Columbia Debut Delayed as Meridian Steals the Show

The Story of the Discovery of a New Oregon Hop

Oh dear.

Remember Columbia? The “sexy” sister to Willamette unceremoniously banished years ago to the basement of hop history? Remember how we gleefully announced that we had resurrected this beauty? That we’d be the first to grow it commercially? And that our craft friends couldn’t wait to set her free?

Separated at Birth, Indeed
We originally reported that the hop on the left
was "Columbia" and the one on the right
was it's sister, Willamette. Turns out our
"Columbia" was actually a new plant,
which we've coronated as "Meridian

Well, we grew her, and dried, baled, and pelleted her, but a funny thing happened on Columbia’s walk down the red carpet. Since nobody had ever “dated” her before, we didn’t quite know what to expect. We suspected she’d be a beauty, with a slightly higher alpha than her floral sister, but this Gal quite simply dazzled us beyond our wildest dreams.

One by one we brought in some of the finest snouts in the land to give her a rub and sniff. It was fun to watch. We’d fill a table with several fresh varieties and our guest would do the dance, concentrating hard, earnestly associating the aroma with descriptors. Without exception, they’d take a whiff of the unlabeled “Columbia” pile and stop in their tracks, arrested, if you will, by the stunning uniqueness. We began hearing words like “Meyer lemon pie.” “Fruit punch.” “Unique.” And “wow!”

The evidence began piling up. When we harvested her, the drying room at Goschie Farms bloomed with a strikingly unique and pleasant aroma. We suspected she’d be different than Willamette, but this different? Something was …. off, in a good way.
We sent her off for a chemistry profile. More and more brewers who sniffed her were amazed at her uniquely fruity aroma. Could it be? We waited. The results came back. Per the literature, we expected Columbia’s alpha-beta ratio to come in at 2:1. But, at 1:1.5, this spunky girl flipped the ratio. She wasn’t just a shade different, she was looking like a brand spanking new leaf!

What's in a Name?
That which we call a Columbia
by any other name, say,
hmmm, "Meridian," would smell
as sweet. With apologies to Bill Shakespeare.

We ran more chemistry. It became evident that she was not Columbia. But what was she? The only pedigree that came close was Glacier. But a defining characteristic for Glacier is her super low cohumulone, at 12%. Compare that to the mystery girl’s CoH, at 45%. They didn’t match.

We ran through all the databases, looking for a match. The conclusion was inescapable: nothing matched. We had found a new hop, a strikingly beautiful new hop that packed a powerfully unique new aroma. We called our customers who had ordered Columbia and with a mixture of excitement and trepidation explained that what we thought was Columbia wasn’t Columbia. Thankfully, our customers shared our enthusiasm for this new find, and offered congratulations.

Suddenly, we had a million things to do. We had printed up a bunch of t-shirts that showcased the debut of Columbia, the famously forgotten Sister. We had to hold on to those. We had to delay putting in new acreage until we could learn more about the agronomy and disease/pest resistance of the new plant.

And we had to give our mystery girl a name. That wasn’t hard – we discovered the plant on Goschie Farms within a few meters of a country road named “Meridian. “ Meridian – a navigational term, an imaginary circle on the planet passing through the North and South poles, but also used in conversation to mean the “zenith” or “summit.” Hmm. We like that. Wherever you are, when you’re drinking a beer hopped with Meridian, you’re approaching the zenith or summit of flavor.

Back to the Basement,
Dear Sweet Hidden Sister
The good news is that when Columbia finally debuts,
we've got a boatload of commemorative t-shirts ready to roll!

As of this writing, the brewer feedback continues to pour in. One brewer has used it in a single hop lager beer, which he described as “clean” and “crisp” with a “refreshing sweet lemon character.” Meridian has also raised eyebrows and oxytocin injections (Ok, made that up) in a wide range of ales, from pales to dark roasted malt “winter seasonals.” It’s reported to play well with Belgian yeast and has a way of amplifying the zesty zing of weissbiers.

We’re excited over here, about excited as anyone should be allowed to get over the discovery of a “sexy” new hop plant. We want to thank Gayle Goschie for her well-intentioned but fortuitous “mistake,” Dr. Shaun Townsend who helped us determine that “Columbia” wasn’t Columbia, and all of our friends in the craft brew world who basically said we don’t care what you call it, we just want more of it!

At the same time, on a somber note, we’re mindful that poor Columbia, as mighty and strong and beautiful as we know she is, will have to wait another few years for her big night in the spotlight.

