Penguin Hops

This is our 6th year making a beer with our friends from the Shedd Aquarium to showcase their locally grown hops. These hops, of unknown variety (our guess is Centennial, Cascade, and Nugget), were steeped in the kettle at the end of boil to impart some of their floral hop flavor and aroma to the brew, and some FRESH Chinook were harvested the morning of the brew, and also steeped at the end of boil. SouthSide grown hops (Cascade and Chinook, Centennial) and whole Oregon Cascade & Centennial hops were added to the kettle, and we dry-hopped the fermenter with Cascade and Glacier pellets. It is lighter in color and malt presence than our Iron Fist, though it does have light, toasted malt notes- the burnt orange color being derived from the use of CaraWheat malt and a bit of CaraMunich III malt (~8% of the total grist).

We chose the Pale Ale style to feature the hop character, as our target was a beer that is “hoppy, yet approachable “ -a beer for the many people who will be tasting this brew due to their association with Shedd, and who may not (Yet!) be craft beer enthusiasts.