Spotlight on Lórien
More and more brewers are discovering the magic that our New World lager hop, Lórien, imparts in beer.
Check out the drool-inducing lineup below…
COLLAB SPOTLIGHT
Present Time, Contemporary American-Style Pils
“Lórien came onto our radar because of the success of the Indie breeding program (we have been amazingly impressed with Strata) but also because we wanted to honor a lot of the tradition that goes into the Bierstadt beers,” states Phil Joyce, Co-Founder of Amalgam Brewing & brewer at Bierstadt Lagerhaus in Denver.
“On paper, Lórien has a noble breeding pedigree and brewing metrics very similar to the noble hops that are used to make the beers produced by Bierstadt. As imported land race noble varieties continue to drop in alpha, their sustainability and longevity has to come into question from both a brewer and a grower’s perspective. It’s inspiring that something new can be birthed out of tradition and provide a new twist on a classic.”
“Simply put: Lórien is amazing and we couldn’t be happier with the results.”
BREWER SPOTLIGHT
Adam Ceislak
Adam Ceislak, Founding Brewer & CEO of Maplewood Brewery & Distillery in Chicago transitioned their flagship Pulaski Pils into Lórien a few years ago when he found out the hop he was using would no longer be available. “We used Santiam hops as the cornerstone of our Pulaski Pils for the longest time, and while we were a bit bummed to hear that it was on its way out, we were super excited for Lórien to come to the party.
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BREWER SPOTLIGHT
Gareth Moore
We caught up with Gareth Moore, head brewer at UK-based DEYA Brewing, to get his take on low ABV and how he has utilized our new hop Lórien to deliver full flavor in an extremely crushable 2.8% table beer called Shadows of Conversation.
“In the UK, we’ve always had the tradition of family breweries making everyday beer that people drink for hydration and refreshment,” states Moore. “Before American pale ales and IPAs were on the scene in the UK, 5% was considered a strong beer to the average person in the pub. Having a 6% beer, my dad and his generation would consider that crazy strong!”
“We love Lórien because it seamlessly combines some of the traditional European lager aromas into the more modern American hops aromas.”
BEER SPOTLIGHT
Douglas Lager
“We decided to use Lórien in a new bottled American Lager project because we believe there’s some room for innovation in that style of beer and there are no better or more passionate and skilled innovators than the team at Indie Hops. For decades, the American Lager formula has been to use nameless, bland commodity malt with a chunk of rice or corn thrown in and a high alpha, flavorless bittering hop used to balance the sweet malt/adjunct combination,” state John Marti, Head Brewer at Douglas Lager.
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BREWER SPOTLIGHT
Landon Swanson
“At Pueblo Vida we like to call ourselves an R&D brewery. We have the freedom to make something new every time we brew. This freedom allows us to try new things in our process to continuously improve our products every day.”
Given this exploratory bent and desert location, testing out IH033—the code for Lórien when it was still an experimental hop — was the perfect fit for Landon Swanson, Head Brewer at Pueblo Vida Brewing Company. Swanson first brewed with the hop in 2020 and created a dry-hopped pilsner named Willa. According to Hop Culture Magazine, Swanson hit the mark on Willa—naming it one of their favorite summertime beers of 2020.