Beer Soluble Hop Compounds: Translating Raw Hop Aroma to Finished Beer Aroma

The problem of translating raw hop aroma to finished beer aroma has been a brewing pinch point for years. Utilizing cutting-edge lab and sensory analysis, Yakima Chief Hops is working to bridge the gap. Join Josh Wurzbacher and Ashleigh Hayden as they help unlock the science behind beer solubility and offer practical advice to help brewers translate maximum aroma from raw hop to finished product. A three-stage sensory experience will be part of the training, starting with training on the isolated reference standards for the survivable compounds, followed by a hop rub to identify these compounds in raw hop form, and concluding with a beer sensory training that shows how these compounds translate into the finished beer.

Learning Objectives

• A description of the research conducted and its culmination into a graph of survivable (beer soluble) compounds by variety
• Guided sensory analysis of isolated compound reference standards
• Methods for using beer soluble hop compound research to design efficient recipes
• Targeted expression blends and how they manifest in beers

About the Speakers

Ashleigh Hayden is the Eastern field marketing manager for Yakima Chief Hops (YCH). After years of homebrewing, she decided to make beer her career. She has spent the last decade working in brewing and quality roles across the Midwest. She is most proud of her Weyermann overalls. At YCH, she helps organize regional events, industry innovation studies, and collaborations with brewery partners. Collaborating with brewers on projects bigger than beer reinvigorates her passion for this increasingly inclusive industry. Ashleigh is an active member of the Chicago Pink Boots chapter and enjoys spending her birthday brewing with Pink Boots members each year.

Joshua Wurzbacher is the regional sales manager for the Mid-Atlantic and a member of the technical solutions team for Yakima Chief Hops. Josh has lived in Philadelphia for 12 years. He has eight years of experience brewing in Philadelphia for Yards Brewing Co., where he specialized in barrel aging and filtration. Now his focus is bringing the world’s best hops to the world’s best brewers and helping brewers design efficient hop-forward beers.

Steve Thompson is the Yakima Chief Manager serving the Central, United States. Based in Madison, Wisconsin, Steve works with craft breweries in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan, Iowa, Nebraska, North and South Dakota. Steve started his professional career in the microbiology field, focusing on food and consumer product safety. A call to brewing led Steve to a position at Dogfish Head Brewing in Milton, Delaware. Steve supervised the quality laboratory at Dogfish Head for five years, focusing on the maintenance of craft beer quality during the entire brewing and packaging process. Following this time of immense learning at Dogfish Head, Steve was the Director of Brewing Operations at Barrio Brewing in Tucson, Arizona. After five years of managing the brewing and packaging at this smaller scale craft brewery, Steve joined the Yakima Chief team in January of 2018. Steve’s favorite style of beer is pilsner and has a passion for brewing beer at home.