A short distance from brewhouse to bong.
I was just heading out on the tail today when I spotted this graceful arch of hops climbing up a spent cattail. The literature tells me that common hops, or humulus lupulus, is a ‘confused’ species with many variants distinguished by, among other things, the density of glands on the lower leaf surface.
All species have a fruiting body which turns into a fancy papery cone that dangles like a pendant from the coiling vine, each petal on the cone loaded with glands (25 or more per square cm). The glands contain the resins that give beer its distinctive flavor. They also contain terpenes. More glands, more terpenes.
Guess where else you find terpenes? Cannabis. That’s because cannabis and hops are closely related and belong to a single genealogical family. It’s not really all that surprising when you think about it.
Use your eyes. Both have splayed 5-fingered leaves with deeply veined, serrated edges. Both produce a small green resinous flower with a stipular petal-like structure around a central axis—the 'sticky icky'.
Use your nose. The unmistakable aroma from cannabis is often described as citrusy, skunky, or earthy—the same terms are just as often associated with the hoppy double IPA at your local taproom.
"Concerning the hop, it is warm and dry, and has a moderate moisture, and is not very useful in benefiting man, because it makes melancholy grow in man and makes the soul of man sad, and weighs down his inner organs.”
Hildegard Von Bingen
Whether you like to get your terpenes from beer or cannabis – or neither – you can always amuse yourself just by saying the name humulus lupulus out loud several times really fast. Go ahead, give it a try!
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