Yes, you read that right, hops are a cousin to cannabis and have a history of medicinal uses. In fact, the same essential oils in hops that create bitterness and aroma in beer are also a mild sedative, anti inflammatory, and a natural antiseptic historically used in pillows to encourage a restful sleep and in teas to add in digestion, fight infection, encourage milk production in lactating mothers, and reduce stress and anxiety.

To bitter beer, brewers boil hops in wort (pre-fermented beer). As hops boil their alpha acids are converted into soluble iso-alpha acids, or bitterness. The longer the boil the more bitter the resulting beer. This bitterness is measured in International Bittering Units (IBUs) and is often listed on the label of craft beer. Mildly bitter beers like American light lagers, pilsners, cream ales and many German beers are brewed with lower alpha acid bittering hops, producing beers with an IBU range of 8 to 35 IBUs. Beers like milds, ESBs, browns, porters and stouts typically range in the 20 to 40 IBU range, where bitterness becomes apparent but where malt is much more important.

It’s in the American pale ales and IPAs, beers known for their hoppiness, where bittering hops become both noticeable and important flavor components to the style. In brewing a typical IPA, brewers choose higher alpha acid bittering hops, boil them longer, and achieve a beer with 45 to 80 IBUs. But even that’s not hoppy enough for true hop heads ‑ the name used for those who love hop-heavy beers. They have become enamored with that uniquely American craft beer, the Imperial or Double IPA, the hoppiest of craft beer styles, where IBUs are typically found in excess of 100.

But beer isn’t just about bitterness, hop aroma is equally important. Aroma accounts for much of what we perceive as taste, and aroma or finishing hops add crucial aroma compounds to the beer. These hops are relatively low in alpha acids but high in essential oils and are added at increments towards the end of the boil and at “flame out” when the brewer shuts down the kettle. Brewers can add an additional dose of hop aroma through dry hopping, allowing finished beer to age a few weeks on a bed of fresh hops.

There are more than 100 hop varieties grown throughout the beer-making world and more are being planted and created every year. Each hop has its own characteristic and brings something different to the beer. I’ve seen hops described as fruity, piney, grassy, citrusy, spicy, earthy, cedary, herbal or any combination of the above. Unfortunately these aroma/flavor compounds break down quickly and are subject to change when subjected to oxygen and UV light, so to get the full effect of the aroma and flavor hops, one must drink beer fresh.

And drink beer you should. The only real way to get to know hops and the varieties you like is to taste them. My favorite way to do this is to sit down at a brewery or brewpub and order a tasting flight. Most tasting flights start with lightly hopped, malt forward beers and get gradually hoppier. Tasting this way, one can learn the effects of hops on beer. Or even better is to find a brewer who is experimenting with single-hopped beers (a trend in contemporary brewing), where the brewer uses a common malt bill and changes nothing but the variety of the hop. When these beers are tasted side by side, the contributions of the hops become apparent.

Taken altogether, a well-crafted beer is a balanced combination of the qualities of the brewing water, malty sweetness, hop bitterness and aroma, and the yeast the brewer chooses to ferment the beer ‑ and we’ll look at yeast when next we meet.