NEIPA N10
NEIPA: New England India Pale Ale. It has become a mega hit of an IPA in which the hop aroma plays the leading role. For their Learning to Taste series, Bird Brewery brewed two NEIPAs with Tango and Hüll Melon. Hop varieties developed for their powerful aroma, which comes out even better in our N10 pellets.
T90
We usually supply T90 hop pellets, the standard for brewing beer. In short, dried hop cones are grinded and then pressed into pellets. Compared to whole hop cones, this gives the hops a better shelf life, better dosage and they absorb less moisture during brewing. Perfect for brewing, N10 goes a step further.
Lupulin
To catch the essence of N10, we start with lupulin: resin crystals inside the hop cone that turn golden yellow when the hop is ready to be harvested. Lupulin contains the oils that give unique aromas. These sticky particles contain exactly the substances that a brewer needs from the hops, because the alpha acids are also contained in the lupulin.
N10 pellets focus entirely on the lupulin. You can see it as a concentrated form of hops, with all the lupulin and far less leaf material. The result are chunky pellets that are perfect for giving a beer a lot of hop aroma. And that is exactly what a NEIPA is all about.
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The yellow crystals are clearly visible: Lupulin
Cryo N10
With N10, the hops are also dried and grinded. Then the lupulin is separated from the rest of the hop cone at a very cold temperature (-15°C). Because of this process, hop products like these are known with Cryo as a prefix, which means at a very low temperature. Yakima Chief has been clever enough to adopt this term as a trade mark. The process at N10 is slightly different from that of our American colleagues. Our partner who processes hops into N10 prefers to do this as slowly as possible. This takes time, but the big advantage is that you reduce friction and therefore release as little heat as possible. All this is done to preserve as many of the aromatic oils as possible in the best possible condition.
Kees previously brewed with Callista in N10 form.
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On the left the usual T90 pellets, on the right the N10 pellets.
Tropical & Melon
N10 is available in a limited number of varieties. Bird chose Tango and Hüll Melon for their strong fruit aromas, both of which we find in the aroma profile Tropical & Melon. The specific aromas are different however: Tango more towards tropical fruit (pineapple, passion fruit) and Hüll Melon towards strawberry and of course (honey)melon.
Bird Ekster and Ekstera
In the Learn to Taste series Bird always brews two of the same beers, to one of them an extra ingredient is added. In Ekster the result of the hops can be tasted best, as this is the "base" version. A rather fruity NEIPA, in which the powerful Tango comes well forward. Hüll Melon is by itself more subtle, but colours exactly the corners that Tango leaves behind.
Ekstera contains the same hops, supplemented with passion fruit juice.
Both beers can be ordered at Bird, including tasting forms that are ideal for the live tasting on 30 June. Can't be there live or reading this too late? No worries, you can also watch the video back later. Nice to taste along with the Bird team and hear all about these beers!