Comments on: Hop extract but no hops?

By: Ryan Urbaniak

Ryan Urbaniak — Sun, 26 Jun 2011 18:53:11 +0000

I have been living in Germany now for a total of 7 years and the problem seems to be getting worse and worse. Not only are the big guys using the extracts, but even many of the local, smaller breweries (Hofmühl for example…an over 500 yr. old brewery in Eichstätt, Bavaria, near Ingolstadt – my wife’s hometown). There is absolutely a noticable difference in flavor when these extracts make their way into the bottle. Pilsner Urquel, formerly one of my favorite beers, recently added extracts to their ingredients. Without reading the label first the last time I bought a 6 pack, I immediately noticed the horrible unbalanced hops extract bitterness and so I checked the label…yep, hopfenextrakt. I couldn’t believe it. Nothing is sacred anymore.

By: Gale

Gale — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 21:52:56 +0000

Hops have been discovered to be highly estrogenic. It would be worth your while to read up on this … I love beer, but highly hopped ones steal my energy and make me drowsy– that’s my personal experience.

Now, I don’t deny that hops taste good to most of you. However, I also realize that few of you have ever been exposed anything other than hopped beers. E.G. a gruit ale.

I also don’t deny that hops make good sense to beer manufactures. It’s a good/inexpensive solution to a number of issues that arise when producing and storing the beer.

My point is that I don’t want it in my beer!

Read up on “environmental estrogens” and you’ll be confronted with overwhelming amounts of research that may have you feel the same. The last thing we need in our diets/lives is more phyto-estrogens.

By: Oblivious

Oblivious — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 14:50:25 +0000

Hop oisl are extracted with supercritical carbon dioxide, and this will evaporated off leaving nothing but the oil

Chimay also use hop extract too. I believe

By: Adeptus

Adeptus — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 12:30:58 +0000

Don’t know how I missed this post. I’m not a fan of hop extract as I very often get a nasty, plasticy, resinous flavour off beers made using it. And yes, there’s an awful lot of German beers using solely hop extract. As Ron said, it’s not so much the likes of Weissbiers, it’s the lagerbiers that seem to be more at risk of exposing these flavours I don’t like. Not all of the beers have “that flavour”, but I will often be able to spot a beer using extract from taste alone. At least in the German examples. Maybe they’re all using the same crappy product Glad it’s not just me who can taste it!

By: “Aludari? gildija” ir kitos klastot?s « Tikras Alus

“Aludari? gildija” ir kitos klastot?s « Tikras Alus — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 17:59:06 +0000

[...] neišraiškingo, dirbtinio ar net šleikštaus skonio (detaliau galite paskaityti Boak&Bailey poste ir komentaruose), k? sunku pasl?pti lengvame aluje. Kiek lengviau tai maskuojasi tirštesniame, saldžiame [...]

By: Barm

Barm — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 13:46:19 +0000

“Aaaah, if only…. Depends how the oils are extracted, chemical or water, and any fule kno that when you boil hops all the lovely stuff goes up the chimney in the first 30 seconds leaving just the bitter stuff behind.”

Yes, but my point was not that they are equal in quality; it was that they are completely compliant with the Reinheitsgebot.

By: Ron Pattinson

Ron Pattinson — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 09:05:43 +0000

Nasty, stale hops is the flavour I get. Pretty much any Dutch Pils showcases the horrible hop extract flavour, especially if sampled at a warmer temperature.

By: Anon

Anon — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 22:41:05 +0000

I think Gazza is only half right – if we’re talking about hop bittering extracts, then to me, they probably don’t really have a place in decent beer; but not because they’re harsh or astringent, just because they are one dimensional – i.e. just basic bitterness.

There’s nothing harsh or astringent about Foster’s etc, it’s just dull. & if all German hop-extract beers were harsh/astringent, I suspect few people would drink them.

The hop-boffins can now isolate hoppy character into extract form too, but again, I doubt it’s as subtle & interesting as using good whole hops / pellets.

By: Gazza

Gazza — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 18:37:38 +0000

“Hop extracts are just hops, so there is absolutely nothing in the Reinheitsgebot to prohibit them”

Aaaah, if only…. Depends how the oils are extracted, chemical or water, and any fule kno that when you boil hops all the lovely stuff goes up the chimney in the first 30 seconds leaving just the bitter stuff behind. This somehow seems to become very harsh and astringent in hop-extract and thus ruins beer which can’t hide it – such as most German lagers, and thus is the circle complete.

Basically, hop extract is shit and has no place in quality beer.

By: Matt Hendry

Matt Hendry — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 13:11:02 +0000

Most of the Worldwide Hop acreage is now turned into extract and most of the hops are super alpha so they get the maximum amount of Iso Alpha Acids exracted from them and they use various hop extracts and fractions to replicate the use of real hops in beer .Hops extract has the benefits of less storage space ,you don’t need to refrigerate most of them and they can be added post fermentation and some are resistant to light strike so the beer can be packaged in clear or green bottles and they help improve the head on a beer .They also have a 2 year shelf life .

Barth Hass the biggest hop broker in the World has a whole product line of Processed Hop Products .

http://www.barthhaasgroup.com/cmsdk/content/bhg/hop_products.htm