RGW
3/22/12

In Pursuit of Columbia

Dan Kopman of Schlafly Beer in St. Louis

was our first customer to order Columbia. Shown here,

on the left, with Gayle Goschie, R. Worthington and

Matt Sage (left to right). Goschie Farms, July 2011.

More Aroma Oil, Faster: The Dry Hopster’s Holy Grail

OSU tests IH pellets vs Cones for aroma intensity and oil extraction rates

OK. OK. You want more aroma. Do you dry hop with whole cone hops, or pellets? And how long? You’ve got limited capacity. Do you dry hop for a week, or something less than that?

Questions. For answers, where do you turn? A textbook? A magazine? Your buddy? The BA message forum? Google? Or do you just wing it?

We tried all of the above, but decided the questions were serious enough to warrant serious study utilizing the scientific method and the best available technology.

In short, we called Peter Wolfe and Dr. Tom Shellhammer at Oregon State University. They spent a year researching the questions. It’s pretty interesting, even for a liberal arts guy like me. In fact, it’s fairly startling.

We won’t post the study here, as it has not yet been published. But, for details, give us a call, and we’ll give you a closer look at the data. For now, here’s a summary.

* A 10 member sensory panel evaluated the intensity of dry hop aroma from Cascade pellets and whole cones and concluded that the pellets provided more intense aroma.

* Beer samples dry hopped for one day had significantly more aroma than beer dry hopped for 7 days.

* Irrespective of form (pellet or whole cone), the concentrations of hydrocarbon terpenes (eg, myrcene, humulene and limonene) peaked between 3 and 6 hours in dry hopped beer and then declined, while the concentrations of terpene alcohols (e.g, linalool and geraniol) continued to increase throughout the 24 hour dry hop extraction.

A few caveats.

First, not all pellets are the same. The pellets used for this study were supplied by us, Indie Hops, and we’ve previously shown that our pellets are different in terms of the average particle size, the diameter and the “bakedness” (our grist is extruded at between 106F and 115F).

We’re gratified to learn that our pellets produced about twice the intensity of aroma than whole cones. That’s huge! The conclusion reinforces what common sense told us: nature designed the hop flower to keep the oils “in”, not let them out, while IH pellets were designed by guys who wanted to get the oil “out.” We deliberately designed our mill to chop up the cone in bigger, coarser particles so that we could open up without pulverizing the oil-exuding lupulin glands.

Second, the rapid extraction rates were likely influenced by the temperature of the solution (23.3C, which may not be representative of real world conditions), and the hops were continually stirred. Although there’s been ongoing anecdotes and discussion about methods for agitating or recirculating/re-entraining hop grist in the tanks, we don’t have a reasonably available tried and true technology for re-suspending hops during dry hopping.

The research suggests, however, that the machinery needed wouldn't be too terribly difficult, and it only need to engage for a few days.

Third, the sensory panel consisted of 10 trained beer geeks who measured the aroma intensity on a scale of 0-15 based on the smell, not taste. To quantify the aroma compounds extracted (e.g., linalool, myrcene, etc), as well as the extraction rates, OSU used all the usual hi-tech stuff.

The take home: if you don’t have a torpedo, prefer (IH) pellets over cones, don’t have limited tank capacity and like big oily aromas, you’re not measurably losing anything, other than lore points, by not using whole cones.

And if you really love big oil, keep noodling and tinkering with new ways to keep those pellets circulating. And if you really love big oil but aren’t big, if you can keep those pellet particles suspended, you might also be able to save money by shaving 3-4 days from the standard dry hop schedule.

In the meantime, we’ll keep asking the questions.

RGW
2/29/12

The name of the unpublished manuscript is: “Dry Hop Aroma Extraction and Sensory Evaluation Report on Phase II dry hopping experiments,” by Peter Wolfe and Thomas H. Shellhamer, Ph.D, Dept. of Food Science and Technology, OSU, Corvallis, Or. (1/2012).

Note: Check out these Guth Portable Agitators used for mixing, stirring and homogenization of liquids such as wine. Could the same technology be modified for use in agitating hops during dry hopping?

Our Prez Loves Local

Corona Del Mar, CA.

Good news Craft World: President Obama loves local.

File this in the shameless “didjaseeme” department, but I have to share this. A few hours ago, I had a chance to meet President Barack Obama. You know how it works, you pay down the money, you get cleared by the secret service (whew!), you sit down over cold cuts with fellow muckety-mucks, and you get a few seconds with the most powerful man in the world.

How did I use the time? Plugging craft beer, of course. The President, pardon the pun, was all ears (hah!). When I talked about supporting local farmers, he didn’t merely jump on the sound bite, he wrestled it to the ground and owned it.

