For many people, the craft beer movement isn’t just about choosing delicious, flavourful beer over insipid macro lagers — it’s about supporting local businesses, too. Instead of spending their hard-earned money on foreign-owned beer that’s made on the other side of the continent and spends months in warehouses and trucks, consumers are increasingly choosing to support their local craft brewery instead. That means local jobs, fresher beer and good times for all.
When it comes to buying local, beer doesn’t get more local than Field House Brewing’s Farmland series. In addition to giving us Jake Virtanen, Castle Fun Park and that god-awful smell, Abbotsford is one of the most productive farming areas in the province (that god-awful smell is fertilizer, after all). Field House grows many of the ingredients itself at its own farm, and partners with neighbouring farms to source the ingredients it can’t grow.
The latest beer in the series, Hazy Field IPA, is proof that B.C. brewers don’t need to rely on Yakima hops or German malts to brew exceptional beer — the ingredients are right here at home!
While the base of the beer is B.C.-grown malted barley, Field House added raw barley grown on its own Abbotsford farm to the grain bill, as well as some home grown coriander. Meanwhile, the Centennial, Cashmere and Comet hops used in the beer were grown at the Bredenhof Hop Farms just down the road.
The fruit-forward hop notes include flavours of citrus, tropical fruit and stone fruit, with enough hop bitterness on the back end to dry out the finish, avoiding the sickly sweetness too many hazy IPAs suffer from. The raw barley adds a lovely grainy, cereal character, while the coriander adds a touch of spice.
Intensely flavourful and utterly delicious, this fruit salad of a beer is a love letter to the Fraser Valley and makes a strong case for terroir in beer.
Farmland Hazy Field IPA by Field House Brewing Co.
7.0 per cent ABV • 30 IBU • 650 mL bottles
Appearance: Translucent gold with a massive, pillowy white head.
Aroma: Tropical fruit, citrus, apricot, cereal.
Flavour: Intensely fruity, citrus, passion fruit, apricot, peach, melon, tropical; grainy, cereal malt character; moderate hop bitterness.
Body/Finish: Soft, juicy, medium bodied with an off-dry finish.
Pairs with: Coconut curry, tacos al pastor, long commutes, rubber boots and cut-off jeans.
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