What Is Hop Water? How to Make Your Own
The popularity of hop water continues to spread overwhelmingly. People mostly use it for different health reasons. Hop water contains no alcohol, carbs, or calories, and it’s a refreshing beverage that many breweries produce these days.
Flavors of Hop Water
Hop water comes in four primary flavors: ginger, lime, grapefruit, and original. Here are some ingredients you can mix with the flavorings.
Original
Relish a bitter hop taste with tonic soda, vodka, or gin.
Lime
It offers a taste of lime (a bitter sprite taste), and you can mix with constituents like Kafka, bathtub gin, and reposado tequila.
Ginger
This variant has a tasty gingery flavor but doesn’t overpower. You can mix with rye whiskey, Caribbean rum, Hemingway, and straight Kentucky bourbon.
Grapefruit
You get to experience exciting grapefruit flavors with mild bitterness. Consider mixing with Hunter Thompson, mescaline, or vodka to vary your palate.
How to Make Hop Water
- Add some water to a brew kettle
- Boil it for 10 minutes
- Chill the water to 170 degrees Fahrenheit
- Add lemon juice to reduce pH level (to 4.6 or less)
- Add some hops (two grams per gallon) and leave it for about twenty minutes
- Cool it to serving temperature
- Carbonate
- Drink
Makers of Hop Water
In Petaluma, California, Lagunitas Brewing Company started making hop water because workers in the brewery were drinking beer and often got too exhausted to work. The brewmaster, Jeremy Marshall, decided to make non-alcoholic beers. However, the process of extracting alcohol requires a great deal of electricity and water. Besides, almost all non-alcoholic beers still contain up to 80 calories and aren’t gluten-free.
In making hop water, Marshall starts with clean, deaerated water (water that doesn’t contain oxygen anymore). The water is heated, and hops and yeast are added to enable biotransformation, which occurs when the appropriate quantity of brewer’s yeast is utilized to bring out and transform the flavor.
At first, only Lagunitas’s staff enjoyed the beverage, but they later served it to customers for free. After some time, Marshall began to charge customers some money for a pint. Kids would later start consuming the drink, leaving Marshall wondering why parents allowed their wards to have IPAs (India Pale Ales).
After speaking with some parents who bought the hop water, he resolved not to prevent them. He made the resolution because parents seemed satisfied with it, and the beverage was non-alcoholic. Afterward, his company started bottling hop water, with a unique pale green tint version.
Marshall states that Lagunitas was not the first to sell hop water in the market. The pioneers, H2OPS, cashed in on the concept. However, Lagunitas slightly tweaked its hop water flavor for a sweeter taste.
The Pioneers of Hop Water
In 2014, a craft beer enthusiast, proponent of healthy beverages and food, and an experienced homebrewer, Paul Tecker founded “H2OPS,” the pioneers of hop water. He believed that the excellent flavor of hops should not be used for craft beer only.
One day, he decided to research after perceiving some hops he grew in his compound. He experimented on several hop varieties and brewing techniques for some years, and then, eureka! Paul found a winning recipe that exhibited the intricate and elegant northwest hop flavors without giving a strong bitter taste.
He sampled his first hop water produce at craft beer events, and after getting feedback from customers who first tasted it, he realized that H2OPS was a turning point and social revitalizer for people who had stopped alcohol consumption. It’s also an excellent way to mellow (for craft beer lovers) or simply enjoy the tasteful hops flavor more often.
Origin of Hop Water
The hops plant, also known as Humulus lupulus, is a perennial plant belonging to the Cannabidaceae plant family. It’s a climbing vine that produces cone-shaped and scaly fruits known as hops, the source of the plant’s name. The botanical name of the hops (the fruit) is strobile. The fruit usually bears several glandular hairs on its surface. The hairs have a bitter principle (resinous), which makes them vital in herbal medicine production and brewing.
It is originally a European plant. Its large scale and extensive cultivation takes place in countries like Poland, Germany, Czech Republic, England, the United States, and Australia. The hops are usually harvested and collected in September, and a drying process follows.
Although the hops are mainly for manufacturing beer (for about 1,000 years now), its tonic and medicinal properties are also apparently used for traditional herbals.
Most people value hops for its preservative action and bitter taste. History has it that, some time ago in Europe, workers who plucked the fruit in the fields appeared to wear out quickly while working. After observing this sedative effect, people started using hops for medication, as it was associated with sedation.
Traditional herbalists used pillows stuffed with dried hops to treat sleeplessness and several other nervous issues in patients.
Constituents of Hops
Hops contain tannins, valerianic acid, bitter principle, flavonoids, volatile oil, and estrogenic substances.
How Hop Water Can Improve Your Wellbeing and Health
Hop water has beneficial effects on our general wellbeing and health. There are various ways to improve health with hop water. However, since each individual reacts differently to herbal solutions, we recommend that you consult with your doctor before ingesting hops. Here are some derivable benefits from using it:
Treats Ulcers
An uncomfortable digestive tract issue, an ulcer is known to cause so much stress and pain. It’s both unpleasant and painful. People try different ways to treat it, one of which is the use of hop water. Czech scientists discovered that hops contain some chemical combinations that utterly destroy ulcer-causing bacteria.
Soothes Inflamed Skin
Skin inflammation can come in several ways. There are numerous potential problems with this exposed part of the human body, from different food allergies that manifest on the skin to sun allergy. That’s where hop water comes in handy. It can eliminate the effects of inflamed skin because it contains a significant number of antioxidants.
Washing your hair with hop water also has beneficial effects on the head. The hops soothe both the follicles and scalp to improve your hair’s condition.
Maintains Oral Hygiene
We become more prone to oral infections as we grow older. This makes us go on more frequent visits to the dentists. Developing a daily hop water drinking routine is beneficial, as it contains antioxidants that prevent infections while offering you a high level of oral hygiene.
Eliminates Breathing Problems
There are seasons each year when a boatload of people have different breathing issues. Breathing difficulties, runny nose, and coughing are a few of the problems that people face in such a period. Hop water can eliminate such problems and help to avoid them. Also, a cup of tea that contains hops flowers each day can enable you to breathe more deeply.
Protects Mental Health
Many senior couples stay alone, so they need different kinds of support and care. Since their mental and physical health may be in danger, paying attention to these details of their wellbeing is essential.
Hop water contains a chemical substance, xanthohumol, which protects the brain from the effects of oxidants. Taking a prescribed amount (usually three dropperful thrice daily) can lower dementia risk and improve the brain’s condition.
Heals Headaches
Hop water can heal headaches. We previously pointed out that they have soothing effects on the body. Hops are great at relaxing the nerves. They don’t just ease tension in the nervous system, but they also relieve accumulated stress on your shoulders and back muscles.
Even when you’re not feeling a headache, you can benefit from the soothing effects of hop water after a stressful day and sleep better.
Relieves Digestive Issues
Many people suffer different digestive problems from diverse bacteria and constipation. You can use hop water to alleviate digestive issues and reduce the stress felt in that area. Hops provide a soothing effect that can relax your intestines and ease the tension in your stomach.
Side Effects/Cautions
There are no verified or known contraindications for using hops with most other medications. However, some reports state that a few individuals may suffer allergic skin rash after handling dried hops flowers, which may be as a result of pollen sensitivity.
We advise pregnant women to avoid using hops, especially in large doses, because it can produce anti-contractive effects when taken too much.
