ZIPA: From Vine to Glass!!

Colleen and I have been trying to grow our own hops for a few years now. But, at first it was quite challenging to get the proper conditions growing hops in a rubbermaid container on her back porch in Dorchester. It was fun, but we only ended up with a few hop flowers; nothing worth brewing with. Last year, when Colleen moved out of Dorchester, we transplanted the hops to my dad's garden in Bedford, where the soil was better and he got much better sun. At first, we weren't sure whether the transplanted hop rhizomes would survive the winter. In a moment of worry and need for satisfaction, my dad encouraged me to order two more fresh, new rhizomes....just in case. So in addition to our three year old Cascade and Fuggles plants, we had first year Pearl and Zeus. Who knew what was to come? But before we knew it, we had three of four hop plants climbing faster than we could manage.

Our vines were overwhelming the garden, forcing us to build creative trellis systems just to keep up with the ever-growing bines. In the end, we had several ounces of Cascade, Fuggles, and surprisingly, Zeus! The Zeus actually produced the largest yield, resulting in about 9 ounces of large hop flowers (after drying). The Pearl struggled a bit and produced no actual flowers. I am confident for next season, though. So now the question is: What to do with all these hops?!?!? We decided first to vacuum seal them in small portions and freeze them.

We couldn't wait long, though, and this winter brewed our first beer with them. Dad and I decided to really showcase the hops to get the full potential and flavor of one hop variety, and brewed a single-hop IPA all with Zeus. What is it called? What else! A Zeus India Pale Ale--ZIPA for short. Right now, the ZIPA is in the secondary fermenter sitting on a few ounces of hops, going through a process called "dry hopping." In a week or two, we will bottle the beer. Then after a few weeks for carbonation, it will be ready for consumption. I'm very excited!! We still have to decide what to do with the other hops in the freezer, but however they're used, I know it'll be great. I'm actually thinking of making some mead and dry-hopping with Cascade. That would be so good! And before you know it, spring will be here and we'll begin growing the hop vines all over again, hopefully getting even a better yield than last summer! I know I've been quite delayed with my posts. I just can't keep up. But, I have many pictures and notes to share, so I promise to catch you up on what I've been drink...and creating! I'm actually very excited about my Imperial Smoked Stout I just bottled. So, more on that later. Cheers!!