A School of Hops?! I think we can thank our lucky stars that, in this instance at least, Jervis Bay are talking about a series of single hop pale ales, and not an educational facility built entirely out of hop bines. What’s the bloody structural integrity of a skinny little vine with a few flowers hanging about? There’s probably only a handful of building certifiers in this country who are cooked enough to sign off on such a ludicrous venture. Then what? Just teach kids the normal curriculum in an albeit very lovely smelling deathtrap? To what end?!
Apologies, it seems I might have been infected with the parasitic brain worm that causes people in the comments section of news articles to invent situations that don’t exist in order to get incredibly red and mad...
Anyway, Amarillo is one of the hops that rode the original US craft beer wave in the 90s and early 2000s. It’s still used by almost everyone but it rarely gets much limelight when there’s so many newer, more distinctive hop varieties to focus on. Thanks to very high levels of myrcene oil, Amarillo usually gives bucketloads of orange and grapefruit citrus so let’s see how it goes in a Jervis Bay pale ale, hey?
For a beer that’s all about showcasing hops, it’s a very pretty beer, lucent gold with a tight white head. First whiff takes me back to the type of American pale ale that used to dominate the craft beer scene ten to 15 years ago: orange oil, miscellaneous citrus with just a bit of grass and pine. Bitterness is listed as 30 IBUs and with such a simple grain base the perceived bitterness is on the money. A solid bitter bite to encourage the next sip and a super clean finish.
Turns out I never realised how much I missed a proper American pale ale! Can’t wait to see which hops they’ve got lined up for the future.
Judd Owen
Published August 22, 2022 2022-08-22 00:00:00
