Hop Varieties – Cryo Pop in Brew York’s Survivor Series

The Survivor Series Tasting at Bigfoot Festival

Yakima Chief hops are developing and creating new hop varieties all the time.  Have you seen any beers labelled with HBC 692 or TRI2304CR?  Those are hops that are in development and haven’t got a commercial name yet.  It can take 10 years of development before a hop gets a commercial name!  The latest of these hop varieties is Cryo Pop (formerly TRI 2304CR) and Brew York have used it in a series of beers they have named the Survivor Series.  While I was at Bigfoot Festival, I was lucky enough to take part in a tutored beer tasting of these beers and hear all about Cryo Pop, what it is and why it is so special.

What is Cryo Pop and what are Cryo hops as hop varieties?

If you like your hoppy beers, you may have seen brewers using Cryo versions of the more popular American hop varieties (think Simcoe, Mosaic, Citra, you know the ones!).  This is a process developed by Yakima Chief Hops, based in the Pacific Northwest of America, where the hop cones are cryogenically frozen with liquid nitrogen.  The lupulin glands are removed from the leaves, which have been debittered by the nitrogen, leaving the concentrated bittering and oil containing part of the hop ready for use.  This allows for a higher concentration of flavours and aromas to be added to the beers that use cryo hops.  As the resulting pellets contain no vegetal matter, they suck up less beer and add less astringency.  You can make one killer NEIPA with these bad boys!

Cryo Pop is the next stage of this process.  Yakima Chief labs have been investigating the survivable compounds in hops.  In the brewing process, hops are added at a variety of stages and the flavours and aromas that are in the final beer ‘survived’ the process.  By looking at the survivable compounds that are soluble in beer, Yakima have produced Cryo Pop to add a ‘pop’ of flavour and aroma to the beers that use it.

Brew York’s Survivor Series - showcasing hop varieties

At the tasting we were lucky enough to also hear from Jason from Yakima Chief who helped explain the process and how Cryo Pop can be used in different ways.

Cryo Pop can be used in a single hopped beer to really showcase it’s tropical, stone fruit and citrus aromas and flavours.  It can also be used in conjunction with other hops as a blend amplifier to help elevate the aromas and flavours of other hop varieties.  It can also be used to bring on biotransformation.  This is when components in the wort create the correct conditions for the yeast to metabolise hop derived compounds producing maximum aroma expression.  Cryo Pop can be added in the whirlpool or during active fermentation to help make this happen.

We tasted all 4 of the Survivor Series beers and I found how Cryo Pop appeared in each beer very interesting.  Here are my thoughts on the beers.

Big Poppa Pump – single hopped with Cryo Hop

Hazed orange with a white creamy head; all the beers in this series used the same malt bill and yeast for consistency.  On its own, the Cryo Pop produced coconut, banana and grapefruit aromas for me.  The beer was lightly carbonated, with a light bitterness that I enjoyed.  The banana and coconut followed through in the taste.

Sweet Chinook Music – Cryo Pop with Chinook

Chinook is usually used for its bittering properties but when used as a later additional adds herbal, piney and grapefruit notes – all those characteristics you expect from a classic American hop.  In this brew, paired with the Cryo Pop I got a marmalade aroma, some spice and light tropical notes.  I got coconut from the Cryo Pop and pineapple came through more with this combination.  In the flavour, citrus was more present with a light vegetal bitterness coming from the Chinook and those coconut and pineapple notes continuing from the Cryo Pop.  I liked this less than the single hopped beer, but the Cryo Pop did its job in elevating the Chinook.

Scotty Too Hoppy – Cryo Pop with Idaho 7

Another hop used for its bittering properties, Idaho 7 imparts black tea, tropical fruits and pine bitterness.  This was my least favourite of the beers but I’m not a fan of Idaho 7 generally – I sometimes get onion from the aroma!  Luckily, I think the Cryo Pop tamed this element and in combination I got tropical fruits, black tea spice, grapefruit and pineapple.  Hoppy beer lovers with rejoice over this one!

The Thundertaker – Cryo Pop with Talus

I love Talus!  Another new hop freshly named and on the scene, it gives herbal sage notes along with its tropical fruits, citrus and pink grapefruit character.  I got the sage right away in the aroma along with coconut and pineapple enhanced by the Cryo Pop.  There was some pink grapefruit in the back.  A herbal bitterness rounded this beer out tasting of sage, pineapple, pine grapefruit and very light coconut.  This was my favourite beer of the series – Shawn Michaels is my fave wrestler, but I’ll let the Undertaker have this one!

The beer series is available from Brew York now, give them a go and see what you think of this innovative and interesting hop variety!  Tried them already – let me know your favourite in the comments!