Well folks, after several weeks of 2010 we have at least come up with a them for this year’s main range of special brews.  And, with all the originality of of idea everyone else has embraced – and indeed an idea we have sort have dabbled with in a random way in the past, we have gone for Single Hop beers.

The basic concept is very simple – we will use the same basic recipe of Pale Ale malt, a dash of wheat, and a shot of Caramalt (for sweetness and a richer golden colour).  Then we will add a different hop variety each time, using the same variety for both bittering and aroma.  The volume of hop will be the same – so some brews will have a stronger aroma/hop flavour than others, to reflect the characteristics of the variety used.  In terms of bittering, we will use the same basic calculation on each brew to keep the bitterness about level across the range, but even so, there will be variations that reflect the hop used.  Each hop variety has a role in the beer – be it aroma or bittering or flavour, so some beers will be full of aroma, others will have a distinct flavour to the bitterness.  Each beer will be 4.0%, with an OG of 1040.

The first brew was ‘Bobek’, a Slovenian variety suited to lagers, but still full of citrus/lemon flavours.  Second will be ‘Nelson Sauvin’, a hop named for it’s amazing likeness flavour wise to the Sauvignon grape – something that should present itself quite noticeably on the finished beer.  Indeed, if ever there was voted a hop to trump all hops, I suspect Nelson Sauvin would be the winner.  Later beers will involve varieties such as Chinook, Cascade, Centennial, Willamette (all USA), Goldings, Fuggle, Beata, Bramling Cross (all English), and a number of European hops.  There may even be a beer or two that will have a name that is likely to be unpronounceable whilst either sober or without the aid of a safety net.

There was a grand idea to feature an image of the relevant hop on each pump clip, but that is looking unlikely, but only because of a seeming lack of suitable images that we can confirm as being correct – or because most such images are actually great for plant lovers, but frankly boring on a pump clip.  After all, one hop cone looks just like any other in most cases, and an image of one cone on a sheet of paper against a ruler (the standard it seems…) is nothing compared to a nice shot of a hop yard overlooked by distant mountains.  Or in the case of some Kentish hops, Maidstone.

So folks, start your taste buds!