The Chinook hop is a cross between the Petham Golding and USDA-selected male (#63012, if you want to be specific), and was first released from the breeding program in 1985. Primarily grown in the Yakima region of Washington state, this hop is primarily used for its high alpha acid content as a bittering hop. These are the most pine-like hops and can overwhelm other, less assertive, hops. They’re more common as bittering hops in big beers like barleywines. They have a spicy, piney aroma with aggressive spicy pine, spruce and citrus flavors. These days, however, late additions and even dry-hopping with Chinook is becoming more popular. This hop can contribute herbal, piney, and smoky aromatic qualities to a beer. Let’s sample five craft beers with Chinook as part of their recipe in our beer flight Craft Beer Crosscut 12.7.17: A Flight of Chinook.
Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale
6.8% ABV, 65 IBUs
Now that it’s wintertime, where do all the hops go? They’re currently hibernating in this yearly seasonal from California’s Sierra Nevada Brewery. In the midst of the many big and malty winter ales, Celebration Ale provides a comfortable winter home for the season’s displaced hops. A little darker than the average American IPA, this ale has a citrusy, piney and resinous hop character — thanks to a blend of Cascade, Centennial and Chinook — and a medium body.
Maritime Pacific Jolly Roger Christmas Ale
9% ABV, 50 IBUs
George and Jane Hancock founded the ma-and-pa Maritime Pacific Brewing Company in an old transmission shop in 1990 in Seattle’s Ballard neighborhood. In 1997 they opened the Jolly Roger Taproom named, as they say, “in honor of our most popular holiday brew”: Jolly Roger Christmas Ale. A beer fridge staple, Jolly Roger English Strong Ale combines rich malt character with a blend of fresh Northwest Chinook and Cascade hops.
Founders ReDANKulous
9.5% ABV, 90 IBU
With a RateBeer score of 99 and back-to-back medals at the Great American Beer Festival in 2015 and 2016 in the Imperial Red Ale category (gold and silver, respectively), Founders Brewing’s reDANKulous has proven it’s a beer that’s made its mark. The striking red hue and subtle sweetness of reDANKulous are courtesy of the Caramalt and roasted barley, but hops are the true headliner to drive sensory overload. Brewmaster Jeremy Kosmicki combines one of his favorite classic hops, Mosaic, with standout newer varieties, Chinook and Simcoe, to create the “dank” texture. The result is a complex balance between malty sweetness and tropical flavor-forward hops.
Drake’s The Denogginizer
9.75% ABV, 90 IBU
In January of 2004, Drake’s brewers sought to create a beer to turn some heads. They crafted a massive Imperial IPA with a full body, smooth malt backbone and an utterly irresponsible amount of pungent, dank, American hops. After three weeks in the tanks and one minor incident involving a pressure relief valve jettisoning across the cellar and nearly decapitating a brewer, a beer, and its name, were born. The Denogginizer Double IPA is a monster of a beer made with a colossal mash of malted barley and finished with an irresponsible amount of West Coast hops, including Warrior for bittering, Chinook and Exp. 07270 in the whirlpool and dry-hopped with Cascade, Centennial and Chinook. An epic tsunami of dank, chewy hops cuts like a guillotine through the warm embrace of velvety smooth sweetness.
Stone Arrogant Bastard Ale
7.2% ABV, 100 IBU
Stone Brewing‘s Arrogant Bastard is less-than-amber but more-than-pale IPA with a little “oomph” in the malt and hops department. The malt profile of Arrogant Bastard, while not overwhelming, definitely has a good backbone of caramel, rich, and somewhat raisin-bread type toasty flavors. It has more richness than your standard IPA. This malt body is balanced with a very aggressive-tasting hop treatment using the Chinook, giving it a West Coast citrusy bitterness, but also contains a more rich, herbal, and maybe even a bit of a “rough” pungent element.
