Today is the final day to submit your research to be considered for inclusion in the 2009 MBAA Convention program. What are you waiting for? Your research is an important part of the convention. Please take advantage of this opportunity. Please review the Call for Papers Guidelines as you are preparing your abstract.

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Are you a supplier to the brewing, malting, or allied industries? Then the members of MBAA want to hear from you! Reach this targeted market by exhibiting or securing a sponsorship at the MBAA Convention or advertising in The MBAA Communicator or the Convention Program Book. For more information, contact Debby Woodard at mailto:dwoodard@scisoc.org or +1.651.994.3817.

"The Influence of Hop Harvest Date on Hop Aroma in Dry-Hopped Beers," by Benjamin Bailey, Christina Schönberger, Georg Drexler, Andreas Gahr, Rebecca Newman, Moritz Pöschl, and Eberhard Geiger, has been published in the MBAA Technical Quarterly.

Abstract
The aim of this work was to investigate the influence of hop harvest date on the sensory properties of a dry-hopped lager. The selected harvest dates encompassed a period of 24 days, from a very early (date 1) to a very late (date 5) harvesting date. Analysis of the hop samples confirmed an increase in hop oil and a-acids over the harvest season. On average, the a-acids contents of hop samples from date 5 were 28% higher than those from date 1. The hop oil contents of hops harvested on date 5 were on average 30% higher than those harvested on date 1. This increase over the harvest season is not only of importance for brewing and dry hopping but is also an economic factor for breweries. Not only were the late-harvested hops rated better in aroma quality, the beers brewed from them were also rated better when late-harvested hops were used. Profiling of the beers showed that some hop characters developed with later harvest dates, while other characters decreased with later harvest dates. The beers containing hops harvested at later dates were also rated better when using a modified version of the DLG tasting scheme, which did not focus on hop characters but on the fulfillment of general beer parameters, including aroma, taste, body, and bitterness. Triangle tests of the beers revealed that not only the harvest date was a significant influence on sensory distinguishability but also the crop location. This was proven for all four crop locations, although the distance among the locations was only 1.2–24 km. These findings reveal the sensitivity of dry-hopped beers, as many of the characteristics of the raw hops used were transferred to the finished beers.

Keywords: dry-hopping, hop harvest date, hops, sensory evaluation

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MBAA District Texas held its annual Spring Meeting in Waco, TX, March 20–22. The event was hosted by Owens-Illinois (OI) of Waco and featured technical presentations related to glass manufacture, glass-breakage analysis, and box-making technology. Read More...

Reason 8

Make it a one-stop sales trip. Meet all of your suppliers and seal some deals over five days in Barbados! For more information, visit the District Caribbean website.

The next MBAA District St. Louis meeting will be held Thursday, April 16, 2009, at the Schlafly Tap Room and sponsored by Experitec. Brennan Greene from Schlafly will be speaking on "Why Is Craft Beer So Popular." The Schlafly Tap Room is located at 2100 Locust Street. The reception will begin at 5:00 p.m. For the latest up-to-date District information, visit http://www.mbaastl.com. Our April meeting will be a combined session with the ASBC Local Section.

—Ron Jansen
District Publicity Chair

MBAA District St. Paul-Minneapolis will be hosting its long-running annual golf tournament on June 22 at Highland National Golf Course in St. Paul, MN. As always, the legendary traveling trophy will be awarded to a deserving participant. Tee times are limited this year, so reserve your space early be contacting Kenny Gunderman at mailto:kegunderman@summitbrewing.com.

The MBAA Communicator Editor
James M. Lonetti
1953 Berkeley Ave
St. Paul, MN 55105
Phone: +1.651.690.1723
E-mail: jiminstpaul@yahoo.com

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"Many battles have been fought and won by soldiers nourished on beer."

–Frederick the Great