TNS Hop Oils in the Brewhouse: Fulton Hop Water

Allow us to introduce Mike Salo, Vice President of Brewing Operations at Fulton Beer in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He’s here to talk a bit about using TNS Hop Oils to create Fulton Hop Water, a non-alcoholic hoppy sparkling water offering zero carbs, zero calories, and zero ABV. For fans of hop-forward beers searching for a buzz-free option, it’s refreshing, flavorful, and familiar.

Whether you’re brewing beer or beer alternatives, TNS Hop Oils can help you improve quality, yield, margins, and morale among the cellar crew. Wander over this way to explore the wide range of TNS Hop Oils available from BSG, or scroll on down for more from Mike at Fulton Beer.

BSG: Hey, we’d like to hear more about Fulton Hop Water please. How do you make it?

Mike at Fulton: We take filtered de-aerated water and dry-hop it with hop pellets. We then centrifuge it to remove the hop matter, dose with TNS hop oils, and carbonate. We like using the combination of pellets and oils on this product. The pellets give it the subtle green color (as well as flavor and aroma), and the hop oils elevate the flavor and aroma while keeping the perceived bitterness low.

BSG: Which TNS products are you using to complement your hop load?

Mike: We are currently using a blend of the HopBurst® (Citrulicious) and HopShot® (IPA) products.

BSG: What about these products was appealing to you initially?

Mike: When we were developing our non-beer hop-flavored beverages (Hop Water & Hopped Hard Seltzer), we found that the quantity of hop pellets we needed to add in order to achieve the desired flavor and aroma also contributed a higher perceived bitterness than we wanted. The TNS Hop Oils allowed us to achieve the flavor and aroma we were looking for while keeping the perceived bitterness in check.

BSG: Would you recommend TNS Hop Oils to other brewers?

Mike: Absolutely. They are high-quality products that are extremely easy to work with. Ease of use and flavor/aroma stability are the biggest benefits I see. It’s hard to compare the shelf life of a Hop Water or Hopped Hard Seltzer to a regular IPA, but with TNS Hop Oils we achieve pretty impressive shelf stability and aroma that holds up well beyond what we anticipated.

BSG: What else have you learned working with TNS Hop Oils?

Mike: Play around with blending multiple oils. Just like in brewing, we found different combinations of the oils to interact and highlight new flavors. If you’re not getting the flavor profile you’re looking for with a single oil, try blending.

BSG: That’s good advice coming from an experienced brewer. Thanks for joining us, Mike!