“Local? I got your local,” went The Prez. “We’ve got honey beer in the White House. Honey from bees in boxes right there near the rose garden.”

Who brews it, I asked, thinking that my good friend Jim Koch had his prints all over the prize. But no. Not only is a key ingredient sourced in the backyard, the beer itself is made in the kitchen.

I’m here to break the news: Our Prez is a backer of Home Brews!!! Turns out the White House chef, Sam Kass, and his friends have been dabbling in honey beers for some time.

When I mentioned the divine properties of Oregon grown hops, Our President didn't skip a beat. “I’d like to try some of that.”

Indie Hops is on the case. We will not rest until Our President is cooking up home brews in the White House using hops from the Willamette Valley. Or better, we’ll send him a few rhizomes, and he can plant a few Oregon hop emeralds in his backyard right next to those honey bee boxes.

By the way, it should come as no surprise that President Obama is a big fan of craft beer. He devoted a good part of his speech to the wonders of tinkering, dabbling, cultivating your muse, following your own genius, and challenging the status quo.

Cheers!

R. Worthington
Feb. 16, 2012

Well, after writing the above, it turns out this is no scoop (see below). I will investigate the hop planting operation and report back. Well done Sierra Nevada!

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Home Brew In The Whitehouse
December 9, 2011

It was reported earlier this year that the First Family had served a homebrew in the White House during the 2011 Super Bowl.

And this was just not any homebrew. It was brewed by a White House chef with honey collected from the White House Garden.

President Barack Obama, more than any President in recent history, has often spoken of his love for craft beer & his fondess for his Illinois-based brewery Goose Island & the Chicago brewpub Piece.

Click here to view the full article courtesy of Home Beer Brew.

Chinooks Return To Oregon

Here’s the deal. Jim likes to catch fish and I like to eat ‘em, especially fish loaded with Omega 3s, like King Salmon, also known as Chinooks.

A few years ago we learned that the endangered Chinook, allowed to fatten up on plankton and moderately free from the threats of hooks, nets and overheated salt water, were predicted to make a record run in Oregon. And come back they did, more than doubling their population.

Jim didn’t go out to the Columbia or Deschutes to rope a “June hog,” but we both took comfort in knowing the mighty Chinook were thriving in the clean cold Columbia, as well as it’s Oregon tributaries.

It wasn't lost on us that meanwhile, in the Willamette Valley, another fatty packed with acid and oil, the Chinook hop,  was nowhere to be seen. Gone. Flushed out. Moved to Washington. We learned that Chinook hadn’t been grown in Oregon for about 20 years, for no particular reason. In our quest to diversify hop crops in Oregon, this glaring absence was simply unacceptable.

We contacted our friends at the Coleman Farms and they said” bring it on.” So in 2010, the same year the Chinook salmon made their triumphant return to Oregon in record numbers, we planted Chinook hops down on the famous "alluvial farm," within casting distance of the Willamette River.

We’re glad we did. Sure, it’s not the easiest hop to grow, as it has only moderate disease resistance to Downy mildew. But the Colemans -- burly, smart and themselves genetically designed it seems to thrive and win in any environment, enjoy a challenge. With about 80 years of hop growing experience in the family, the Colemans were not going to let the threat of mildew deter them, especially in view of the major advances made to combat DM in the past 12 years.

For a baby year harvest, we’re very, very pleased. The yield was just a tad under our projections, but when you consider we just weathered the coldest and wettest spring in Oregon’s recorded history, we’re high-fiving.  Not breaking metatarpels, but slamming the palms with sufficient force to produce an audible "smack." Looking forward, as the Chinooks continue dig in, we’re optimistic about next year’s mature harvest.
 

Would you look at those side arms! 

A fat, healthy row of Chinook hops, flanked by
hop blood brothers John and Tom Coleman,

down on the Alluvial Farm near

Independence, Oregon (August 2011).

More importantly, the brewers who’ve rubbed and sniffed our 2011 Chinook harvest have been delighted. The Chinook, at around 13.6% alpha acid normally, was once used primarily by industrials, such as Coors, as a bittering hop. Today, this dual purpose Golding/Brewers Gold derivative has also shown value for it’s aroma profile, which registers from herbal to smoky to grapefruity (see Stone’s flagship “Arrogant Bastard,” as an example).

