"WE FINALLY JUST GET TO JAM..." Brewmaster Matt Brynildson on how the hop revolution is driving Firestone Walker s next beer, Luponic Distortion.

Transcription

1

2 "WE FINALLY JUST GET TO JAM..." Brewmaster Matt Brynildson on how the hop revolution is driving Firestone Walker s next beer, Luponic Distortion.

3 Matt Brynildson and hops go way back. His first job out of college was as a hop chemist. Today, he is an international consultant for the Hop Growers of America. In between, he has become known as the brewmaster at Firestone Walker Brewing Company, where he has developed a number of notable hop-driven beers. But it is only now with the advent of Luponic Distortion, a new rotating beer to launch in early 2016 that he and his team have been turned loose to go off script and plunder the many marvels of the emerging hop revolution, with the freedom to break the rules with each new release. Here s his riff on how it came to be, and what to expect from Luponic Distortion. You ve remarked that a beer like Luponic Distortion wouldn t have even been possible a year or two ago. What do you mean by that? A lot of the hops we re using weren t available until recently. We re in this perfect window now, where all of these experimental hop cultivars that breeders and growers have been working on for so many years are starting to come on line. Back in the day, the big brewers were the ones making the decisions, and there wasn t a lot of incentive for the hop breeders to get too creative or push the limits. Then craft brewers came along and said, Wait a sec That was the feedback mechanism that changed everything, where craft brewers like ourselves would go into the fields and interact with the growers and say, Hey, about we try something like this or that. Suddenly there was a market developing for something different. But it couldn t happen overnight it s a minimum eight-year process just to get a single new experimental hop off the ground from breeding through commercial planting. So it s sort of a dawning moment in the hop world? Exactly. It s been steadily building, but now it feels like the door is being blown wide open. The real indicator is how hard it s getting to keep up with everything that s coming out. Now, whenever I m talking with brewers like Rodger [Davis] from Faction, or Tom Nielsen [hop chemist at Sierra Nevada], I m always grabbing my notebook, saying, Hey, what was that hop you were just talking about? When I was working as a hop chemist back in the early 90s, Cascade was this racy hop that was like, Whoah! It s what made Sierra Nevada Pale Ale so different. When we first made Union Jack ten years ago, Simcoe and Amarillo were the racy new hard-to-get hops. In the last couple of years it just blew up, and Luponic is our opportunity to plug into it. So yeah, it s hard to keep up, but that s great, because there s all of this mindblowing stuff coming out. Such as? Well, we were walking through some plots in the Northwest recently where the hops had this explosive blueberry character. It was unexpected and truly inspiring. We re currently working with a couple of hops that still go by their experimental plot numbers. Luponic is this beer that can keep morphing and stay interesting and remain out in front of this crazy hop wave. These hops are by no means citrus bombs like Citra, Simcoe or Mosaic. The lead hop in the first release of Luponic has this pineapple aroma, while the other is more of a peach stone fruit aroma both really appealed to us as we were walking through the experimental plots. There s another with this crazy coconut, bourbon barrellike aroma that is really interesting as well. Last November, I went to Germany and got to taste a bunch of beers made with new experimental hops that are coming up over there, including one with a combination of tropical notes unlike anything grown here in the states. It s like being a kid in a candy store. We re going to be able to push flavors forward in this beer that might make you swear there s a fruit adjunct in there, but we re going to do it with pure hops. Can you be more specific about some of these experimental hops you ve targeted for Luponic Distortion? No comment [laughs] For starters, I think it s fun to cloak this beer in a bit of mystery. It s something we ve never done before. We re one of those breweries that, up until this time, we ve probably shared too much. In fact, we just recently shared the recipes for every one of our beers with a homebrewing magazine. Sometimes, though, it bites us in the ass. For example, Mandarina [the lead German hop in Firestone Walker s Easy Jack] has become a bit of problem for us. We broadcast that out there and told everybody what was going on, and now a lot of people are going after Mandarina which is great, they are supporting the heck out of this new hop and the farmers who grow it but it s also making it more difficult to source the hops we want. I don t want that to sound arrogant, like we can move the needle on any given hop like that. It s rare. But there have been a few instances where sharing everything has backfired a bit. So with Luponic Distortion, we re going to be cagey for once. Luponic Distortion is beer that will rotate every 90 days or so how much will it change from one release to the next? The base beer will always remain the same, but

