Single Hop Imperial IPA with El Dorado: On Shelves Now
El Dorado. The Golden One. The ultimate prize legions spend their lives seeking.
In honor of our first Single Hop Imperial IPA of 2013, we're lifting the shield of mystery off of El Dorado, a little-known hop and star of our first release:
The El Dorado hop was first bred between 20 and 25 years ago by a USDA research program for eventual use by Anheuser-Busch. Once mature, A-B played with it for a few years and eventually dropped the variety.
A sole grower in Moxee Valley, a northern district of the famed Yakima Valley, kept the variety in the ground over the years and in 2010, harvested a mere 1.5 acres.
That same year, during hop selection at the Great American Beer Festival, our brewmaster Matt Brophy was introduced to El Dorado and immediately drawn to its pungent dried fruit (think apricot and pineapple) aroma.
Bold enough to stand on its own in our Single Hop Imperial IPA, those fruit aromas and flavors shine through, along with a fresh-cut grass crispness and clean, dry finish. We first featured El Dorado last year and are stoked to have it back -- and available on draft and in 6-packs now.