That in mind, we’re not uncomfortable with the alpha acid of our 2011 baby crop, which came in just under 10%. Several brewers have noticed a slightly improved herbal and citrusy aroma than what they’re accustomed to -- they're happy, we're happy. Shortly, we’ll have the numbers on the total oil, which can range anywhere from 1.24 to 2.63 ml/100 g. A rich, resiny hop with an underrated aroma that, we believe, is well suited for both Oregon’s Willamette Valley and the craft brewer’s fermentation tanks.

As the saying goes, the only shot you never make is the one you don’t take. Indie Hops is dedicated to expanding the menu of aroma and dual purpose hops in the Valley, a mission which we hope and believe will help rebuild Oregon’s pre-eminence as a leading supplier of hops while also bolstering new beer flavors for craft brewers.

In the old days, the white water rivers of the Pacific Northwest were so thick with salmon returning home to spawn according to legend you could walk across without getting your feet wet. Next year, we're anglin' for a boomer crop of greenies so big and fat with oil they blot out that famously hot Oregon sun.


RGW
Octobert 1, 2011



Who Dat? 
Why, that’s Jim Koch, the irrepressible and boundless craft beer Ubermensch. What’s he doing? Why he’s doing what he does best: inspiring, perspiring and pontificating, while the dangling Chinooks whisper: catch me, if you can.  (Alluvial Farm, August 2011)

There He Is Again! 
Jim Koch and hop enchantress Gayle Goschie, down on the farm, while the Nuggets pour in like the nearby Silver Falls.  Silverton, Or (August 2011).

He’s Everywhere! 
Jim Koch breeding good will with hopmeister Dr. Shaun Townsend, Ph.D, at the OSU hop farms in Corvallis, Oregon. August 2011.

     

Columbia Finally Gets Her Limelight



Oregon Rain!!
Roger and Dr. Al Haunold
performing the Willamette
Valley Hop Dance, Goschie Farms.
"These are my babies," beams
The People's HopMeister.

Introducing, finally, after being banished by the King of Beers in the hop basement for two decades, the fragrant, the durable, the the unsung sister of the Queen of Oregon Hops, the soon to be mighty Lovely Miss Columbia!!  
We've written previously about our efforts to resurrect Columbia, the forgotten sister of Willamette. To recap, back in the Summer of Love, Dr. Al Haunold was asked by Bud to breed a hop similar in character to Fuggles. Several years later, early in the Disco era, he presented two new cultivars, Columbia and Willamette.

Bud's team of six brewers evaluated pilot beers using the new little "Fugglish" darlings, and all six selected Columbia as the winner. Rank, however, has its privileges. Along comes their boss, Bud's head brewmaster, Frank Schwaiger. Frank zeroed in on the chemistry. Columbia had a slightly higher alpha acid profile than Willamette (8-9% AA vs. 5-7%, respectively), but otherwise the oil profile was virtually indistinguishable. Our German born Brewmeister prophesied that the US consumer would never go for a higher alpha acid hop (a prediction that ranks right up there with Henry Ford's lawyer advice that the automobile was simply a fad and the horse was here to stay).

The result: Bud chose Willlamette, which went on to fame and fortune, and Columbia never saw the light of day. Until now. Yesterday, on a brilliant, sunny day in the Valley, we walked the hopyards at the idyllic Goschie Farms with Columbia's proud papa, Dr. Al Haunold. Al last saw big green Columbia cones dangling some 40 years ago. Needless to say, he was happy to see Willamette's slightly bolder sister finally get her moment in the sunlight.

Separated at Birth.
Pointy Columbias, on the left,
and plump Willamettes, on the right.

And so are we. Columbia and Willamette share the same parents and yet they sport amazing differences. Take a look at the picture to the right. The Columbia cone is longer and narrower with spiked bracts (granted, this is approxiately 2-3 weeks before harvest). Willamette is fuller, rounder and plumper. As mentioned, the chemistry profiles are slighlty different. As for aroma, based on an in-the-field rub & sniff, both have superb aroma, but the Columbia has a subtle "lemon twist" at the finish that seems to trigger an eye-lid flutter response and cheeky giggle.  

Welcome to the light, Miss Columbia. May you enjoy many more moments in the sun as we, the beer drinking public, finally get to revel in your glorious bounty.

Roger Worthington
8/19/11







A Man Outstanding in His Field.

Here he is -- the man who

brought us 23 public hop varieties.

Dr. Al Haunold, surrounded by Columbia hops.







Taking the High Roads with Backroads

Jackson Hole, Wyo. It's no secret that craft beer and bicycles go together like champagne and limosines. A bicycle allows its operator to roam about, to explore the nooks and crannies, and to work up a thirst for the kind of beer that keeps the ride alive when the legs stop spinning. A richly hopped beer and a robust bike ride can both clear the head and open hidden doors.

