A very blasphemous question...

Because I have yet to brew (I'm trying to do a Red Ale from a kit tomorrow), I feel I can still ask this question and not be kicked off the forums.....

What does a beer taste like without adding ANY hops?

I'm sure some newbie has done it before and is able to tell me before my curiosity gets the better of me. I was thinking if most "popular" beers have very mild flavors (the "Light" beers) somone would try to get rid of the flavor all together

Thanks! **Raises flame shield***

Well it's not going to taste "right". The beer will not have balance and is certainly not going to taste like you would expect beer to taste. Even beers with very low hop rates like BMC, wits and certain other styles would be a lot less drinkable without the hops. It's not a coincidence that since hops came into use in beers, replacing a variety of other botanicals many hundreds of years ago, it took the equivalent of a blink of an eye for them to become a part of almost every beer on the planet.

I've just had a phase of using very low hops. Very malty beer. It would not be what you would expect from a beer, but you could like it. In my case, not for long though!

Nothing blasphemous about your question, there's a decent contingent of people into just such a thing. Google "gruit".

Gruit is a beer made without hops. I have had one a few months ago. Was interesting.
This is the one I had http://www.canadianbeernews.com/2011/01/15/beaus-bog-father-coming-next-week/

Ckarsanac said:

Because I have yet to brew (I'm trying to do a Red Ale from a kit tomorrow), I feel I can still ask this question and not be kicked off the forums.....

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You didn't read paragraph 215, section 11, sub section 44B did you?
:fro:

>>What does a beer taste like without adding ANY hops?

In all seriousness, if you have some extra materials, you can make a tiny brew, such as in a 2 liter starter jar. Add some yeast to 4 ounces of DME, and let it sit in the beaker on a stir plate, or in a jar for a week, and then try it.
It will taste different, and sweeter. Imagine what people from 2,000 years ago drank.


No one will flame you for this question.

Excellent question, I often wondered what a good malty brew would be like without hops.

Never had it before but I don't think it would be something I'd turn my nose up over.

If you feel like freelancing, there are other bittering ingredients out there that you could substitute hops for if you want that balance in your flavor with something other than hops.

Might make a good Passover beer for Easter if you find the right mix.

I haven't thought of this, you could try drinking some of a yeast starter. It'll be green but it should tell you what a pure malt beer would taste like.

And no, no flames for this. Good question.

Mountain Town Brewery in Michigan made a beer without hops that I tried at a beer tasting, it was alright. It was sweet, tasted like malt.

Right, beer decanted from a starter isn't that bad, uncarbonated and all.

What about all hops and no malt.... whoof?!

Ckarsanac said:

Because I have yet to brew (I'm trying to do a Red Ale from a kit tomorrow), I feel I can still ask this question and not be kicked off the forums.....

What does a beer taste like without adding ANY hops?

I'm sure some newbie has done it before and is able to tell me before my curiosity gets the better of me. I was thinking if most "popular" beers have very mild flavors (the "Light" beers) somone would try to get rid of the flavor all together

Thanks! **Raises flame shield***

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beer without hops? blasphemy!!!!!!!!!!!!! seriously, if you like a very malty drink (see mikes hard lemonade as an example), you might like it. not quite the same, but not too far. gruits are made with herbs instead of hops

A hoples beer will taste like what you assume satan's anus would taste like if you licked it before he wiped, but after he ate a dozen coney islands that had been left in a hot car for 10 hours.

The thing you probably haven't thought of is that the most important thing that hops do is act as a preservative to keep beer from souring. Without hops, beer turns oftly fast....tasting the beer above your starter should give you an idea, especially in summer.

The whole history of the IPA is about the preservative effects of hops, and coming up with beer that could travel via ships to the English colonies in India without going bad....

Beer that is brewed on purpose without hops are usally called gruits, and they are meant to be consumed really young, and are for the most part slightly sour.....Even BMC beers which have very little hop presence in terms of flavor and aroma have hops in it...You just can't really detect them. But you really need hops in your beer.

jwplessner said:

Right, beer decanted from a starter isn't that bad, uncarbonated and all.

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You ever tasted it when it's been at room temp in summer for a week with no airconditioning? You won't find it that pleasant if you've been building up a starter for a week in the summer. That's why some folks add a hop pellet or two during the boil.

lumpher said:

if you like a very malty drink (see mikes hard lemonade as an example)

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I'm going to have to disagree here. Mikes Hard or any other "malt beverage" of the same genre I wouldn't say are a good definition of a traditional "malty" beer. They generally use an 'unflavored' malt base and add the strong flavoring to resemble fruit, soda, punch etc.

McMenamins Ruby ale is entirely hopless, all malt with just a hint of raspberries, and its not too bad, although the mild acidity from the fruit sort of takes up the job of the hops.
Hopless beer can be good, but I doubt that it would be easy to make well.

The only thing that comes to mind is....

SaltyTX said:

The only thing that comes to mind is....

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Schlitz is actually a pretty decent example of a pre 1980's brewery consolidation/post prohibition pilsner, now that they've re-realesd the original 1970's recipe. It's pretty tasty. It's nice to see some of the mega breweries reawaking their older lines following in the footsteps of PBR...Stroh's has also been back for a couple of years in their original recipe. It prolly is a good example of a lightly hopped beer.