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Articles by Shana Solarte
Growing Stronger Hops: How Resilient Varieties Can Protect Brewing’s Future
Climate change has the potential to reshape agricultural systems around the world, and hop production is no exception. Brewers need hops that can accomplish two goals at once: deliver compelling flavor and brewhouse performance while remaining reliable under growing pressure from drought, disease, and unpredictable weather. One of the most promising solutions lies in the development and adoption of resilient hop varieties.
Unlocking Reliability With New Hop Solutions for Every Brewer
“Inside the New Science of Hop Quality” explored how hop selection has evolved from instinct to data-driven precision. Here we look at what happens next—because selection alone can’t close the year-over-year gaps that every brewer faces. No matter how skilled the panel or how perfect the harvest, sensory drift happens. Climate variability, crop stress, and process nuances can all nudge a hop’s aromatic fingerprint in unexpected directions over time.
Inside the New Science of Hop Quality
Historically, the phrase “high quality” in hop selection has been shorthand for a few specific, albeit superficial, factors: in-spec alpha-acid levels, low seed counts, and vibrantly green hop cones, among others. A hop that smells great in the field or the belief that it’s “supposed to be a cool variety” are often cited as markers of quality.
Tasting and Making Thiols
When comparing the Pony Pils vs. Thiolized Pony Pils at CBC in Nashville, we didn’t see a dramatic difference in the “liking score” from one to the other. For both samples most tasters scored their degree of enjoyment somewhere in the middle, though we saw more polarizing results with the Thiolized sample. The number of tasters that increased their liking score was higher (see shift from score of 5 – 7 to 6 – 8), but also a smaller number of tasters lowered their liking score (1 – 2).
My Road to Cicerone®: Michael Agnew of A Perfect Pint
Michael Agnew is a Certified Cicerone® from Minneapolis, Minnesota. Here he shares his experience with launching a beer-focused business and how passing the exam has aided his beer industry career. Where do you work and what do you do there? I am the owner of a consulting/education company called A Perfect Pint. I lead private and corporate beer tasting events, teach classes at area cooking schools and the University of Minnesota, lead foodservice staff trainings, and consult on beer lists.
My Road to Cicerone®: Lucy Burningham, author of My Beer Year
Lucy Burningham is a Certified Cicerone®from Portland, Oregon. Here she shares a bit about her journey to Cicerone certification and how it influenced her new book, My Beer Year. How did you first hear of the Cicerone Certification Program? I started hearing about Cicerone in 2009, while I was interviewing people for various beer stories I was writing. I was immediately intrigued by the idea that beer knowledge could be quantified by an exam of any kind.
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