Hopulist Issue 7

GALAXY HOPS
A long time ago
in a galaxy far,
far away… Okay,
so it was actually
Australia and that
galaxy reference
was pretty cheap,
but galaxy hops is
a killer flavour that
is worth the big
entrance. The hops
is largely grown
down under and
offers punchy notes
of passion fruit,
peach, pineapple
and other tropical
fruits. The hop is
very often used in a
dry hopping method
to really emphasise
the powerful punch
it packs. Good
examples of beer
with galaxy hops
include Beyond
the Pale by Point
Brewing Co and
Walkabout Pale Ale
from Flat 12.
GOLDEN ALE
Anything golden has
to be good right?
Well, in the guise of
golden ale then that
is certainly true. A
ray of sunshine in
the drinking world,
golden ale is usually
pale, well-hopped
and light on the
tastebuds. Naturally
pale or straw
coloured, these
beers normally have
citrusy hop flavours
and don’t weigh
in too strongly on
the ABV scale. You
can count Hika by
Maule Brewing and
Bombay Honey by
the Indian Brewing
Company as two
of our favourite
examples of good,
honest, clean golden
ales.
GRAVITY
No, we’re not talking
about how much
you weigh on the
moon here, we’re
talking about
a brewing term
that refers to the
amount of dissolved
solids in the liquid
you are drinking.
Within beer, that
usually refers to
sugars. Gravity
is measured in a
pretty complicated
way with lots of
numbers, but all
you need to know
is that the higher it
is, usually means
it has a higher ABV
too. It tends to mean
different things to
different beer styles
too. We won’t lie that
it is one for the more
serious beer geeks,
but it definitely can
improve your beer
tasting experience
getting to know it.