• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • Advertise
  • About Craft Brewing Business

Craft Brewing Business

Professional Insight, Unfiltered

Craft Brewing Business Craft Brewing Business
  • News
  • Business & Marketing
  • Packaging & Distribution
  • Equipment & Systems
  • Ingredients & Supplies
  • Webinars & White Papers
  • News
  • Business & Marketing
  • Ingredients & Supplies
  • Packaging & Distribution
  • Equipment
  • Webinars & White Papers
  • COVID-19

We ask St. Louis’ Schlafly about four experimental hops it’s crushing on

June 27, 2016Keith Gribbins

hops cbb crop
The sea of hops you see in your dreams.

Craft beer has challenged hop growers. New varieties. Enormous demand. Huge acreage. Varied products: whole cone, pellets, CO2 extract, hop hash and beyond. The indie beer industry has forced the hop industry to quickly and dramatically evolve over the last decade, and there have been challenges, failures and successes. In the spirit of the latter, brewing brands like Schlafly are creating innovative ways to make those evolutions easier, planning for the hops of tomorrow, today.

In July, the Schlafly brand and its Saint Louis Brewery umbrella company are launching a cool Hop Trial SMaSH Pack, an experimental new V-pack that features four different experimental hop varieties (three bottles of each in the pack): Hallertau Blanc (floral), Bramling Cross (spicy), Enigma (fruity) and Eureka! (piney). We thought (hey) that’s a pretty cool idea, but it gets even cooler.

The pack stems from the awesome Hop Trial program, something Schlafly created to test out hops that are looking to be introduced into the market, while offering feedback to the hop farmers. Schlafly begins the process by combining a base malt and single hop to create a simple SMaSH (single malt and single hop) beer, which brings out the individual qualities of each ingredient, making the profile of the featured hop variety the true focus. Schlafly’s Quality Assurance team then tests the beer before it’s released at the brewpubs to consumers, whose feedback is crucial in order to determine the future potential of pursuing a particular hop to use in the brewery’s beers that educate.

Basically, Schlafly can help hop growers decide if their new styles of hops are market worthy, Shlafly gets a unique opportunity to test-market unique, brand-defining hop strains and serious beer drinkers get to learn about the flavor profiles of various hops in beer; the labels come with cool brewer’s notes. The combination is one of the best concept/tasting variety packs we’ve ever seen.

These four beauts are the result, but what makes this quartet so interesting? We asked Schlafly’s ambassador brewer, Stephen Hale, to provide his thoughts on the four experimental SMaSH Pack hops, which we present below.

Schlafly smash hop variety pack
We dig the experimental look of these labels (especially the brewer’s notes) .

Enigma

“Enigma is a new hop from Tasmania, Australia,” said Hale. “Cultivated through the same breeding program that produced Galaxy, Enigma is a high oil content hop with a big fruit forward character. The first trial plots were 2013. We completed a brewing trial in 2014, and we were the first U.S. brewer to make a significant purchase from the first commercial crop when we visited the farm for the 2015 harvest. Our brewing notes comment: notably ‘raspberries,’ and ‘redcurrant,’ through to ‘rock melon and tropical fruits, notably pineapple.’ This hop is also a feature in our new Expo IPA.”

Eureka

“Eureka is a new hop from the Steiner Ranch in Yakima, Wash.,” explained Hale. “Cultivated from a high alpha American variety and a German aroma hop. 2015 was the first full commercial crop. We completed a brewing trial in 2014 and then made a significant purchase from the 2015 crop. The hop has some fruit character but after our brewing trial and then rubbing the hop during the 2015 harvest in Yakima, we concluded that this was going to be one of the next great American hops with that combination of Black currant, dark fruits, strong herbal notes and pine tree; in other words, dank. This hop is also a feature in our new Expo IPA.”

long hop photo
Enigma, so long, so beatiful.

Hallertau Blanc

“Hallertau Blanc is a new cultivated variety from Germany’s Huell breeding program approved in 2012,” said Hale. “It is one of three hops developed to respond to increased worldwide demand for new aroma/flavor varieties. It has pleasant floral hints of wine, flowery fruits and an aroma ranging from subtly sweet to gooseberry. We first rubbed the hop in Germany during the 2014 harvest and decided to undertake a brewing trial in early 2015. We were able to secure a supply of Hallertau Blanc and Mandarina Bavaria to use in our White Lager that was released as a seasonal during the winter of 2015-’16.”