So it was with great gratitude but little surprise that waiting for me at the end of my bike ride through the maze of mud pots, geysers and hot springs of Yellowstone, right there on the picnic table, courtesy of my good friends at Backroads, was a cooler crammed with locally brewed craft beer. Overjoyed, but not surprised, since it seems true enough that the further you get away from Main Street, and the closer you get to the untamed wild, the more you crave the wonders of nature's bounty.

That said, also waiting for my family and me was a 5 star tent with sleeping bags rolled out on top of cushy air mattresses. Hardly roughing it. Again, Backroads knows even in the backwoods there's no substitute for a soft pillow to lay your head down after a full day of exercise and demon exorcism.

For the next five nights, as we journeyed South from Yellowstone down to the Grand Tetons, I tended to push myself a little harder, knowing that each night a new craft beer from a new local brewery awaited me on ice. My fellow travelers understood my addiction. They shared my love of craft beer -- a perfect companion around the campfire as the kids romped and stomped about while the team of chefs prepared another amazing four course meal -- but a few kind souls came to understand that to me craft beer was sort of like heart medicine to a cardiac patient. They made sure that, in view of the strong demand, and my proclivity for ranting and raving, I would never be left bereft of my hoppy fix.

They sacrificed. They drank wine. They drank margaritas. They even ... gulp... cracked a can of Coors. Now that's brotherly love. In the bush, guided by Backroads, in the middle of bear and wolf country, foregoing a botanical derived, hand crafted ale for a thin industrial fizzy. When I think of the strength and courage shown men and women whom I'd never before met, volunteering to dumb down so that I could rise up and fulfill my quest for exuberant drunkeness, well, it brings me to tears.

And so a toast: thank you Backroads for pairing your intrepid travelers with home cooked brew. Thank you Snake River Brewing, Big Sky Brewing, Deschutes, and Grand Teton Brewing for mixing up the medicine. And thank you Indifferent Creator for the light show every night at about 3 am as I gazed up while returning the beer residuals you wrought back to the soil.

Yowza!

Roger

Indie Hops Supports Brain Altering Exercise

Adrenaline? Check.
Endorphin pump lit? Check.
Dopamine shooters? Check.
Serotonin uppers? Check.
Case of Indie Hops infused IPA on ice? Check.

We love sports, especially endurance sports, like cycling. Since inception we've sponsored the Mt Hood Cycling Classic, the Dana Point Grand Prix, and the granddaddy of all US pro-am stage races, the Cascade Cycling Classic in Bend, Oregon.

Todays marks stage 1 of the CCC, a breathtakingly beautiful route that takes the peloton up and over the rugged McKenzie Pass. The peloton will crest at the summit of a jagged lava bed, in full view of a shimmering glacier on South Sister, descend into quilt and rodeo-loving Sisters, and finish with a grueling 9 mile climb up the daunting Three Creeks Road. May the slowest among you generate the most pain-relieving neuro-chemicals! May the fastest (and most bike-addicted) among you share you euphoria with friends.

The 2011 CCC promises to be an unforgettable journey under banner blue skies. This old die-hard can't wait for Friday's road race that finishes on top of Mt. Bachelor. I've been tasting Heaven and Hell at this race for over 15 years and, like all bone fide junkies, continue to nurse the dream that instead of slowing down with age I'm instead getting faster, smarter and gosh darn it balder.  Click here for an article in the Bend Bulletin about the war horses of the CCC.

The Cannon is loaded!
A garmin rider prepares to blast off in the
 2011 CCC prologue. Powered by Indie Hops!

 If you're here in Bend, enjoy the race. If you're not, there's still time to drive over and catch the Criterium in downtown Bend on Saturday night. Find yourself a table on the course and catch the whiz-bang action while washing down baked salmon with your favorite libation.

Just as exercise can improve your self-esteem, enhance your mood, and provide a welcome escape from the clutter of life, we believe the right beer at the right time in the right place with the right blend of hop oils can do the same. Shoot, with the right beer, variables be damned. Isn't that when we need our favorite beer the most? When we've found ourselves in a pit of vipers, with black widows crawling up our necks, and hobgoblins burrowing into our brain?

Break out! Climb a mountain. Run along a river. Pedal through a rain forest. Paddle on a glassy still mountain lake. Nurse a double IPA and elevate.

Cheers!

Roger Worthington

7/20/11


Talk about Euphoria! No need to visit
the Alps when McKenize Pass, with 30 foot
snowbanks, is just a few huff and puffs away.
 This photo was snapped on June 13, 2011.