4 the hops will change. Each release will push a different experimental hop to the forefront, with a supporting cast of other hops. So with this first release, we ve turned up the volume on one hop, and then we ll do that with another one in the next release. And the supporting cast will evolve as well. So yeah, each release will represent a turn in the road, but they won t be sharp turns, in the way that you go, Hey, I don t even recognize this beer compared to the last one. There will be a common thread. It will be interesting to see how consumers react. Some guy came to me the other day and said he loved Luponic, but that it kind of bummed him out. I said What do you mean? and he said, Well you ll be changing it in three months, and I was like, Yeah but it s only going to get better, man. We won t let you down! I always go back to music. The best bands to see live may play their greatest hits, but they always pull out at least one song that they morph and jam on, and it s never the same, and that s what brings you back time and time again. The dry hopping of this first Luponic Distortion release includes six different hops is that unusual? It s a little extreme. Some brewers might say, Train wreck! What are you doing? But we re trying to balance those hop flavors and have fun and create something to this point unavailable, in terms of any one hop or a few hops bringing that type of complexity. You ve compared this beer to a white wine Yeah, I want it to drink like a stainless steel Sauvignon Blanc that s really clean with a lot of fruity characteristics. It s part of a progression. Take Union Jack, there s a lot of middle malt in it, and that was the kind of beer that was being made at the time, sort of like a mini double IPA. Whereas now things have progressed in the brewer world, where the chatter is all about creating these drier beers with higher drinkability, with less malt and bitterness. We took a firm step in that direction with Easy Jack, and now we re taking it a step further. I don t want to say that Luponic Distortion is unbalanced, because I think the hops themselves are really balanced. But stylistically, it makes me think of a cider or white wine, more razor-like, where we re dropping the malt presence out from underneath and letting the hops really pop off. What s the inspiration behind the name Luponic Distortion? Every time someone goes to drink a Pivo or Easy Jack or other Firestone beer, it should taste the same. DBA is the classic example. That was a beer designed before I ever got here, it had a certain defined malt hop profile, and our job is to forever replicate that thing and not deviate from the original. That all changes with Luponic Distortion. We can completely evolve, change and redirect this thing as new hops come to us and as we get to know the hops better, and we don t have to feel tied to strict profile. Luponic is this beer that can keep morphing and stay interesting and remain out in front of this crazy hop wave. I always go back to music. The best bands to see live may play their greatest hits, but they always pull out at least one song that they morph and jam on, and it s never the same, and that s what brings you back time and time again. Luponic Distortion is the culmination of this journey, where we finally just get to jam. The name is a nod to that. Where do you think it s all headed? Hard to say, but I m hoping what happens is people go to the store or bar and say, Hey, the next Luponic is out. Sweet, I gotta stay up with that. That would be cool. CREATING A CULTIVAR Creating a new hop cultivar doesn t happen overnight. Rather, it s a grueling marathon, with hundreds of candidates that are meticulously whittled down to a very few finishers over a period of eight or more years. Year 1 Make Cross Year 2-4 Single Hill Nursery Year 5-8 Multi-hill Nursery Year Acre Plots

5 Featured in this article: Matt Brynildson, Brewmaster Ali Razi, Production Manager Dustin Kral, Head Brewer Photos & Design by: FW In-House Creative

6 Lu ponic Distortion, Rev No. 002 THE NEXT REVOLUTION In the spring of 2016, Brewmaster Matt Brynildson unveiled Revolution 001 the inaugural release in Firestone Walker s new Luponic Distortion revolving hop series. Now comes Revolution 002, which is set to be brewed and released this summer. As with its predecessor, Revolution 002 is loaded with an exotic multitude of hops but the hops have been remixed to deliver new twists of aroma and flavor. Here s Matt s riff on what s in store for the next revolution: What is the status of Lu ponic Distortion Revolution 002? We sat down recently and played around with a bunch of hops, and we finalized the hop blend for Revolution 002. We had some really amazing hops at our fingertips, and we re pretty excited about it. What's the lead hop this time? We re tapping a new experimental variety grown here in the United States that boasts these strong peachy flavors and has tropical notes reminiscent of papaya. And the su pporting cast? We are combining that U.S. hop with a couple of very cool New Zealand hops that bring a lot of that classic southern hemisphere Sauvignon Blanc-ish, bright grapefruit and gooseberry notes. We re also adding another new variety out of Europe that helps bring it all together with this aroma of fresh honeydew and an underlying hoppy herbal pine note. This blend truly touches every corner of the hop growing world. How different is to the last one? Revolution 002 compared You will sense the common threads. Stylistically, they re both similar. But this new hop blend stands on its own, too, with some pretty distinct qualities. It s going to be a great follow up to Revolution 001! stay tuned...

