A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of attending a party thrown by Chico, California's Sierra Nevada in celebration of three of their newest releases: Nooner Pilsner, Hoppy Lager (part of this year's Beer Camp series), and Hop Hunter IPA.
Hop Hunter is the first beer to use Sierra Nevada's newest hopping technique: steam distilling wet hops to harness hop oil. Within the hop cone are the oils that provide the bitterness, flavor, and especially aroma that hop-heads love about their beers. These aromas are best when the hop is fresh off the vine; that's why so many breweries brew what's often called a harvest ale, which uses fresh hops as part of the "wet hopping" technique.
This, of course, can only be done in the early fall, when the hop harvest is done and the hops are fresh. With every day that passes, hops lose their fresh hop flavors and aromas, and so does the resulting beer. Or at least that's what used to happen.
By steam distilling hops, Sierra Nevada is able to capture the hop oils straight from the freshly picked hops, creating a pure, intensely aromatic hop oil. The result is a year-round, fresh hop IPA known as Hop Hunter.
Hop Hunter (6.20% ABV) pours a bright golden with a huge white head. Retention and lacing are both excellent.
The aroma is, well, all hops. Seriously, no malts come through, which is odd for even the hoppiest of IPAs. But then again, that's what Ken Grossman and his team were going for. Huge, delicate notes of grapefruit, and not much else. Some pine hops come through as the beer sits and warms.
The taste is much more balanced, as a malt backbone of light, slightly sweet pale malts gives support to the hop bitterness that comes through in what is still an extremely hop-forward beer. Again, the hops are bursting with grapefruit before a dry finish leaves a lingering bitterness.
Appearance: 9/10
Aroma: 5/5
Taste: 9/10
Mouthfeel: 4/5
Overall: 19/20
Total: 46/50
Craft beer -- perhaps to its own detriment -- tends to follow trends pretty hard. For a long time, that trend was IPAs, until the standard IPA just didn't cut it anymore. Than it was Double IPAs, though many turned in other directions, like barrel-aged stouts. Perhaps the trend is now turning back toward IPAs, though only those done right. Hop Hunter is one of those. And if other breweries mimic the hop-distilling technique, I'd be okay with that.
http://www.nj.com/food/index.ssf/2015/02/beer_of_the_week_sierra_nevada_hop_hunter_ipa.html
