"Andy Hunt" wrote in message ...
An overwhelming deluge of good advice on beer making! I am most grateful to
all (and sundry, of course!)

Goldings hop sounds interesting - especially if it is (at least partially)
responsible for Theakston's Old Peculier. Would I be correct in thinking
that it is a golden colour, when it's on the vine? That might look very
attractive . . .

(excuse the intrusion from a brewer, with greenhands only from
weighing hops :~)

no, goldings have ordinary dark-green leaves & pale-green cones (still
pleasant IMO & excellent English aroma hop); I think the decorative
ones someone mentioned above have golden leaves, but I would be a bit
suspicious of their taste/aroma in beer.

snip

And if hops ARE related to cannabis (thanks Kay!), that would explain the
"smoked ale" they were serving at the Trackside over Christmas. Made from
smoked hops - absolutely delicious! ;-)

I've also read that hops & dope (& nettles?) are all related.

I would guess that the smoked beer had smoked malt rather than hops,
but could be wrong - it's a German speciality (Bamberg, Franconia)
which to me tastes a cross between brown ale & smoked bacon, but oddly
quite nice despite that. (there's a tale of how you shouldn't make up
your mind whether you like it or not, until you've drunk about 6
litres)

Only joking. But our conversations DO seem to have moved onto gardening in
general, and it's the same 'home grown' spirit which has inspired him to
suggest brewing, I think. So I think it may have to be a 'joint' effort . .
. ;-)

there are a few homebrewers & european commercial brewers who've made
*dopey* brews, the commercial ones use THC-free varieties, but still
have that powerful marijuana-taste & smell (hemp lager, cannabia, etc)
cheers
MikeMcG