Great Beers That Don't Use Any Hops

Could be wrong, but I believe traditional gruits are supposed to be without hops.

 

By most definitions, beer contains hops. There are a few related beverages like gruit, and sahti that aren't hopped, or at least very lightly hopped.

(of course the running joke: pick your favorite light lager. It contains almost no hops.)

 

While the above mentioned styles may exclude hops at the level of the recipe, there are certainly MANY styles where whatever hopping is utilized is nearly imperceptible. This generally translates to the darker styles. To respond to your inquiry of "Fort" specifically, it's virtually impossible to pick out any hops in that beer.

 

There are some nice Heather Ales out there but I can't speak to if they have no hops at all, or just have heather tips added for some flavor, and still have base bittering hops. Fraoch Heather Ale is the one I see the most often

 

First one that comes to my mind -- it's solid: Jopen Koyt.

 

Fraoch is one of the more well-known and widely distributed brands of heather ale. Back when I worked retail I had a regular customer who had to pass on it as the brewery also brewed beer with hops, to which he was terribly allergic.

It is evidently not brewed with hops at all, nowadays.

 

It was a Shelton Brothers portfolio item up until just a few years ago, but sadly is not imported by them at the moment.

 

Spruce tip beer.
http://www.fortgeorgebrewery.com/beers/seasonal/spruce-budd-ale/

 

Like I've said before, beer with other bittering agents will be the next big thing

 

That's the other part of the problem. These aren't common beers. The Fraoch heather ale is fairly common, but you're more likely to find these type of things at an adventurous brewpub than your local beer retailer.

 

Hops are so good, I don't know why you wouldn't invite them to the party!

 

In a similar boat but thankfully I don't have to go completely without yet; but that day may come. For now I just have to avoid all hop forward beers. If I have even one ipa I get hot and flushed and tired and lose my sex drive for the rest of the day. A couple weeks back I decided I should try some offerings just in case the day came where I couldn't have any hops anymore and tried the lips of faith gruit and really enjoyed it. I have a feeling that hop free "beers" are going to be a big niche market a few years from now. I can't be the only one developing a hop sensitivity/allergy from overexposure to super hopped up beers.

 

A beer brewed in the US without hops doesn't meet the TTB's legal definition of a "malt beverage" which requires:

...so such beers (along with those that don't use barley malt) are regulated by the FDA and have to follow their labeling rules.

See:
Classification of Brewed Products as “Beer” Under the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 and as “Malt Beverages” Under the Federal Alcohol Administration Act

Many brewers would rather not have to deal with the FDA - a second, different regulatory agency with very different labeling requirements, so true "hop free" beers in the US are going to be rare unless the TTB's legal definition changes. (And the amount of hops required is so small, that it's easy to do something like use old/stale hops briefly in the boil and get very little hops flavor in the wort).

 

Unfortunately the options for non/light hopped beer are limited.

like @jesskidden said without hops or barley the TTB does not call it a beer anymore.

A few years ago I was in the process of starting a brewery in Southern California. The beers we planned to do were old historic ales/beers that were either limited or no longer in production. We planned to contract brew for the first year and the first beer we planned to do had no hops, but once the ttb said it was not beer we could not contract brew because it was not classified as beer. Long story short we never got up off the ground. Beer was good though. You can check out the old fb page to read about our no hop beer.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/WayBack-Brewing-Company/240117786071528

 

To be specific, yes, Fort does have hops added when its brewed.

If I were in your shoes, I'd switch adult beverages of choice and simply not worry about trying to find a beer, any beer, without hops, let alone a great beer without hops. Unless the labeling laws in Australia require a full listing of ingredients in the beer you drink the only way to know for sure there are no hops added to the brew kettle is to be part of the brewing process. Even some of the Dogfish Head Ancient Ale series that would have originally been done way back when without hops in their original versions get recreated with at least a nominal amount of hops added so it can, in the US, still be called beer.

 

Second the suggestion to take up home brewing.

 

If it's an allergy or medical issue...liquor or hard ciders are probably the way to go....unfortunately

 

It's not easy to find a lot, but you definitely can... Gruits are your best bet Cambridge Brewing makes one