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Legendary Home Brewer Bids Farewell With A New Craft Beer Using Smithsonian Hops

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Dubbed “The Father of Home Brewing,” veteran brewer Charlie Papazian was honored when he received a special shipment this year from horticulturists at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington.

The shipment contained 10 sealed plastic bags filled with partly dried Cascade hops grown in the Victory Garden at the National Museum of American History.

Papazian decided to use the hops and some of his own to brew a beer he called Smithsonian Porter and finished the beer a few weeks ago. It was styled after Narragansett Porter, a beer he remembers from the first Great American Beer Festival in Colorado in 1982.

Charlie Papazian/Brewers Association

The Narragansett and Ballantine breweries were then owned by Falstaff Brewing, and Falstaff sent cans of porter to the festival. The cans were filled, Papazian says, with a very different porter than the one the brewer was selling in New England.

The porter at the festival “was dry hopped with Cascade hops,” recalls Papazian, who co-founded the American Homebrewers Association in Boulder, Colorado, in 1978. “It was very brilliant with hop character, a unique and first of its kind. I loved it. I had recently harvested my own Cascade hops and thought this was a perfect time to recreate the character of this beer.”

Papazian, who lives today in Boulder County, says he used “a bit of wild hops” from his property to make the Smithsonian Porter, and they may have had a historic past, too. 

“These hops may have washed down from the gold mines in the mountains to the west,” he says.

The Cascade hops sent to Papazian by the horticulturists were planted five years ago in the Smithsonian’s Victory Garden, a must-visit place for many home brewers. Other plants in the garden that are used for beer include coriander, hot peppers, anise hyssop, roselle hibiscus and jasmine.

Plants for other alcoholic beverages can also be found in the Smithsonian’s gardens: agave (tequila), sugar cane (rum), corn (bourbon), rye (whiskey) and potatoes (vodka).

Papazian visited the Victory Garden earlier this year during a family trip. While looking at the long hop stems called bines, he mentioned to Smithsonian horticulturalists Joe Brunetti and Brett McNish that “it would be cool to brew with these.” A few months later — in late September — they sent the hops to him.

He began brewing with the hops on Oct. 2 and kegged a five-gallon batch of the porter home brew on Nov. 18. It was served Dec. 10 at the National Museum of American History during a “Hoppy Holiday” reception for home brewers, professional craft brewers and Smithsonian staff.

"History is all about storytelling, and this beer tells many stories of people and places past and present," Papazian says. "Besides being historic and American, the beer is well-balanced and appeals to all kinds of beer drinkers. It is a lighter-bodied porter than most English styles. It’s aged (lagered). It has some corn to elevate hop character. Need I say more?"

Next month, Papazian will leave the Brewers Association, a trade group of small and independent craft brewers that was formed in 2005 by a merger of brewer associations founded by Papazian and others. Papazian, who also served as a past president of the Brewers Association, will depart on Jan. 23, his 70th birthday.

The nonprofit association, which represents more than 4,800 brewers, says Papazian “inspired millions to pick up the hobby of home brewing.” His catchphrase, cited in his first book, The Complete Joy of Home Brewing, was “Relax. Don’t worry. Have a home brew.”

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