The Hop

If I was Zythophile, this heading would be your invitation to peruse a couple of thousand well-joined-up words on the place of the hop in brewing. Not over here, though...

Yer Man Peter Fowler at Pitstop Brewery has created a beer which is intended to brew out at 500 IBUs (International Bitterness Units). The piece is scarce on other beery details such as final ABV etc., but a sample has gone to Brewlab for testing and, if he gets beyond 200 IBUs, he'll be able to ask The Guinness Book Of Records to include it. I suppose if BrewDog can get in with Tactical Nuclear Penguin, then the whole of brewing will up for grabs with budding mad scientists looking for records to break.

However, will anybody actually be able to taste it? The second comment on the Oxford mail's site sums up the apparent pointlessness of this, so, answers please on an e-postcard telling me why in the name of Tiger Tim Peter Fowler would bother? I thought brewing as dick-waving was a by-product of the "hell, yeah!" US scene.