Is Double Dry Hopped (DDH) Innovative?

Hopping a lager with IPA levels of hops is something that I wouldn't consider innovation either. Truth be told, there's not a whole bunch of innovation going on in clean beer brewing these days. Dry hopping during active fermentation is probably the last bit of innovation that's happened. Lots of it going on on the sour and funky side of things, though.

 

For me the word innovation means something new that's not been tried before. Is varying the hop techniques truly innovation or just tinkering with the recipe.

 

I'd have to say that it is. Back when I was learning how to brew, and reading The Complete Joy of Homebrewing (1st & 2nd editions), every recipe looked pretty similar in regards to hop schedule. A bittering charge at the beginning of the 60 minute boil, another at 30 minutes, and some "aroma" additions at 15, 10, and/or 5 minutes. Now hopping techniques vary quite a bit. Dry hopping has become much more prevalent and varied in its application (when, how much, how many). Bittering additions have been slashed or greatly reduced. Those 15, 10, and 5 minute additions have been moved to after the boil or during cooling and have been greatly increased. First wort hopping has gained and fell out of favor.

Because of all of those things, I think that learning how to properly use hops is more than just altering the recipe. I feel that it is truly innovative and it, along with new hop varietals, is producing beers that weren't able to be made only a couple decades ago.

 

Seems only fair since modern day German Pilsners are a "blatant bastardization" of the original Czech or Bohemian Pilsner.

 

In addition, being an "innovation" does not require that it be something that will "stick around" for a while because it becomes more popular or is liked or works better than the alternatives.

 

Yes, I see your point. My thinking was dry hopping has been in use for centuries.

 

This statement made me wonder about the origins of dry hopping. Pretty interesting blog post regarding the practice. The comments are also quite informative.

http://refreshingbeer.blogspot.com/2010/01/did-hodgson-invent-dry-hopping.html

 

Pretty much on the money. Dry hopping and its additional preservative effects was effectively standard practice for small UK breweries who delivered their beers to pubs in wooden casks (and before refrigeration). Before those wooden containers left the brewery a handful of hops was poured into the bung hole before the cask was sealed. So far the exact date of origin of the practice is still lost in history.

 

Glad you looked it up. I would've but that would be like work which would violate the first rule of retirement.

 

Mitch Steele did an excellent job detailing the history of the IPA in his IPA book; Chapter 2 is The 1700’s and the Birth of IPA.

On page 34 Mitch discusses the concept/theory that the IPA “was the descendent of the October ale”.

October ales were estate brewed ales of high strength. They were first brewed prior to 1700 and throughout the 1700s. These beers were brewed in (hold onto your hat) October and they were stored for a lengthy period of time for subsequent drinking.

Martyn Cornell discusses October Beer on his blog (see link below) and there is mention from 1736 of:

“In the Spring you must unstop your Vent-hole and thereby see whether your Drink doth ferment or not, for as soon as the warm Weather comes, your Drink will have another fermentation, which when it is over, let it be again well stopped and stand till September or longer, and then Peg it; and if you find it pretty fine, the Hop well rotted and of a good pleasant taste for drinking.

I bolded the part of “the Hop well rotted” since this indicates that hops were added to the cask or otherwise referred to as dry hopping in the cask.

When did it become a common practice to add dry hops to the cask when producing October Ale? I do not know the specific date but it certainly appears that this could be sometime in the early 1700s.

Cheers!

http://barclayperkins.blogspot.com/2008/08/october-beer.html

 

Isn't The Veil in RVA known for this (at least delineating a DDH version vs. a normal version)? Where a DDH version of Never Scared is Never Never Scared Scared? Maybe I'm wrong and it's altogether different...

 

Don't forget about FW Pivo Pils. Not a huge fan of the trend myself but it's probably my favorite "hoppy" pilsner

 

Ehh idk I just like to drink beer that tastes good. If it happens to say DDH on it. So be it.

 

It's just great. That's all.