This first post in Brewin.Beer is something I’ve been musing about for a while. We all know that beers have become hoppier over the past few decades. Indeed, there was a time when Sierra Nevada Pale Ale was considered far too eccentric and hop-forward for the typical beer drinker. Nevertheless, we’ve seen their Torpedo become one of the most popular IPAs in the country; a de facto flagship brew. Similarly, we’ve seen Sam Adams Boston Lager, the most popular craft beer in the nation, lose tap space to up-and-coming smaller brewers, and its very own Rebel IPA. In this post, we intend to look at this data scientifically, diving deep into the various chemical characteristics of the hops, and how our demand for certain flavors in our IPAs is changing the $350 million US hop growing industry. Continue reading Our changing American beer palate and the hop industry