Craft beer’s love affair with hoppy beers is lasts year round. So, it’s easy to forget that hops are an agricultural product. Hops have a season. And that season is now. Each September, hops in America reach the peak of perfection and brewers across the land rub their hands together, not to smell the hops, but in anticipation of making fresh hop beers. Nothing showcases the aroma and flavor of hops like a fresh hop beer and since these beers have a short shelf life, now is the time to rush out and drink them all.
Guests
Jeff Dailey is the Sensory Manager at John I Haas in Yakima, Washington. Born and raised in Fort Collins, Colorado, Jeff grew up along with the craft brewing industry. After a career in law and corporate insurance, Jeff switched industries attending graduate school at Washington State University to focus on sensory science. Jeff has been with John I Haas since 2019 and manages the trained sensory panels responsible for evaluating experimental hops from the Hop Breeding Company, innovative products from the research and development team, and every grower lot of hops during harvest. Since starting at HAAS, Jeff developed the Sensory Plus process for LUPOMAX hop blending, a new sensory lexicon and methods for detecting smoke-taint in hops, and methods for combining sensory and instrumental chemistry for characterizing and tracking the shelf life of hop-based products (and beer!).
Zach Turner is the co-founder of Single Hill Brewing in downtown Yakima, Washington. Single Hill focuses on a diverse array of hop-forward and drinkable beers made in the heart of Hop Country. Prior to opening Single Hill, Zach learned his trade while working as the Technical Solutions Director at Yakima Chief Hops and before that as Quality Manager at Odell Brewing.
This Episode is Sponsored by:
Estrella Galicia is an independent, family-owned brewery in northwest Spain, founded in 1906. Estrella Galicia Cerveza Especial, a world class lager is brewed with the finest malt and locally cultivated Galician hops in a state-of-the-art facility in A Coruna. Recognized around the world for quality and exceptional character. Estrella Galicia is “A beer like no other.”
Don Tse
Living near seven malthouses, Don Tse is a freelance beer and malt writer and consultant known globally as The Don of Beer. He has been active in craft beer for over 25 years and has famously sampled and written tasting notes on almost 27,000 different beers. He is the co-host of the All About Beer podcast. Don has also written for magazines and presented on beer in Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, Ukraine and Singapore. Nobody in those countries thinks his jokes are funny.
Em Sauter
Em Sauter is an Advanced Cicerone®, cartoonist, author, beer reviewer, international beer judge and public speaker who runs the award winning website Pints and Panels, which focuses on visual beer education. Her first book "Beer is for Everyone! (of Drinking Age)" was published in 2017 by One Peace Books. Her second book "Hooray for Craft Beer!" was released in April 2022 with Brewers Publications. Em is also co-host of the All About Beer Podcast. She lives in New England with her husband Matt and two cats- Milbo and The Geen.