Bravo Hops: Revisted

A few weeks ago I wrote about the new Bravo hop (see the July 12 post below on this page). This week I had the opportunity to try two different beers, both made with 100% Bravo hops. EJ Phair in Concord, California has a new seasonal IPA called Johnny Bravo. This is their all-Bravo IPA made especially for Drake's Bravo competition this summer. The second beer, Bravo IPA, was from Half Moon Bay Brewing Company in Princeton-By-The-Sea, California. Both IPA's were very similar, though the HMBBC version was a little darker in color and slightly maltier. I don't profess to have the world's finest palate, though it's something I'm working on. What I found common to both these beers was an almost vegetable characteristic that I can only describe as onion and garlic (HMB's website describes Bravo as "orange and melon" but I'm not buying it). Clearly these aren't flavors normally associated with beer, but I truly enjoyed both all Bravo beers. I wouldn't put them in the 'every day' IPA category, but pair them with a fat slice of pizza or half rack of ribs and you're in business. Bravo for Bravo.

Boulevard Wheat Beer

While in Kansas City last weekend I followed my usual practice of sampling whatever local beer I can get my hands on. My general rule of thumb when traveling is to order the first beer I've never heard. This time it was Boulevard Brewing Company's Wheat Beer. This beer is an American Wheat as opposed to a German Weizen. Two things I noticed right off were the lack of hop character and fullness of body. I tend to find wheat beer a little thin, and was pleasantly surprised by the unexpected body. I also liked the lower bitterness levels (personally I brew my American Wheat to 27 IBU's which is the top of the range). After some Googling I found Boulevard's Wheat beer to be only 13 IBU's, using Magnum and Simcoe. Of particular interest was their use of red wheat malt. More research found a general consensus that red wheat malt offers a more rounded and fuller wheat profile (something I certainly detected) and a sometimes 'floury' contribution that I interpreted as 'bready'. Interestingly, I found neither of the top two homebrew supply vendors offer red wheat, though several smaller internet shops do. I don't know when I'll brew my next wheat beer but I'm certain it will contain at least a small percentage of red wheat malt. Let the experimentation begin.

New kid on the block - Bravo hops

Drake's is one of my favorite local beers. Recently I found an ad for their annual Washoes Tournament and Festival that will include 20 regional breweries who will all be pouring beers made from a single hop variety BRAVO. Apparently this hop variety is very new and difficult to find any information on. Hopsteiner (S.S Steiner) has the patent application for this variety, however their website makes no mention of the variety. Googling has provided little information, other than it being a cross breed and very high in alpha acids. I'll keep a lookout for it (I know Jenny Talley at Squatters is using it in her Rye beer). More to come as I learn about this new mystery hop...please feel free to comment if you have the scoop!