Beer of the Week! 11/09/21

Lagunitas Contents Under Fresher

Regularly $13.99 / Now on Sale for $12.96
Fresh Hop IPA

One great thing that happens during hop harvest season is the appearance of “Fresh Hop” IPAs.

For those of you who are not brewers or hop farmers, this is how things usually work. Farm workers harvest hops. Then you separate the hop cones from their stems, pound the cones into power, and then condense that powder into pellets, which will keep their hoppy characteristics much longer than hop buds will. You can then store, ship, and brew with the hop pellets to your heart’s content. What happens with Fresh Hop IPAs (or, at least, one description of what can happen with Fresh Hop IPAs) is that you cut out everything between the picking and the brewing. That’s what Lagunitas has done with the Contents Under Fresher.

Yakima Valley farm workers in Washington State have picked Mosaic, Citra, Simcoe, and Sabra hops; thrown them onto trucks; and then truckers have driven them 700 miles down to Lagunitas in Petaluma, CA, where their brewers have taken the whole cone hops and thrown them into their brew kettles.

What you get from this process is a much more vibrant hop flavor, because as much as hop pellets carry the acids and the oils that you want for your beer, those oils and acids are not as present as they are in fresh, whole cone hops.

If you haven’t had a fresh hop beer, you should try one to see the difference. It’s not as much that they’re more bitter (though there is that), it’s that the whole hop experience is just dialed up.

Bonus Beer of the Week (‘Cause We’re Crazy Like That.)

Bingo Black Lager

Regularly $11.99 / Now on Sale for $10.96
Schwarzbier Style Lager (i.e. Black Lager)

From Richmond’s Bingo Brewing Company, the Bingo Black Lager is back in our shop. If you’re shifting over into your “cold weather beer flavors,” but don’t feel ready to commit to the weight and strength of stouts, then worry not. The World of Lagers is not done with you yet.

The Bingo Black Lager is a shot of dark chocolate and coffee flavors with a level of roast that you wouldn’t think possible in such a light-bodied beer. The whole flavor gestalt reminds us of that slice of toasted raisin bread where you’ve just caramelized the raisin. Often, for us, Schwarzbiers are often great for a glass, but this one … we could drink a lot of this beer.

Remember!

You can see our entire beer inventory on Untappd.com!