Bramling Cross

“Bramling Cross is not a new hop, but one of my favorite English varieties,” explained Hale. “It was first released in 1951 by Wye College in the U.K. from a cross made in 1927 between Bramling — a traditional English Golding variety — and a male seedling of the Manitoban [Canadian] wild hop. It has a distinctive aroma with flavor notes that are spicy, orange peel, blackcurrant, loganberry and lemony citrus. I describe it as orange marmalade on toast. It is now part of our blend of English hops in Schlafly Pale Ale.

Hopsteiner picks its top hops for craft brewing professionals
2022 hop production down 12%, and 9 other facts from the 2022 USDA-NASS National Hop Report
hops hop yard bines sunny-001
New study finds hops are affected by their growing environment, producing regional profiles
Blue Lakes hops 2-002
Five takeaways from the BarthHaas Hop Report for June 2021

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Schlafly_Matt says

    June 30, 2016 at 7:00 pm

    RT @KCHopTalk: We ask St. Louis’ Schlafly about four experimental hops it’s crushing on https://t.co/B66DjM60WF

    Log in to Reply
  2. Beargrylls Sum says

    June 29, 2016 at 6:21 pm

    Beargrylls Sum liked this on Facebook.

    Log in to Reply
  3. Schlafly_Mike says

    June 29, 2016 at 4:36 pm

    RT @KCHopTalk: We ask St. Louis’ Schlafly about four experimental hops it’s crushing on https://t.co/B66DjM60WF

    Log in to Reply
  4. Dean_Brogdon says

    June 27, 2016 at 4:56 pm

    RT @KCHopTalk: We ask St. Louis’ Schlafly about four experimental hops it’s crushing on https://t.co/B66DjM60WF

    Log in to Reply
  5. SchlaflyKC says

    June 27, 2016 at 4:43 pm

    RT @KCHopTalk: We ask St. Louis’ Schlafly about four experimental hops it’s crushing on https://t.co/B66DjM60WF

    Log in to Reply
  6. KCHopTalk says

    June 27, 2016 at 4:40 pm

    We ask St. Louis’ Schlafly about four experimental hops it’s crushing on https://t.co/B66DjM60WF

    Log in to Reply
  7. crsimp01 says

    June 27, 2016 at 3:41 pm

    Schlafly’s Stephen Hale talks about the Hop Trial SMaSH Pack https://t.co/LDqCgfdn3L via @craftbrewingbiz

    Log in to Reply
  8. LVRGLLC says

    June 27, 2016 at 2:20 pm

    #CraftBeer #CraftBrewing #Beer #BeerBiz We ask St. Louis’ Schlafly about four experimental hops it’s crushing o… https://t.co/Yjb3OSZQ7t

    Log in to Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

Primary Sidebar

Latest News

  • State of California Craft Beer: Covid recovery challenged by competition, consolidation
  • MicroStar Logistics launches Network Services Division to manage reusable plastic pallets for the beer Industry
  • Analyst speculates on Heineken acquiring Boston Beer, stock jumps
  • United States Bartenders’ Guild now has access to WOTVS Hospitality Assistance Program

Sign up for our newsletter

unsubscribe from list

Most Popular Today

Recent Features

  • CCBA California Craft Beer SummitState of California Craft Beer: Covid recovery challenged by competition, consolidation
    March 23, 2023
  • Koga-brothers-karben4Karben4 Brewing to relaunch Ale Asylum brand
    March 20, 2023
  • 4 steps to understanding the filtration process in craft beer
    March 20, 2023
  • newbelgium_2023_wildnectar-shopping-basket_family_IMG_2Beyond beer: Examples of craft breweries exploring canned cocktails
    March 16, 2023
  • brooklyn 35 featureBrooklyn Lager turns 35 and more beers to know this week
    March 14, 2023
  • Backwoods Brewing to open a 19-acre resort called Party Acres in the Columbia River gorge this May
    March 13, 2023

Footer

  • Email Newsletter Sign Up
  • About Craft Brewing Business
  • Contact Us
  • Advertise on Craft Brewing Business
  • Media Kit Download
  • Privacy and Terms

© 2023 · CBB Media LLC