Dry Hopping, Wet Hopping, Fresh Hopping?!?!

Just thought I would take a minute to clarify some potentially confusing terminology.  Dry hopping and wet or fresh hopping are both actually pretty easy concepts.

The most important thing to understand is that in this case, wet and dry are not opposites, and in fact don't even refer to the same part of the process!

So let's start with dry hopping.

DRY HOPPING is when hops are added after the boil, usually either during or after fermentation.  These hops can be fresh, dried, or pellet hops.  Dry hopping eliminates a lot of the loss of hop aroma.  That means that dry hopped beers tend to have very fresh, often floral (although depending on the variety, it could also resinous, citric, earthy, or any other hop-derived aroma) smells to them when you pour a glass or crack open a bottle or can.  Dry hopping allows less time, however, for the hops' alpha acids to incorporate in the beer (and does it without the added element of heat), meaning that some of the hop flavors (especially the bitterness) don't necessarily carry over.  It also means that if a dry hopped beer is left to sit for too long (especially after being opened or poured), the aroma is likely to seep out of the beer faster than hops added during the boil.

WET HOPPING is actually the same thing as FRESH HOPPING.  Wet hopping can occur at any stage of brewing (so yes, you can wet/dry hop a beer!!!).  Wet hopping refers to the fact that fresh hops, right off the vine, are used, without being dried or turned into pellets or oils.  So these beers tend to be seasonally available, shortly after the hop harvest in the breweries' area.  The hops can still be added in the boil, or can be used for dry hopping to give really fresh, floral aromas to the beer, or both.  Like dry hopping, these beers are best enjoyed fresh, as without drying or processing, fresh/wet hops will love their flavors and aromas quickly.

Thanks for reading, and I hope you all found this informative.  If you did, like it, share it comment on it!  Also, please feel free to leave questions or suggestions in the comments for any drink-related topics you'd like me to cover!

What's with Hops and Aging?

This is a topic that causes a lot of confusion, and understandably so.

The question usually comes from people who are just getting into craft beer, enough that they have tried various styles, and have done some reading about the history of beer, brewing, and various ingredients.

"If hops are a preservative, why do people say it's best to drink IPAs and other hoppy beers fresh?"

Well, here's where it's important to separate the way hops got into beer from the reason that we use them today.

Hops were originally used as a preservative in beer.  This was before pasteurization and refrigeration, and especially refrigerated transportation and storage, were a thing.  Hops kept harmful bacteria out of our ancestors' beer, which is the origin of their use in beer.

The safety of beer, however, no longer depends on hops.  We now have pasteurization, effective packaging, and refrigeration from the brewery right through the consumer. So while it is true that beer was originally hopped for preservation, this is no longer the case.  Yes, it's even true that some popular styles of beer we drink today have their origins (in a loose, rough, kind of way) in beers that were intended to have an incredibly long shelf life while traveling through various climates.

That being said, many beers, and in particular those styles originally intended for long life and travel (IPAs), are now hopped more for flavor and aroma than anything else.  In fact, there are hops bred and engineered to emphasize particular flavors.  Individual flavors from hops, like any other flower, don't hold up particularly well with age.  They don't go bad, per se, they just don't fade.

So the reality of it is, if you were to open two beers, the same in every way, but one hoppier than another, and leave them out for a week, the hoppier beer might be "better," "safer" or "fresher" than the unhopped beer in a scientific way.  It is less likely to be affected by harmful bacteria, or to make you sick.  On the other hand, while it hasn't necessarily gone bad, it is unlikely to have the same citrus, pine, resin (think marijuana), or grassy notes that it had when it was fresh.

The same principal goes for aging beers still in their containers.  Hoppy beers don't go "bad," and in fact, are probably less likely to do so than some of the beers we age (in barrels or in bottles) more frequently, but they also aren't as great.  In fact, since many of the beers we age are more malt (sugar) focused, brewers generally have to make sure they have a significant alcohol content, and are also constantly testing barrel aged beers for the presence of harmful bacteria.  You probably wouldn't have to be as vigilant if barrel aging an imperial IPA.  On the other hand, the very fresh, floral, piney, grassy, skunky, or other flavors that make people go nuts for IPAs would be lost

So, the answer is that hops are, in fact, a preservative.  They are, however, used in "hoppy" beers more for flavor and aroma, which fades over time.  You would be perfectly safe drinking an IPA that has been in your fridge for a few months.  It's just not going to have the clean, bright flavors it would have if drank while fresh.