It was one of those times when I had a few minutes and was jonesing for a good, hoppy beer and I got to thinking. We all, as wine enthusiasts, know that vineyard site is just about the most important thing when it comes to producing a fine wine. Obviously, variety matters a great deal but making a world class Cabernet from To Kalon might be easier than making one from Cab grapes grown in Western Oregon (at least for now…but that’s another disucssion).
It wasn’t very long ago that beer had hops, and that was about it. At one point, there was virtually ZERO mention of hop varieties in a beer. Then, eventually, single-hop beers started to pop up. Now it seems they’re as ubiquitous as ever. Amarillo hop this, Citra hop that.
When you think about where the beer industry is at now, though, that is still one step behind wine in a major way. The differentiation is currently only about variety. My question: when will beers evolve to being differentiated by site, beyond just hop variety? Will they ever get to that point? Or is there just not a noticeable enough difference between Citra hops grown in the Yakima Valley versus in Michigan? Is there even an appetite for that much specificity?
Anyway, it was a thought-provoking thing to me and I’m curious to hear what you all think.