The New IPA: Scientific Guide to Hop Aroma and Flavor
I’m excited to announce that for the last year I’ve been researching and writing a scientifically-driven book specific to brewing hoppy beers, with a working title of “The New IPA: Scientific Guide to Hop Aroma and Flavor.” After spending the first half of 2017 reading through all of the academic research I could get my hands on, I’ve determined there is enough material (augmented by my practical experiments) for such a targeted aspect of brewing to fill the pages of a book. The project will be in the same format as many of my blog posts, and a small portion of the text will include information I’ve already written about (with some updates). The rest of the book, however, will be new content that has been extremely hard for me not to write about on the blog!
I’ve been sitting on this post for a few weeks, timid to hit the publish button. Likely because the size of the project is overwhelming and committing to it is scary (although exciting at the same time). It doesn’t help that as the ambition of projects and goals increase, so too can self-doubt. While commuting to work last week listening to a podcast, a few words found me at the right time. The guest of the show essentially said that when you don’t let others know about your plans and goals, you are betting against yourself from the start.
I don’t know if the above quote is true or not, but I do know that I care about producing a book that brewers will enjoy reading and find informative. To do this, I need the help of brewers willing to let me know what issues they are the most curious about. I care about writing about timely and relevant issues that new brewing practices and ingredients have introduced. To do this, I need the help of researchers with appropriate equipment to help test these areas that don’t yet have sufficient data. I also need the public awareness of the project to increase the accountability and pressure on me to get to work and stay on track! All of the above requires making the project known, and if this also means I’m betting on its success from the outset, then I’m all for it!
If anybody has the experience, equipment, and interest to help advance the science in some of the understudied areas, I would be thrilled to talk to you further, particular the ability to test hop compounds and thiols. Likewise, if your hop-focused brewery keeps advanced data or does experiments to enhance hop character, I would love to present commercial experience (and recipes) to accompany the research. If your brewery will be at GABF this year and you have interest in talking to me about your experience for the project during the festival, please let me know!
Below is the Draft Table of Contents for the book, which I’m sure will see some revisions as I progress. If there are any topics you would like to see researched or if there are any particular hop-related question that you have always been curious about, please feel free to contact me or leave a comment on this post. The book, after all, is one I want brewers to be interested in reading!
Despite having multiple blog post ideas and experiments in mind, I’m going to switch my focus and time to writing for the book and not the blog. So, if you are interested in staying up-to-date on the status, feel free to follow me on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. I don’t have a target date set yet for the release of the book (I still need to convince a publisher there is an appetite for this type of book). My goal is to finish the bulk of the research and writing by the end of the year and preferably before Sapwood Cellars opens (lease negotiations pending).
Thank you to everyone who has been reading my blog posts and giving me honest feedback, encouragement, and inspiration. It’s my hope this book will be a continuation of the same type of researched-based approach to brewing that both homebrewers and professional brewers can benefit!
Time to get to work!
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I’m very excited for you Scott. I have little doubt that the book will be exciting and a great read. Consider me one of your first pre-orders.
Good luck on the adventure.
Already excited to read it!
In for one.
Wonderful news! Love your blog and can’t wait to read the book. Keep up the good work!
Yeah!
Me too! I’m very excited!!!
I can’t wait!
Can’t wait to read it.
I’m currently at the YCH hops school, and while the seminars have been great, this is the info I have been looking for. In particular I’m interested in why certain hops (thinking particularly the new German varieties) require double or triple the amount to achieve the typical intensity of “standard” hops, and even then they fade quickly. This seems to have no correlation to total oil content. Hopefully your research can shed a little light.
This sounds amazing! Can’t wait to read.
FYI if you need a cowriter or a research assistant I’ve been meaning to do something along these lines about hops for a long time. (Home brewer, craft beer bar owner, and teacher here) Hit me up – fortnightpvd at gmail dot com
Otherwise, good luck!
Looks great, I’ll order a copy for sure.
Already looking forward to reading it. Good luck with the writingproces.
Don’t you have a brewery to open, instead of wasting time on research and books?!? 😉
This is an awesome project and I’ll definitely be ordering a copy.
A topic that I don’t see explicitly covered, but may be part of another chapter, is the impact of filtering (and why not, finnings) on hop perception/aroma/etc.
That’s a good topic to add, thanks!
Congrats, Scott! Can’t wait to get a copy. And, of course, have you sign it 🙂
Awesome Scott… can’t wait to order and read a copy!!! Good luck on the journey!
Hi Scott; Congratulations! I have been reading your blog with great interest in brewing hoppy beers, particularly the NEIPA’s. I have very much appreciated and enjoyed your research, tests and findings. Thanks for all that you are doing and I will absolutely purchase your book!
I will buy the instant it hits the market.
Also, just self publish/distribute through amazon kindle.
Really excited about the upcoming book! Can’t wait to read that.
This is awesome. Congratulations. I am anxiously awaiting my first copy.
Sweet! This should make for a really great and useful read.
I hope you’ll be able to find a good publisher (that also has connections to the EU market, haha), that’s willing to put in some hard work on getting a awesome book out of this.
To my knowledge, there are no (like, in literally no) books available that covers hops from primarily this new(er), more heavily-saturated hop aroma and flavor angle. And as much as I enjoy spending time reading all kinds of stuff from various sources in relation to this subject (and then scribbling my own notes along the way, while browser bookmarks add up to the hundreds…), then one single book covering a great deal of it, would be amazing to have at hand, when sitting and wondering about recipes.
Hey, congrats on taking on such a task! I’m sure it will be a good read. I’m excited to read that subsection about green onion flavor, because, man, I’d love to be able to figure out why some commercial beers really pull that trigger on me
Holly f***ing hop! This is exacly the kind of bibliography professional brewers and homebrewers need! Already anxious to read it.
sooooooo. is it released yet?
Hi Scott,
Really looking forward to read your book, how long will you keep us waiting?
Also, how will I get one to Sweden?
I’m working on it now and hope to have it done by early summer! It will be available on Amazon.
I suspect that there is a threshold level of alcohol below which hop flavor cannot be “sufficiently” developed. Bitterness–yes. Aroma–yes. Flavor–no. Commercial comparison suggests that this is about 6.5-7%. Is there any data to support this idea?
Is there a release date for this yet ?