Brewers give out hops for Earth Day

In honor of Earth Day, Bloomington Brewing Company passed out free hop roots Tuesday evening at its location at Lennie’s. The roots, called rhizomes, will grow into hop plants, which are a main ingredient in the brewing of beer.

Hops are needed to improve the quality of the beer’s flavor. The plants will grow for 20 years and can grow to be 20 feet high, said Nick Banks, a brewer with Bloomington Brewing Company.

“One of the biggest beers in America is the IPA and that’s solely due to the hops that are going into the beer,” Banks said.

The hops were kept in a white bin and were available for free upon request at the brewery. Adam Hamel, an aspiring brewer, was offered Ziploc bags full of hop rhizome roots.

Hamel said he had never brewed before but had wanted to for a long time.
“This is a good way to get me started,” he said.

Banks explained to Hamel how to plant the roots two inches under the ground with the shoots facing upwards.

They wouldn’t produce many hops in the first year, but the buds would come back every year for the next 20 years, Banks said.

Banks said hops play an important role in any brewery because they are one of the four main ingredients along with water, malt and yeast.

In the brewing process, hops are used to add bitterness to the taste, Banks said.

The malt is where the majority of the flavor profile comes from, Banks said, but beer can be too sweet without the hops.

Banks said brewers started using hops only about 250 years ago. Prior to their use, brewers would use other herbs or even tree bark to give the beer a more bitter taste.

In recent years, brewers started using hops not only for its bitter quality, but also for the aroma.

“I’d say in the last 50 years, the hops have become more about the aroma than just the bitterness,” Banks said.

Banks said if hops are added in the beginning of the brewing process, the resulting batch of beer will be more bitter because the aroma of the hops is burned away during the boiling process.

If the hops are added towards the end of the boil, the brewer picks up more of the aromatics, Banks said.

The hops behave similarly to marijuana, Banks said.

“Everyone needs to understand that hops are a family of cannabis,” Banks said.

The female cannabis plant produces THC, while the female hops plant produces lupulin oil, a powdery, yellow substance.

Banks said he has been brewing for seven years and has been with the Bloomington Brewing Company for two years.

“It’s kind of like being an artist, but not just looking at what you produce, you’re able to actually consume it,” Banks said. “I kinda caught the bug. I luckily have the understanding for it and the passion, and it’s paid off.”