brewing them since I love to drink and brew hoppy beers. Below are a few ideas I have been kicking around - more to come, I'm sure next spring and summer when hops are "supposed" to run out will inspire many unique beer ideas from homebrewers around the world.
One idea is ginger beer - kind of like jamaican ginger beer that is overpowering with ginger hotness and flavor, but made with a malt base - and its going to contain alcohol of course. Just a little hops to balance out the sweetness and provide antibacterial properties to prevent the beer from going south. Unfortunately there are no commercial beers that I know of that use this level of ginger for me to try - a brewer at Atlantic Brewing in Bar Harbor, ME told me that their ginger flavored beer was intense when they first tried making it, but it didn't sell even though he thought it was delicious.
Another idea is apple beer - only one commercial example that I know of hits all my buttons when it comes to apple flavored beer - Unibroue Ephemere . It has a good balance of beer and apple flavor and is easy to drink. Should only take an ounce of low alpha hops to balance this one out. Kind of like a premade snakebite - hey if Bud can add tomato juice to their beer, I can certainly add apple cider or juice. Unibroue's cranberry version is also a great beer as it seems to have a wee bit of brett character from the cranberries.
I have been experimenting lately with making alcohol infused extracts from everyday herbs and think rosemary could complement hop aroma in an IPA. Elysian has pulled this off expertly with their Avatar Jasmine IPA. I think you still need a bit of hops to carry the herbs, but with the right balance, could help to offset hop usage. Lots of herbs and spices out there to experiment with - it will be like a throwback to the days before brewers starting using hops to flavor their beer - anything that doesn't make you sick will be fair game. I have already begun tearing off tips of spruce and pine trees to see what the aroma is like. Flowers may be an alternative as well.
I am already doing some things to control the amount of hops I use in my beers - due to brew pot size limitations, I like to use as few as hops as possible in the kettle so I can get as much wort out as possible. First wort hopping gives me the biggest hop flavor bang for the buck. Two ounces added at wort collection and left in the boil gives me all the bitterness I need as well as a flavorful punch. Since fermentation seems to strip hop aroma, I could skip all but the FWH and rely on dryhopping for aroma and flavor - 4 ounces of an american "C" hop in the keg gives me that in your face hoppiness us hopheads are looking for. Only problem is that relying on dry hops for that much aroma and flavor could lead to grassy/vegetal flavors - not too much of a problem for most hopheads, but it probably won't win any awards - not that I care about winning awards. But still, that will be 6 ozs. of hops per 5 gal. batch. At that rate I will run out in no time.
Stock up now. I have been hitting up my local homebrew shops (lhbs) and buying up anything they have in oxygen barrrier/gas flushed sealed bags. I am going to try to make it until next fall when my first crop of home grown hops develop - but it will take a year or two to get the kind of harvest I need to brew all year. I was recently sent a 5 kilo bag of Hallertauer hops by mistake, and when I contacted the supplier, they told me to keep it - so this is my back up plan for now. I will have to get creative to make something drinkable and interesting from this low alpha variety of questionable freshness though.
These dire times are going to require imagination to get over the hump, but brewers are the most resilient bunch of people I know and with limitation comes innovation. Those that already know their game, have the skills to develop new recipes, and have sound business models already in place will survive, those that throw things against the wall to see what sticks or are operating with inexperienced brewers may not. Now is the time for experimentation before the hops run out, wait too long and you won't have the skills or knowledge to make it through the tough times. I am cautious, yet excited to see what will happen to craft beer and how the industry overcomes this bump in the road.
