The basic “spice” of beer, as most educated drinkers will know, is hops. More specifically, the cone of the vine humulus lupulus, which was originally added to beer as a preservative and now is primarily employed for its flavour and aroma qualities.
Hops used to be grown all along the southern Canadian border, from the Maritimes through to BC, but until recently had pretty much vanished from our agricultural mosaic. Until recently.
As this Globe and Mail story illustrates, hops are on a modest comeback in Canada, having been in very recent years replanted in several regions. In fact, just the other day I received a notice about a small crop of organic hops grown in eastern Ontario that are now coming up for sale. If you’re a homebrewer, you can do a lot worse for yourself than these beauties.
Now to that other flavouring, specifically the oh-so-trendy lime. I was asked by the aforementioned Globe to taste test the two battling brews and the results appear in today’s paper. Let me tell you, folks, this was one tasting that was plain and simply no fun at all.
(I like Fine Point’s comment about using Rose’s instead.)
