KALAMAZOO - If you’ve visited the Eccentric Café or checked the tap camrecently, you may have noticed an odd name on the big board above the bar.

Beside more familiar names like Two Hearted Ale, Amber Ale and Kalamazoo Stout was something more formal – EXP Hop 2011-1. This experimental beer was just the beginning of a series of brews that will only be available at our pub in downtown Kalamazoo.

This experimental hop series will continue with six additional beers, each brewed using a different type of hop and released over the next few months. The overall goal is to explore the aromatic qualities of each and assess their potential for future brewing.

“This is a series of beers where we are actually working hand in hand with hop growers. Just like brewers, hop growers are also looking to expand the flavor profiles available to craft beer drinkers and we are very fortunate to have this kind of unique access,” said Andy Farrell, one of Bell’s brewers working on the project.

The series started with a newly developed hop now named Zythos, which is in its first year of commercial use. The rest of the series will feature hop varietals coming straight from the growers’ trial plots; these have yet to been formally named and are still designated with numbers. They are very limited both in quantity and availability, arriving as single bales or even mini-bales (photo at right).

While a few of the beers in this series have been brewed, most are still in the planning stages. Rather than brewing multiple variations of a basic pale ale, this project will match each hop to a different style aimed to showcase the varietal’s range & versatility. Below is a brief rundown of which hops we will be using in this series, along with aroma descriptions from our bale assessments to get you acquainted.

We’re tremendously excited about this opportunity to work with hop growers from the Pacific Northwest in evaluating these new varietals, and we think you’ll enjoy this window into the future of American hops. Look for more information about each here on our blog and on our social media sites (Facebook, Twitter and Google+) as we go forward.

The hops used in this series:

EXP Hop 2011-1: Zythos  – Citrusy, with a bright grapefruit note and apricot & pine aromas in the background

EXP Hop 2011-2: Type 366 – Tropical fruit notes and piney, reminiscent of Simcoe hops 

EXP Hop 2011-3: Type 509 – Floral, with an interesting herbal note 

EXP Hop 2012-1: Type 423 – Very pungent fruity & floral aroma, with pine as a secondary note

EXP Hop 2012-2: Type 556 – Intense floral character with fruity undertones 

EXP Hop 2012-3: Type 998-13-1 – Distinctive lemon notes

EXP Hop 2012-4: Type 291 – Citrus & pine notes, very pungent

To see if any if any of these beers are currently on tap at the Cafe, take a look at our Draft Cam.