Friday: Get hoppy at Philly Beer School (and win tix to a future class!)

Photo | Michael T. Regan

This Friday, July 2, at 7 :30 p.m., the Philly Beer School (a relatively new branch of Philadelphia Wine School at 20th and Fairmount) is offering an exclusive class covering everything you need to know about super-hoppy beers. Collin Flatt, local foodie and beer connoisseur, is heading up the session. "The first hoppy beers were German pilsners," Flatt says of the origins of the big, bitter, often high-alcohol beers that have spread in popularity in the U.S. "Originally, it was a German beer law that you needed to use a certain amount of hops. Hops are used as a balance for the sweetness — but now they are [also] used for flavor." Super-hoppy beer varieties like India Pale Ale, now standard fare for craft breweries, has origins in extended ocean voyages, where heavy hopping was required to preserve the beer. ("It seems like IPA is that first gateway [hoppy] beer into trying other crazy things," says Flatt.) During this class (tix available here), students can pick up much more than just a cursory history of hops. In addition to covering how hop-centric German and English brews made their way to America, they'll talk about East vs. West Coast hops and the difference between the wet and dry hopping processes. Of course, there'll be samples aplenty on hand for tutored tasting. âWe will have Exit 4 from Flying Fish, West Coast hoppy IPAs [and] local ones as well, hoppy pilsners, Belgians, crazy hoppy versions of traditional new world IPAs, and styles that don't usually use hops," says Flatt. By the end of the class, students should be able to identify fruity elements and floral end notes through the up-front hoppy flavors of these beers. Philly Beer School will be holding beer-centric classes all summer long; future sessions will center around topics like Belgian beers and home-brewing. The PBS folks also want to offer a chance at two free tickets for a future class to all you Meal Ticket readers. Want 'em? Write one sentence about why you should win and email it to drew.lazor@citypaper.net. Good luck!

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Founded in October 2008, Meal Ticket is a City Paper blog about food, drink and assorted other things that make you go mmm. We do recipes, interviews, restaurant news, commentary and much more. We don't do restaurant reviews here — those are handled in print, mostly by our critic (and Meal Ticket contributor) Adam Erace. Got a tip, question, thought or concern? Just want to say hello? Please shoot a note to drew.lazor@citypaper.net.

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