IPA lovers rejoice. This exclusive Brewmasters Series kit was designed by Will Harrison, former Brewmaster for Hopunion's (now YCH) test brewery. Will also led the team that designed the unique Zythos hop blend for Hopunion. This is a MoreBeer! first in that the hops in the Brewmaster kit were actually designed by the Brewmaster. Wow.
The kit features the unique flavor of this new Zythos hop blend as it is only hop in the kit from start to finish. This recipe represents how Will brews his test batches at the Hopunion test brewery (small plug... brewery built by MoreBeer!) Will designs his beers in such a way to let the hops shine. That means base malt, just a bit of Crystal 40 malt and lots of hops, strategically inserted through out the boil as well as into the fermenter or keg for dry hopping.
Since this beer is all about showcasing this hop we caught up with Will and asked him for his description of the Zythos hop "I get lots of citrus and tropical fruit notes. The hop was blended to get a little of everything in one pellet. We went for citrus, tropical, pine, and spicy as the main flavors in that order. It also has some experimental varieties to make it more complex and interesting." Learn a little more about the Zythos Hop. Zythos Hops
Will Harrison studied at the OSU Food & Science Technology department with an emphasis in brewing. He became assistant and later head Brewmaster at the Wild Duck brewery. He then moved on to Hopunion where he has performed a variety of jobs including setting up their Hop Lab and helping start Alpha Analytics, a lab for breweries. He also designed and installed their test brewery (made by MoreBeer!) and was also involved in hop sales to Breweries. The test brewery was set up so that Hopunion employees and potential customers could actually taste hops in action. The brewery is also used to sort out and select hops from the experimental hop breeding programs that Hopunion is part of.