7 Luponic Distortion, Rev No. 003 THE NEXT REVOLUTION Now in rotation Revolution 003, the latest release in Firestone Walker s Luponic Distortion revolving hop series, featuring yet another trailblazing blend of largely experimental hops. True to form, Luponic Distortion Revolution 003 is driven by a head-spinning mix of nine different hop varieties five from Germany, and four from the Pacific Northwest designed to showcase new boundaries of aroma and flavor. Newfound Hops - And One Reborn The lead hop in Revolution 003 is a new German variety that Brewmaster Matt Brynildson first encountered in its experimental infancy while traveling through the Hallertau region during the hop harvest three years ago. I fell in love with it then, and I ve been following its development ever since, he says. It s just loaded with this juicy mandarin orange character that is so distinctively German, unlike anything you could grow here in the states. The Revolution 003 blend also includes another German hop that got Matt s attention during the same Hallertau trip. It s a hop that hasn t even been named yet, but we were able to procure a small quantity, he says. It probably wasn t supposed to shared for brewing on a commercial scale, but they knew we were excited about it. Another key hop in Revolution 003 is Comet a reborn variety from the Pacific Northwest. Comet came out of the 1970s hop wave that brought us the popular Cascade and Centennial varieties, but for some reason Comet never took off, Matt says. It s sort of this lost, forgotten hop that is now reemerging. It has a really cool profile the aromas lean more toward fresh fruit than anything overtly earthy. Au Naturel Luponic Distortion Revolution 003 offers a mandarin orange and ripe peach character with ample supporting notes of citrus, stone fruit and pineapple. The overall profile is round and juicy, leaning heavily on ripe fruits with minimal dank or piney edges. This beer is a drinker, Matt says. I can see a lot of people tasting it and wondering if it includes fruit adjuncts, but the pronounced fruitiness is 100-percent derived from pure hops. stay tuned for the next revolution...

8 THE NEXT REVOLUTION Lu ponic Distortion, Rev No. 004 Now in rotation Revolution 004, the latest release in Firestone Walker s Luponic Distortion revolving hop series, featuring yet another trailblazing blend of cutting-edge hops. In the same vein as its predecessors, Luponic Distortion Revolution 004 is driven by a mindbending mix of seven different hop varieties, led by four South African hops that open the door to fresh possibilities of aroma and flavor. Southern Surprise While each prior revolution of Luponic Distortion was inspired by Brewmaster Matt Brynildson s own deliberate forays into the world of experimental hops, Revolution 004 originated from a more serendipitous discovery. As Matt tells it, his brewmaster friend Rodger Davis of Faction Brewing recently shared some hops that he procured from South Africa for his own Western Cape IPA. Rubbing and smelling the hops, Matt was blown away and sufficiently intrigued to start making some phone calls. I ve worked with Southern Hemisphere hops from New Zealand and Australia, but South Africa wasn t really on my radar until that moment, Matt says. Roger warned me not to fall in love with these hops because there wouldn t be enough for me to do anything on a sizeable scale. But it just so happened that my timing was perfect and I got some that were just coming off the shipping container. I told the supplier not to let me take all of the hops at the expense of other small brewers. So basically he sold me a few thousand pounds to do this one beer. Tropical Charge Four South African hops take the lead in Revolution 004. Two are experimental hops with pronounced tropical fruit qualities, along with distinct white grape and floral notes. The third hop presents a lively passion fruit character, while the fourth is more classically noble in profile. Revolution 004 is a departure from the more citrusy stone fruit personality of Revolution 003, but as always you will sense common threads, Matt says. And once again, all of these bold fruit aromas and flavors are derived wholly from pure hops. stay tuned for the next revolution...