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Health & Fitness

Have Hops, Will Make Beer

Hop harvest has begun, giving me a reason to make my own beer.

I've harvested my first crop of hops and have a giant bag of them sitting in my house. For those who missed , I have a number of these wonderful weeds growing in different yards in Michigan and Ohio. I grow them and the idea is that they will end up being part of some kind of wonderful beer.

My hops are pretty mature at this point. This is the third harvest and I have a lot of them at my disposal. So my intention is to create a truly amazing IPA. It's not my favorite style, but to reference St. Elmo's Fire, "It's my peanut butter and jelly sandwich, which I made in my kitchen." And the act of growing something yourself and using it, just makes it taste better. 

This beauty pictured in my hand is one of about 1,000 that will be dried then boiled, adding a lovely aroma that's sort of minty and sort of basily and definitely bitter, but in a good way. I may make a variant, like a wheat IPA, just for the heck of it. I'll let you know how it turns out.

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