Hops Session
Brett F Taubman, Appalachian State University, Boone, NC, USA
Co-author(s): Eric Allain, Seth Cohen, and Shea Tuberty, Appalachian State University, Boone, NC, USA
ABSTRACT: Since the hop shortage of 2007, a number of
North Carolina farmers have experimented with growing hops to support
the burgeoning brewing industry in the region. Now in their fifth year
of production, these farmers have learned which hop varieties yield
viable harvests in North Carolina, but no scientific assessment has been
conducted of their relative quality as bittering and aroma hops when
compared to these same varieties grown in Oregon and Washington. This
study was conducted to compare beer brewed with North Carolina grown
hops to beer brewed with commercially available hops grown in
established hop growing regions. Single hop beer recipes were brewed
using the pilot scale brewing system at the Ivory Tower Brewery on the
campus of Appalachian State University. For each comparison, a recipe
was made using an identical grain bill and split into several batches to
which North Carolina grown hops or analogous commercially available
hops were used to make the beers. The raw hops and finished beers were
subjected to a battery of tests including HPLC quantification of hop
alpha- and beta-acids, aroma and flavor compound profiling of both the
raw hops and finished beer by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry, IBU
determination in the finished beer, as well as a tasting panel
evaluation. The results of several hop comparisons are presented.
Brett
Taubman has been a faculty member in the A.R. Smith Department of
Chemistry at Appalachian State University since 2007 engaged in
instruction and academic research within chemistry and brewing sciences.
He has B.S. degrees in both finance and chemistry and a Ph.D. degree in
analytical and environmental chemistry from the University of Maryland.
Brett has successfully developed a small-scale instructional brewing
facility (Ivory Tower Brewery [ITB]) on the ASU campus that is supported
by the university, local industry, and funds from the High Country Beer
Fest, which was developed in conjunction with the ITB.
