"Hops" news and stories

American craft beers keep upping the hops content, making them more and more bitter. But, reports Lizzie Buchen, in New Scientist magazine, humans have a universal dislike for bitter flavors. "Many bitter substances are at best nutritionally useless and at worst downright toxic," Buchen writes, "so we have evolved ways to protect ourselves. Placing a bitter foodstuff on the tongue will trigger a reflex reaction that encourages us to spit it out, or increase saliva flow to wash the taste away. A harmless bitter substance inserted directly into a person's stomach will generally induce nausea."

So why are we running after bitter beers with names like HopSlam?

Psychologists, chemists, neuroscientists and brewers offer Buchen a complex web of reasons, ranging from our craving to be considered connoisseurs to a basic love of carbs ("bitter, hoppy beers often have a higher content of sugar-releasing malts, making for a more intense carbohydrate fix"). And, of course, there's the old "benign masochism" that University of Pennsylvania psychologist Paul Rozin speaks about: pure and simple thrill-seeking, pushing ourselves to the limits of pain, for pure pleasure.

Read the full story at New Scientist (Note that you have to register with the site for access, but it's worth it: This is one of the best science mags on the market.)

And for our resident beer expert Joshua Bernstein's take on a high-hops brew see his post "Hoppin' Frog B.O.R.I.S. the Crusher Oatmeal-Imperial Stout.

At the close of August and September, the hops fields of the Pacific Northwest are abuzz as farmers rush to harvest their aromatic crop. Since hops decompose quickly, these flowering cones are typically kiln-dried and consigned to storage. However, some of the just-plucked hops are rushed to breweries, where they become fall's fleeting pleasure: fresh-hopped beer.

Unlike lip-ripping IPAs, these brews are more delicate and nuanced, boasting a grassy character. Mainly, they hail from the Pacific Northwest, not far from the farms where the hops are grown. Deschutes' Hop Trip, Sierra Nevada's Harvest and BridgePort's Hop Harvest are all superb. That said, one of my favorite fresh-hop beers is brewed in Grand Rapids, Michigan, at Founders Brewing. Here, creating the fab Harvest Ale requires serious logistical juggling. "We're in constant communication with our suppliers to know when the hops will arrive at our back door," says Dave Engbers, Founders' director of marketing. "As soon as the hops are harvested, they're overnighted to the brewery."

The recent beer renaissance in Asheville, N.C. has spawned a new vegetable.

Jacob Sessoms of Table, who earlier this year was shortlisted for a James Beard nomination, believes he's the only chef in the U.S. serving hop shoots, nicknamed "hops asparagus." Sessoms and co-chef Matt Dawes recently started sautéing the springtime delicacy with mushrooms, spritzing it with lemon and serving it over a johnny cake. "It's absolutely amazing," Sessoms says.

Hops asparagus occasionally shows up on menus in Europe, where Sessoms says gourmands pay $150 a pound for the feathery sprigs. But Sessoms and Dawes had never heard of it when a local farmer experimenting with hops production – a popular pastime in a region that's still hunting for a cash crop to replace tobacco -- offered to bring them a sample.

Fresh hops. Photo: david.nikonvscanon, Flickr.

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