Welcome to Drinks Tube
My name is Ben and my name is Tom and we are the Thinking Drinkers
and our message, our motto, our mantra is to drink less but drink better!
and we're here today to talk to you about one of beers most important ingredients...
Here are our Hop Ten Facts...
Much like an oyster, hops have been used as an aphrodisiac for men
but they cure insomnia for women
which is a bit inconvenient if you think about it
Not content with tulips, clogs, windmills and naughty window shopping
the Dutch were the first people to bring hops to the UK back in the 15th century
before then there's no evidence of hops being used in British brewery
Eating hops can be highly toxic to some breeds of dogs
greyhounds and golden retrievers are especially susceptible
Dogs, stay away from hops!
Hops are healthy for chicken's digestive systems as they keep harmful bacteria from entering into their intestines
Chickens, eat hops if you want or don't, it's up to you!
You've got free rage!
Hops have male and female flowers but brewers, much like Kanye West
are only interested in the valumscious female ones
and hops keeps all our bitter resins and aromatic oils in lupulin
a lovely yellow powder found deep within the petals of the hop cone
Before they were first used in brewery back in the 9th century, hops were used to cure all manner of ailments
and of course...
Hops give beer its aroma, its bitterness and crucially it helps prevent beer from going stale
Without hops beer would not be as tasty after a couple of weeks
hops are added at the beginning of the process for bitterness
and towards the end of the brewing process to add aroma
As well as acting as a preservative and giving beer its bitterness and its aroma
hops are wonderful for keeping a lovely big head on beer
which might be why Henry VIII who wasn't a fan of keeping heads
decided to ban hops beer in his royal court
Now head is a good thing, it keeps oxygen out and the carbon dioxide in
which means your beer will stay fresher for longer
and if you dip your finger into the head and take a good taste, you will taste the hop bitterness
and if you have it in a beautiful glass like this wine glass here
it will funnel all the great hop aromas up into your nose
but don't drink like this in the pub, or you will rightly get your head kicked in
Hops come from the same botanical family as cannabis
but remember kids, drugs are for mugs. We say hugs not drugs
The first person to write about the preservative powers of hops and brewing was a nun, 12th century
her name was Hildegard of Bingen, she was also the first person to write about the female orgasm
Sisters, doing it for themselves
There are hundreds of different hop varieties that brewers can choose from
each hop giving the beer a different flavour characteristic and a different level of bitterness
They grow all around the world
Yea you've got your Dutch hops, your German hops, you've got your British hops
you've got these Slovenian hops, you got your french hops
got your Yugoslavian hops, even though that's not a country anymore
you've got your Slovakian hops, you've got your...
... New South Wales, not that you need a new South Wales
you've got your South Wales hops...
So those were our hop ten facts, don't forget to subscribe to the Drinks Tube channel
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Cheers!