The last few weeks have been dominated by IPAs for myself, and fresh hop season is starting to take off. Today also marks the start of the annual Hop-Fest at Brouwer’s at 11am, and it seems like the perfect time to post a little poem that I wrote a couple of years ago about my favorite beer ingredient. First of all, yes, I know I have serious issues. Who writes poems about hops? Well, I do I guess.

Hops, Oh Wonderful Hops!

Hops, hops, oh wonderful hops
For you, my passion is true.
You flavor my beer
And at least once a year
I grind you up in a brew.

Your oils are essential
Your qualities diverse.
But, drink too much nectar
And my stomach might burst.

Hops are the gem
And the barkeepers friend
For keeping me stuck on that stool.
Cause if I order a beer
And the aroma is clear
With no citrus or spice to declare.
I’ll throw it right back
On the bartender’s lap
Then I’ll get myself out of that chair.

Cascade! Chinook! Amarillo!
These are my favorite cheers.
For without these friends
I’d rather have the bends.
My life would surely be moot
Things just wouldn’t compute!

Not all might agree
But they will after three
Of my favorite hop bombs and brews
So go get some beer
There are some good ones I hear!
Just make sure that the hops do come through.

Also, here is the current beer lineup for Brouwer’s Hop-Fest:

7 Seas Ballz Deep Double, Allagash Hughe Malone, Amnesia Copacetic, Anacortes, Avery Maharaja June Batch, Avery Maharaja March Batch, Big Al, Big Time Dry-Hopped Ave Rat, Black Raven Trickster, Boundary Bay Imperial, Breakaway Dry Hopped, Bridgeport Hopczar, Diamond Knot, Dicks Bottleworks, Dogfish Head 120min, Dogfish Head 60min, Dogfish Head 90min, Dogfish Head India Brown Ale Brewed w/Maple Syrup, Elliot Bay, Elysian Hubris, Firestone Doublejack, Fish 10 squared, Flyers Mach 4, Fremont, Full Sail Wet Hop Lupulin, Gilligan Dry Hopped, Grand Teton Double, Great Divide 15th Anniversary, Hair of the Dog Blue Dot, Hales
Aftermath, Hales Dry Hopped Supergoose CASK, Hopworks Ace of Spades Imperial, Iron Horse Super Dry Hopped, Lagunitas Hop Stoopid, Laughing Dog Alpha Dog, Lazyboy Dry Hopped, Mad River Double, Maritime Tripple Dry Hoppd Lager, Ninkasi
Dry Hopped Tricerahops CASK, Pike Seattle Beer Week Double, Port Brewing Hop 15, Port Brewing Panzer Imperial Pils, Port Brewing Wipeout, Port Townsend Imperial Hop Diggity, Ram ZZ Hop, Russian River IPA 100, Russian River Pliny the elder, Schneider Hopfenweiss, Schooner Exact Dry Hopped 3-grid CASK, Scuttlebut Dry Hopped, Sierra Nevada Chico Estate, Silver City, Indianola/Whoopass Dry hopped on oak, Skagit River Doubler Hopped, Snoqualmie Dry Hopped Wildcat, Southern Tier Oak Aged Unearthly, Speakeasy Rum Runner Rye, Speakeasy Midnight Run IBA, Stone 13th Anniversary Ale, Stone Double Dry Hopped CASK, Three Skulls Dry Hopped IPA, Urthel Hop it, Victory Hop Wallop, Walkingman Homo Erectus

Thanks to sequoianorcal on Flickr for the photo link.