FIND A NEW FAVOURITE
Fall for B.C. Wines this Autumn!
VQA Wine Shop at
MATTICK’S FARM Open 7 days a week
5325 Cordova Bay Rd. 250-658-3116
www.matticksfarm.com
Our service can best be described as “Knowledgeable, yet not pretentious… …approachable, with a hint of sass!”
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EAT MAGAZINE SEPTEMBER | OCTOBER 2010
beer at the table —by Adem Tepedelen
wine
HARVEST ALES
ECO
Beer can be made year round, but fall allows local makers to craft their brews from fresh, local, aromatic hop flowers. One doesn’t typically associate the idea of terroir and fall harvest with beer. The four main ingredients in beer—water, malt, yeast and dried hops—are available year round, so even though brewers may make certain seasonal styles of beer, they do this out of choice, not necessity. But come fall, when the hop plants are mature and the flowers are ready to be picked, several West Coast brewers have started to use this fresh crop to make harvest ales. In fact, three local breweries—Salt Spring Island Ales, Phillips and Driftwood—are brewing limited-edition harvest ales using freshly picked B.C. hops. Like grapes, hop flowers mature in the early fall and the flavours and aromas they produce are directly related to the conditions—soil, weather, climate—in which they are farmed. So it’s not surprising that hops generally grow well in the same areas where grapes are grown. Oregon’s Willamette Valley and Washington’s Yakima Valley together comprise the biggest hopgrowing region in North America. Once harvested, the hop flowers are typically dried and then pelletized to preserve them. Hops are used to add both bitterness to a beer (to balance out the sweetness of the malt) and aroma. All beers contain some, though in varying amounts. In certain styles they’re at the forefront, such as in an India pale ale (IPA), which will have a high bitterness and spicy aromatic factor. They play a supporting role, however, in, say, a brown ale, which will be softer, more round and a little sweeter. In harvest ales, they certainly play a starring role, but that doesn’t necessarily mean these beers will be super bitter. Brewing beer with fresh hops offers a flavour profile that dried hops doesn’t. “It’s what you’d expect intuitively if you compare using a fresh herb to a dry herb,” says Meyer. “With hops I find that when they’re fresh and wet, there are some perfumey components to them that seem more intense than when they are dry.” The result is a beer with bright, earthy elements that is a good match for food. “I find that with any hoppy beer, they are more flexible than you would assume,” says Spinnakers chef, Ali Ryan. “It likes some spice—it actually takes on quite a bit of spice. One of the more popular pairings I did recently was a hot and sour soup with
our malt vinegar and tomato. It all worked so well with that really green flavour that you get from the hops.” Café Brio chef, Laurie Dunn, who has hosted a Driftwood beer pairing dinner in the past, has his own philosophy on what to pair with a well-hopped beer. “I would pair it with something that’s really rich like foie gras,” he says. “The hoppiness and bitterness can almost act like a palate-cleanser to the rich food.” One of the most compelling things about these local harvest ales—Salt Spring’s special edition of their Whale Tale Ale, Phillips’ Grow Hop Bitter and Driftwood’s Sartori IPA—is that all are made with B.C.-grown hops. Salt Spring is actively involved in growing theirs organically. (“Our hop plantation is located approximately 1.5 kilometres from the brewery and is watered with the same spring water we use for our brewing,” says co-owner Becky Julseth.) And Meyer at Driftwood is fostering relationships with hop farmers on both the mainland and Vancouver Island with the hope of primarily using B.C.-grown hops in all of their beers in the future. “I’m really jazzed on the idea of using hops that are grown locally because theoretically they should taste, in some strange way, more unique,” says Meyer. And like wine grapes, there’s no telling when the harvest will be from year to year. So, as much as we’d like to tell you when these beers will be available, there are no specific release dates. “Last year we were brewing it in early September, but it really depends on the weather conditions,” says Meyer. But you can bet that when he gets the call, Meyer will be cruising over to Sartori Cedar Ranch, just outside of Chilliwack, to pick up his freshly picked hops from farmer Christian Sartori and haul them home in a hurry. And this time, since his Sartori IPA sold out so quickly last year, he’s bringing a bigger truck. “We’re brewing twice as much this year,” he says, “and will use several hundred pounds of hops.”
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