The term ‘flavor hops’ is a neologism that has become increasingly popular over the past few years refers to newer hop varieties bred and cultivated in the US, Australia and more recently in Germany.
They were first introduced to keep pace with demand generated by US craft brewing sector searching for unusual and distinctive flavors, as Jack Teagle, technical manager brewing, at Botanix Ltd (part of the Barth-Haas Group) explains in this exclusive podcast recorded at Brau Beviale in Nuremberg, Germany.
“In comparison with former times when hops were used to either get bitterness into your beer, or to get an aroma into your beer, the term flavor hops indicates to brewers that these varieties can be used for both purposes…either to create bitterness or to have a major impact on beer flavour,” Teagle tells BeverageDaily.com.
There is a trend across the world, not just in the US, but in Scandinavian countries, the UK, Germany, Italy, other European countries, towards creating more diverse, interesting and different beers in comparison to the bulk of produced beers in the world,” he adds.
“It’s quite hard to describe, but if you have a beer and you smell it. Most people would just say ‘Ah, it smells of beer’. But if you have a well-crafted, flavorsome beer you can pick up all sorts of different nuances, say grapefruit, orange or lime – just a few examples for a citrusy character,” Teagle says.
“If you open your mind a little bit and let your taste buds do the tasting – just as people sample wine – you can find really interesting and individual characters in these beers,” he adds.