I am a hop head. A hop heart if you will… I love hops in all their herbal, citrusy, piney, floral, bitter beauty. I’m also frequently on a quest for solid Extra Special Bitters (or ESBs… capital “B”). Red Hook makes my standard ESB—Otter Creek used to make a fantastic ESB, but unfortunately retired it. Brown’s Brewing Company‘s ESB is a solid rendition, and I’ve recently discovered that Pretty Things Hedgerow Bitter hits the (hop) spot for me too (with a touch of grapefruit!). What’s your favorite ESB?

India Pale Ales are, without a doubt, my go-to beer style… especially the West Coast varieties: Green Flash West Coast IPA, Avery IPA, and Lagunitas Hop Stoopid are three of my favorites.

Needless to say, I was thrilled to see the buzz hops were getting yesterday cause of this lovely little Huffington Post article:

America’s Bitterest Brews
By Joshua M. Bernstein
The Daily Meal/Huffington Post, March 1, 2011
But in this era of craft beer, drinkers are shunning simple brews like Keystone and Coors for coffee-seasoned stouts, burly Belgian ales and, most of all, bitter beers like the India Pale Ale, a.k.a., the IPA… [read the article]

Read more articles I’ve collected (not by me) in the Press Pints tab!