Growing Hops in Tucson

Two Cascade Hop Vines Growing on the West Side of My House

Can hops grow well in a place like Tucson? That's what I'm trying to find out this summer, my second attempt at growing hops in this hot, dry, very sunny place.

Last year's attempt didn't fair so well, as I did a very poor job at watering my plants. Most of the hop rhizomes I planted didn't get more than 3 inches tall before they withered away.

This year I decided to be diligent with my watering and try again. I ordered two sets of two rhizomes, Cascades and Chinooks.

This year's attempt has so far been a smashing success. My rhizomes all sprouted and took off with a lot of attention and a lot of water to start. When growing anything in Arizona you have to make some adjustments to what is suggested for plant growth in other places. "Don't keep your rhizomes too wet", is all relative. It's very hard to keep something too wet in this weather, and over watering doesn't exactly exist here. Our soil can soak up a lot of stuff.

Also, hops are supposed to get full sun. In my case, I took a bet on full summer sun not quite being the best choice for any non-native plant to this region. Instead of planting the hops on the south side of my house, I placed two on the east side of the house, and two on the west side.

The Small Chinook Hop Vines, Shaded out by Sunflower Plants

The results? So far, so good. I had to build my hop trellises after about three weeks, and the vines are climbing. The east side hops, which receive less sun, but are also on a less steep trellis, are growing more slowly. These plants are also more crowded by other plants. The plants on the west side are growing fast, and may have already tapped a buried grey water chamber nearby.

I'll post more about these plants as they develop and I learn any helpful things about growing hops in the desert.

1st Annual Springfest Beer Festival

Some Beery Stickers From a Beery Good Festival

April 20th was the Arizona Craft Brewer's Association's Springfest Beer Festival at Rillito Downs in Tucson, Arizona. Over 30 breweries were represented, many of which were local Arizona Establishments. It was really great to see the new small breweries out there, with brewers on hand to answer questions and talk about anything and everything beer related. In fact, the knowledge of the people manning the tents was what made it stand out above the Sun Sounds Beer Fest that is held in October.

Some of the highlights for me were OHSO Nanobrewery, which had a beer bike and was serving their beer out of small wood casks. A lot of crazy stuff, including some Belgians and Sours. They were even running their imperial IPA through a Randell filled with Whole Cascade hops.

Fate Brewery from Scottsdale was by far the beer highlight of the day. These guys had 5 beers to try, including an Amber, Habanero Infused Pale, and Imperial IPA. They were all great. I might actually have to make a trip to Phoenix sometime to get some more of these folk's suds.

Right next to them was Cartel Coffee Lab from Phoenix (They have a store in Tucson as well). I talked to Cartel's owner, and he has been brewing beer in small One barrel batches and the stuff wasn't bad at all. He said he brews a batch almost every day right now! They also had a collaboration beer with Fate, which was a coffee infused pale ale. Just like the habanero, except with coffee instead of peppers. It was very good.

The Festival could have used some free food samples (there were food trucks selling their fare), and I should have worn a bigger hat to keep out the sun, but all in all it was a really great festival. Cheers!

Dragoon "The Uno" Russian Imperial Stout

Tucson's newest brewery, Dragoon Brewing Company, has already built a pretty stellar reputation in the four weeks they have been open. The Dragoon IPA and Stronghold Session Ale are very solid beers. Being a hop head myself I've already had quite a few pints of the Dragoon IPA both at the brewery and establishments around town.

Being June 1st, it seemed odd that Dragoon decided to release a Russian Imperial Stout for their first special release. I have to say I wasn't particularly excited about it until they put out the release notes online. Brewed with rye for some spiciness along with a large and dark grain bill and Magnum and Delta hops, this is a 10.4% AVB beer that tops off at 92 IBUs. That's more hop bitterness than their IPA!

But that's just the information on the website. How did this beer turn out? Well, I now understand why they wanted "The Uno" to be Dragoon's first special release beer even though it's June. The beer, served in a 10oz (?) tulip glass, is pitch black and thick with a moderate caramel color head. As you drink the beer you can see the thickness of it as the caramel color slowly drips back to the bottom of the glass.

The Uno has a very smooth mouth feel, not but like a milk stout, more just like a well balanced beer. This is what makes it such an interesting beer though. The rye and the hops make for a very active palate with chocolate and some mildly spicy flavors mixing. The back of your mouth is assaulted by the hop bitterness, but isn't that overpowering (but I'm a hophead so, who knows). Even so, the beer is very smooth to drink. There are a lot of stouts that take a lot of effort to drink down, but this one slides right down the throat, even on a hot day. I think that the rye and the hops help to mask any strong alcohol flavor. If it wasn't such a dark, thick beer you would never know that the alcohol content was 10.4%.

So if you're in Tucson and haven't been to Dragoon yet, check it out! They are open Thursday through Saturday afternoon and this stout is only an 8 barrel release, which is relatively small, so get out soon!

Homebrewin' : Extract Belgian IPA

This One Is Mine: Darker but only 6%ABV

Last year everyone went nuts over Black IPAs. This year I started seeing a lot of Belgian IPAs. I love IPAs. I don't particularly enjoy Belgians. But ever since trying the Cali-Belgique from Stone and the Le Freak by Green Flash I've been obsessed with this style of beer. New Belgium's Belgo is also a great beer in this style. It's a really simple formula to making a really unique beer style. Take an American IPA and use Belgian yeast instead of American ale yeast. Done and done.

I wanted to try my hand at making one of these brews, maybe trying to make the beer a tad darker and a tad more herbal in flavor than the super hoppy Le Freak. I just used a base malt of Briess Pale Dry Extract but steeped Crystal 60 and some Belgian Row Two Pale malt to get a darker amber look. Chinook, Centennial, Amarillo, Cascade, and Simcoe hops made for a pretty floral west coast hop bill.

The key here is the yeast. I used White Labs WLP575, which is a Belgian blend yeast that is supposed to be a slightly more spicy and herbal strain. It really did the trick too, working well with the Crystal 60 caramel tones working in contrast with the hops. It creates an herby sweet and bitter combination that is unique and tasty.

So if you haven't tried a Belgian IPA, try one out. Belgo by New Belgium is easy to find and a good example of the style that is very American and not too extremely Belgian or West Coast Bitter IPA. It's a good change of pace for an IPA drinker who can't seem to break out of a rut.


Here's my Recipe! I can't wait to do an all grain version soon.