Bert’s Beer Baster Hop Concentrate

When Dave Selden of 33 Books hit us up with the pitch, we were skeptical—what’s the point of hops concentrate like this? He shot back with a few use cases—understanding what each individual hops variety tastes like by adding to a “neutral” beer, the “Midwest wedding” case where you’re stuck drinking beer you don’t want to drink and can add some interesting flavor to it, and (of course) the homebrewer case—adding hops flavor without all the vegetal matter that absorbs and robs you of precious homebrew or clogs your siphon. Curious, we tried the concentrates ourselves (for science, of course) and found that in practice, they’re every bit as useful as he advertises for beer drinkers looking to understand unique hops flavors or homebrewers looking to use similar advanced hops products for their beers that the pros use. The concentrates are intense, but the “bang for the buck” factor is high, and in practice they’re perfect for everyone from beer enthusiasts looking to articulate the flavor of individual hops to homebrewers who want to add that hops character without all the muss and fuss. —Jamie Bogner