If you’ve spent any time poking around homebrew forums lately, you’ve probably noticed a new name popping up: Vera hops. With plenty of positive chatter and some notes about its flavor profile, I wanted to know more. So, I brewed up a SMASH (Single Malt And Single Hop) beer with Vera hops to see what this variety is all about. Check out this video and learn along with us.

It’s SMaSHing!

Let’s cut to the chase and lay out the recipe for those of you who want to follow along or tweak your next homebrew session. As always, we went with a one-gallon batch because it keeps costs down and lets us crank out more hop experiments for your reading (and drinking) pleasure.

Vera SMASH Beer – 1 Gallon

  • Grain: 2 lbs US 2-row malt

  • Water: 2 gallons (spring water from the store

  • Yeast: 3g US-05 American Ale

  • Hops: 28g Vera hops (alpha acids ~5.7%)

    Schedule:

    • 7g @ 60 minutes

    • 7g @ 15 minutes

    • 7g at flameout

    • 7g for dry hopping (24 hours)

  • Boil Time: 60 minutes

  • Fermentation: Ferment at room temperatures for 7 days, refrigerate for 1 day, dry hop for 1 day, then package

Tasting Notes

The first thing that hits on the aroma is a strong citrus note. Specifically, a dry lemon-lime essence, with maybe a touch of Juicy Fruit gum. Mike picked up some honeydew melon and the faintest hint of lemongrass, but nothing overwhelming. The aroma isn’t a punch in the face, more like a pleasant wave. Flavor-wise, you’ll notice that same lemon-lime leading the charge, plus a mellow, grassy, and herbal background that keeps things interesting. The bitterness is pretty tame.

Overall, Vera isn’t a showboat; it’s subtle, citrusy, and would play nicely in Mexican lagers, pale ales, or hazy IPAs. If you want to lift the citrus vibes in a New England IPA or tame some of those more aggressive hops, Vera could be the blend partner you didn’t know you needed.

BREW ON!