New Hop Varieties: 10 Years from Test Plot To Tasty Brew

We don’t recycle too much news here at Growler Fills, but I thought this article from OregonLive.com was more than interesting enough to pass along.   That’s particularly true when it mentions one of my all time favorite beers, Deschutes’ Hop in the Dark.  We loved this seasonal beer so much last year – its debut year – that we ended up consuming several cases.  Blame us if you didn’t find it around Missoula.  It was released again earlier this month, though I haven’t seen it out in area stores yet. If you see it, be kind enough to send us a tip.

The Citra hop, featured in the article, has definitely caught on like a Montana wildfire, and not just with commercial brews from the big boys.  Blackfoot River Brewing in Helena recently brewed a version of their excellent Single Malt IPA using Citra hops and, if memory serves, some other local breweries have been experimenting with it as well.