Experimentation has always been a driving force for breweries since craft became … craft. For Colorado’s New Terrain, the North Star Series is an example of how the brewery team’s curiosity can fuel creativity. Now on its 45th iteration, North Star latest release (V.45) continues the series’ mission of exploring the boundaries of hop innovation. This time with a tropical-forward Hazy IPA featuring El Dorado and HBC 1019.
Dave Johnson, head brewer at New Terrain, said the series was created in 2018, shortly after he joined the brewery, and it has remained a consistent platform for exploration.
“The series was introduced to our lineup as a way to embrace our brewery slogan by publicly experimenting with what at that period in time was a burgeoning style of beer in Colorado,” Johnson said. “We wanted to explore publicly so the consumer could be on the journey with us.”
That transparency remains at the core of how New Terrain presents each North Star release. Through Facebook posts and other communication, Johnson and his team take care to share the reasoning behind ingredient choices and process tweaks without overwhelming less technical fans.
“We do our best to find a balance in providing enough technical background about each iteration for those who have an interest while not getting too ‘in the weeds,’” he said. “Our main focus for promotion is to give the consumer a tangible reason for why this version is different from the others.”
With North Star V.45, the focal point lies in hop synergy, specifically the usage of El Dorado in multiple formats and the inclusion of HBC 1019.
“Our team has really enjoyed HyperBoost as a dry hop supplement,” Johnson said of the hop extract format. “We find that it helps make style-specific aromas really pop and has improved the longevity of the hop character in the package.
“In the case of NS. V45, we’re loving the tropical fruit on the nose that just washes over you when you put your mouth to the glass. It’s really refreshing.”
HBC 1019 presented a dynamic shift in flavor as the beer evolved.
“While sampling mid-fermentation, the beer was straight lime Skittles, finishing almost a little tart on the tongue with a hint of crème brûlée and coconut crème,” Johnson said. “After dry-hop and packaging, it has settled into this tropical fruit salad, with more of an orange zest citrus character. A really surprising evolution.”
That kind of shift is precisely what the North Star Series was built to highlight. Johnson pointed out that without the grounding influence of El Dorado, the hop character might have leaned further toward something like Motueka with a punch of key lime pie.
READ MORE: Mother Earth Drops New Project X Series Hazy IPA, Urban Solace
To frame the hop-forward nature of the beer, the base malt and fermentation profile were carefully tuned. Johnson explained that the grain bill leans heavily on protein- and dextrin-rich ingredients like naked malted oats, malted wheat, flaked oats, and chit malts to achieve a soft, velvety mouthfeel, while still finishing dry.
“We are a bit unique with our Hazy IPAs in that we still like them dry,” he said. “We let the hops and the pale malt lend the sweetness to the sip rather than leaving some sugar behind.”
The yeast selection also plays a pivotal role in tying the whole series together. Though the brewery originally leaned on a Conan-derived strain, Johnson said they now use a house ale yeast across both hazy and clear West Coast IPAs, manipulating temperature and timing to guide the profile.
“If you’re wondering, yes, we use the same yeast strain for our hazy IPAs and the majority of our clear West Coast IPAs,” he said. “It really comes down to the timing of hop additions and use of clarifying tools to make it what we want.”
With 45 versions of North Star now in the books and counting, Johnson indicated that New Terrain shows no signs of slowing its journey through hop innovation, which is an ethos that has made the series as much about education as it is about exploration.
Be the first to comment