Confession: One my favorite aspects of working in the beverage industry is utterly dismantling people’s preconceived notions and expectations about our craft.
“Cider is always too sweet.”
“Beer & spirits are for boys; wine & cider are for girls.”
“Hops are bitter.”
We were proud (and a little battered, frankly) to pioneer the dry-hopped cider style in Virginia in 2013. Stemming from intense customer demand for new products, Courtney researched dry-hopped ciders from the Pacific Northwest. As a beer fan, I helped pick out a couple of hops for trials. We packed the hops into little mesh bags and dropped them in half-gallon carboys of cider to age for a few days.
To be honest, it looked like a little brain floating in formaldehyde.
Cascade hops proved to be a winner, transforming the Winesap apple base with flavors of grapefruit and lemon peel.
Amarillo hops were a loser. As our original cidermaking apprentice Mateo so succinctly exclaimed, “Smells like WEED!” Only after the fact did we learn that hops and cannabis are botanical cousins. I still argue we would have found a niche market with a “Dank Amarillo” dry-hopped cider; imagine the food pairings with Taco Bell…
Trouble was, there had not yet been a dry-hopped cider produced in Virginia, and the legislative bruising that Courtney endured from federal & state legislators was significant. Finished, bottled cider lay dormant in our fermentation room for THREE MONTHS as we were repeatedly denied label approval, and then the Great Government Shutdown of fall 2013 caused further delay.
(A quick shout-out to the delicious dry-hopped chardonnay at Cardinal Point Winery in Afton, which helped us through the approval process.)
When our third creation was finally released as our fifth cider that year, we thought Hopsap Shandy would strike a chord with beer drinkers. Oddly enough, it was the wine drinkers who tasted parallels between the cider and citrus-forward white wines such as Pinot Grigio.
And let it be known that this is a reformed hop-hater writing here; “Bitter beer for bitter people,” I used to dismissively remark. But the bitterness of hops in beer is due to the boiling process of brewing. Cidermaking is a cool fermentation with no boil, so dry-hopping is akin to making iced tea. The purpose of the hops is to bring out unique aroma and flavor characteristics – citrus, flowers, grass, tropical fruit, an orchard meadow in the springtime – minus the bitterness.
Oh, and hops are flowers, and therefore gluten-free.
Hopsap Shandy will not be produced this year because we have an exciting new collaboration in its place: Hops Addition, a cooperative project with our lovely friends from Ardent Craft Ales. Early in 2020, Tom & William from Ardent brought an assortment of about 15 different hops to the cidery for sensory exploration with Taylor & Courtney. They concocted a range of small dry-hopped cider trials with a York/Winesap apple blend that Taylor has been maturing for three years, ultimately choosing Nelson Sauvin and Mosaic for Hops Addition – particularly intriguing because we’ve never used these hops before.
True to the characteristics of these hops, the finished product is tropical and smooth, with a burst of fresh hop aroma. Beyond apple, you may detect fruit notes of pineapple, lime, citrus, and white wine grape such as Virginia Traminette. So fresh, so sprightly, and so ready to usher in the spring!
Hops Addition will be available Thursday, February 25 on draft and in 750ml bottles at BOTH Blue Bee Cider and Ardent Craft Ales. Even if you think you don’t like hops, we encourage you to surprise your palate and give this collaboration a try.
-Brian Ahnmark
