Hops once were considered a drab ingredient, tossed in mainly to preserve the beer, thanks to antibacterial properties of the resins found in hop flowers. Today, hops are the star of craft brewing.
Beer typically contains four ingredients: water, yeast, hops, and malted grain. Brewers agree that each of these can contribute to aroma and flavour.
The past two decades have seen explosive growth in the craft brewing market, which has transformed the hop industry. As recently as a ten years ago, most of the crop was so-called alpha hops—hops whose acids are used for bittering beer.
By last year, however, about two-thirds of crops were so-called aroma hops, prized for their distinct, alluring smells rather than simple bitterness.
Here at Pipeline we try to use the freshest hops available and often release beers to coincide with particular hop harvests - Nelson Sauvin is an example of this. All Eyes on You is one of our most popular beers that uses Nelson, check out our shop to see if we have any in stock!