More than 50 pounds of hops was recently harvested from the grounds at Old Fort Lewis near Hesperus. A portion of those fragrant cones will soon be poured at Carver’s Restaurant & Brewery.
Carver’s head brewer Jeff Albarella and his team recently concocted four five-gallon single-hopped pale ales using a pound each of Crystal, Nugget, Chinook and Cascade hops harvested from the Old Fort in August. A tasting is scheduled for 5 p.m. on Dec. 5. A portion of the proceeds will be donated to the three-year hop research project.
“The only variable between the beers is the hop variety used,” said Albarella.
Albarella added that the base beer is 6 percent alcohol by volume with generous hop additions both at the end of the boil and in dry hopping to maximize the flavor and aroma of each variety.
“We don’t have any fancy names,” he said. “The beers will be identified by the variety of hop that was used.”
Hop researcher Amber Beye was excited to partner with Carver’s. In addition to enabling people to sip the four beers side-by-side as a type of learning experience, Beye said the event would also serve as a means to promote local hops and the research being conducted at the Old Fort Lewis Field Station.
“This is part of a three-year agricultural research project to determine the commercial viability of hops in Southwest Colorado,” said Beye.
According to lab analysis, the 11 varieties grown at the Old Fort met or exceeded beer industry standards.
“Practically speaking, local hops will not be a large part of our arsenal at Carver’s until they are available in pelletized form,” he said. “Until then, wet-hopped beers are the likely end product.”
Looking forward, Albarella is optimistic, but says the economics involved would be the critical aspect. He’s curious about local price competitiveness and the market for beers produced with locally grown hops.
“Will customers be willing to pay more for beers produced with them?” Albarella posed. “If not, then it wouldn’t make sense for brewers to pay more for them either. It will be interesting to gauge public interest at the tapping party.”
Riff Raff Brewing Co. in Pagosa Springs also received free hops to participate in the research project. Head brewer Randy Schnose said he plans to brew nearly 100 gallons of a single hop amber beer using more than 3 pounds of Columbus/Tomahawk/Zeus hops. He’s hopeful the unnamed beer will be ready for consumption in late December or early January.
“After seeing the lab analysis of the hops, we are pretty excited to see what becomes of the beer,” said Schnose.
While the numbers were impressive, Schnose said that the flavor and aroma the hops impart remain unknown until brewing.
“Overall, we are really excited to be part of this project,” he said. “We like the idea of sourcing locally whenever possible, and the results of this project will hopefully have a positive influence on the availability of local hops in the future.”
Duwayne Jackson, owner a newly opened nano-brewery in Mancos, also received 1.5 pounds of the whole loose-leaf hops from the project. He had yet to even open the sealed hop bags as of last week, saying that his 15-gallon recipes were based on pelletized hops.
“I’m stoked they are doing the research project, but with such a small brewery I have to make sure my products are consistent,” said Jackson.
Jackson said he hopes to perhaps create a “one-off” recipe utilizing the donated hops, but he hasn’t had time to develop a specialty recipe. He added that if a hop co-op could be formed to transform the whole hop cones into pelletized form, he and other area brewers like Albarella would be more likely to hop aboard. (Mobile hop pelletizers are estimated to cost upward of $40,000).
“There is a strong niche in craft brewing for fresh hops,” said Jackson. ”I’ll do what I can to help.”
In addition to brewers, researchers also provided about 3 pounds of Teamaker, a hybrid high-aroma hop variety, to the Osadha Herbal Wellness Center in Durango to produce an alternative medicine hop tincture. Hop tinctures sale for $10 or more per ounce. An ounce of hops can produce up to 5 ounces of extract.
“I’ve never used the Teamaker variety before, but I really love its aroma,” said owner Anna-Marija Helt.
Helt explained that hop tinctures benefit the digestive system. She uses them for their calming effects.
“Hop tinctures serve as a natural sedative,” said Helt. “I’m scared of flying, so they help me relax.”
While advocates like Jackson’s idea for a Four Corners hop co-op, the crop can require years before production yields are realized. Beth LaShell, coordinator of the $40,000 research project, said hop vines were slow to mature, adding that researchers were unable to harvest any hops last year, the first of the three-year project.
“Year three, four, five – that’s when you start to see good production,” said LaShell.
Hop vines produce fragrant flowers called cones, which include sticky oils that impart flavor and serve as a natural preservative in beer.
Old Fort Lewis, six miles south of Hesperus, sits at 7,600 feet above sea level. The center receives an average of 18.5 inches of precipitation annually. The research plot is irrigated.
A few of the hop plants that went into the ground last summer at the Old Fort didn’t return this year.
tbaker@cortezjournal.com