Strata - The Most Desired Hops of the Moment is Coming

by Thiago Galbeno

Lúpulo Strata

You have probably heard of it or seen it on American Hazy IPAs. It is the hops sensation of the moment there, mainly due to its unique ability to deliver intense tropical, citrus and fruity notes, in addition to the much sought after "dank".

 

Sensory Web - Strata®

Spider Chart Strata

Technical Data - Strata

Aroma: Tropical, citrus, dank, yellow fruits.
Typical Use: Aroma and Flavor
Recommended Styles: Hazy IPAs, APAs, Hoppy Lagers, Black IPAs and Brown IPAs.
Alpha Acids: 11 - 12.5%
Beta acids: 5.0 - 6.0%
Cohumolene: 21% alpha acids
Total Oils: 2.3 - 3.5 ml / 100g
Mycrene: 52 - 65% of total oils
Humulene: 22 - 30% of total oils
Karyophylene: 5 - 12.5% of total oils
Farnesene: 0 - 1% of total oils

 

The variety is much sought after mainly for IPAs. Breweries famous for their hop pumps, like Other Half, Monkish, Tired Hands, Cloudburst, Holy Mountain and many others use hops constantly, in single hop versions or accompanied by other varieties.

And how was he born? What does it feed on? Where do you live?

Strata, previously called X-331, was born from Indie Hops' new variety development project. The company is located in Oregon and operates in a very innovative way in the cultivation of hops. It was founded by two passionate about the craft beer scene, Jim Solberg and Roger Worthington, with the aim of strengthening the cultivation of hops in the state. Indie works directly with a network of local farms, which plant varieties together with the company, and work by adopting management and harvesting practices in order to extract hops of excellent quality and abundance of essential oils.

The variety was born in record time, with 8 years from the beginning of development until its commercialization. It was in 2018 that the first commercial crop was launched and since then the farm has struggled to increase the plantation due to the very high demand, but prioritizing a plantation that maintains its qualities and characteristics. The plant has a difficult characteristic to be found: it is a hop very desired by breweries, at the same time that farms also like its cultivation, due to its good resistance to pests and high productivity.

And how is this hops coming to Brazil?

You already know that we follow the hop harvest directly on the farms. And last year, when we traveled to the U.S. for the 2019 harvest, we visited Indie Hops at their Portland / Oregon office.

We were very well received by Jim and Matt, who told us the whole story of the company and, luckily for us, presented us with several freshly picked varieties, available to taste and select. We had already heard about Indie hops very well, but selecting them exceeded our expectations. We selected several incredible varieties that we will count in future posts, but going back to Strata, there was an entire table with several lots of variety.

Table with several lots of Strata

We have to confess that it was a challenge to convince Jim to bring the variety to Brazil. After all, they are not able to serve the American market. But we showed them how much the Brazilian market is passionate about hopped beers and how a direct job between us and they would make it possible to bring hops in a controlled chain, with batch selection, refrigerated logistics and top breweries using hops in Brazil. Thus, Strata has everything to be in Brazil, one of the most desired hops in the coming years, both for brewers and for those who are passionate about IPAs and hopped beers at the time of drinking.

To better describe Strata's sensory profile, follow the strict translation of Indie Hops:

Perfect for an IPA / Session-IPA / Pale Ale (and believe it or not, Hop Lager) with lots of layers of different fruit flavors, dried and fresh, anchored with a very nice dry chili-cannabis (dank) funk. Late hot side additions bring layers of rounded tropical fruit and fresh fruit flavors; dry hopping produces more grapefruit and cannabis. Great with roasted malts too.

I wanted to open the package and brew a beer, right? And we can confirm that variety is all of that. We selected directly at Indie Hops, and we also had several amazing beers produced with hops over there. And don't worry, because the dank's fame is matched, as well as an intense tropical and citrus.

Without a doubt, Strata is a hops like no other, and it is one of those varieties that appears every 10 years and transforms the beer scene.

It is on the way and it is not long before you can taste it in the best Brazilian beers.

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