I recently spent a weekend down in the boonies around St. Louis for a wedding. During my little adventure I had the luxury of visiting
St. Louis proper and stopping at a few breweries. One of the better ones happened to be Schlafy. And it was here where my eye beheld the Hop Trial Smash Pack.
The Holy Hop Trial. A pious path that leads to a certain hoppy holiness.
A SMaSH beer is simply a single malt and single hop style – brewed to bring out or highlight unique flavors, aspects, and tastes of an ingredient. If anything, it’s a learning experience. Or a pilgrimage down the devout path of appreciating all that goes into a beer.
And it was during the Hop Trial SMaSh I was reminded of the quote from Ecclesiastes. Chapter 3.
If I recall correctly, it went something like this:
“There is a beer for everything,
and a season for every beer under the heavens:a beer for being born and a beer for dying,
a beer for hurting and a beer for healing,
a beer for tearing down and a beer for building up,
a beer for weeping and a beer for laughing,
a beer for mourning and a beer for dancing..”
You get the idea. And the holy revelation revealed to me by this particular pack was just that. There’s a hop for every season under the sun. Naturally, we’ll start with spring.
1. Hallertau Blanc – Floral hop
Like spring, it’s light, refreshing, and just full of life. The floral notes are matched with a kick of zesty lemongrass, honey, and other citrus. A bit tropical but not too bitter. The smell itself is enough to sell you on this. It’s like a spring garden, but the taste holds back leaving you with a light, simple, and very pleasant beer. Almost like tea or wine. It’s that crisp and light.
2. Enigma – Fruity hop
Hailing from all the way down under, the Enigma boasts some nice tropical flavor (pineapple, kiwi-ish stuff). Almost like a west coast IPA. And it’s a bit more bitter (but not overwhelmingly so) than the above beer, but also a lot more fruit forward. It’s very sweet, but has a weird musty herbally finish. If anything, it’s a great beer that will have you yearning to stretch your toes in summer beaches.
3. Eureka! – Pine/Resin hop
It’s fall already. And Eureka! knows its part. It has the smell of a forest in fall that reminds me of our camping trips up in Wisco. A few thoughts: pine syrup, snow runoff, sticky. That best describes it. It’s a classic northwestern United States style, with a rich (heavy) earth forward flavor that ends in a bitter, citrusy, kick.
4. Bramling Cross – Spicy hop
You sound like you’re from London. With Bramling Cross, it’s the sound of Christmas bells. The beer is like a spicy dessert. Think clove, cinnamon and all that holiday goodness. It’s a real trip. It’s a lot of flavor packed in a beer. Fruit forward at first, but it’s swept away by the spice and a bit of bitter hops. My only regret is the flavors go too fast, and I wish they would linger a bit longer. Maybe that’s a metaphor for the holidays, but this makes for an excellent holiday/winter beer.
Whether it be the 4 seasons, a weekend, or even a 12 pack – before you know it, everything is gone. Life and beer are ephemeral. But if there’s one thing I’ve learned from the 12 pack: Hop Trial edition is that it’s more than an experiment in hops. It’s an experiment in the beauty of beer.