When our podcast chat with Hawkers founder Mazen Hajjar goes live, you'll catch a discussion of hops inspired by some of their experimental releases. He talks about the nuances that can be elicited from the same variety from the same farm picked at different times, or from different plots. And it's equally true that the same hops can be used to create different results depending on the techniques employed in a brewery or the style of beer they're being used to produce.
Case in point here. On the day I sampled Brainwaves, a West Coast IPA featuring nothing but recently-named US variety Krush (formerly HBC 586), Guy Southern sent his take on Eagle Bay's Krush IPA, also featuring mostly Krush hops. Within that hazy, he picked up "mango Starburst, green papaya, white and tinned peach plus tropical sap that fleet through a deceptively light body that’s bereft of bitterness", while the grower of Krush, Yakima Chief Hops, tells brewers it "bursts with citrus (orange), tropical (mango, guava), stone fruit (peach), berry (mixed berry), and woody (resin) characteristics".
Yet, utilised alone in this West Coast IPA (a style Hawkers know a thing or three about), Krush helps deliver a beer you'd imagine would slot neatly into the heyday of San Diego's IPA explosion. Yeah, it’s kinda fruity – intense citrus / rind more than the others suggested – but it’s also dank, woody and piney within a lean and bitter package. If you like such things (as I very much do) you’ll find it delicious as it’s one flavoursome West Coast banger. Just don't go in expecting the fruit salad the variety's sleeve notes promise.
James Smith
Published January 31, 2025 2025-01-31 00:00:00
