https://www.wsetglobal.com/knowledge-centre/blog Tue, 26 May 2026 04:25:45 Tue, 26 May 2026 04:25:45 From ruby and tawny to vintage and white styles, Port is one of the world’s most historic and distinctive fortified wines. But how did this wine from northern Portugal become so closely tied to British drinking culture and what makes the different styles taste the way they do?  In this guide, award-winning drinks writer Henry Jeffreys explores the history of Port, how it is made and the key styles to know, from everyday ruby Port to long-aged vintage expressions.    Port is a fortified wine from northern Portugal. It owes its existence to Britain's fractious relationship with its neighbour, France. Since the 12th century, wine in England had come from Bordeaux. But when William III and Mary came to the throne in 1688 in the so-called Glorious Revolution, it ushered in a period of on-and-off conflict that would continue until the defeat of Napoleon in 1815.  Wine shipped from France became subject to high taxation. By 1698, duty on French wine was £47 a cask when the wine itself cost only £12. A new source of affordable wine had to be found, so England turned to its oldest ally, Portugal. Merchants began shipping wine from Porto in the north of the country. This arrangement was cemented with the signing of the Methuen Treaty in 1703, which set the duty on Portuguese wine at a third of that on French wine.  The only problem was that customers back home didn't much like the thin red wine made around the city. There was even a poem from 1693 by Richard Ames titled Anything but Port. To find something more to English tastes, intrepid merchants headed up the river into the Douro valley, where summers were far hotter.  The Douro region, Portugal   Pioneering merchants included Job Bearsley from London, who founded a firm in 1692 that would become Taylor's. The robust up-country wine was much more to English tastes. Merchants bought wine from growers and shipped it down the treacherous rapids of the Douro river to Vila Nova de Gaia, across the river from Porto. Their warehouses, known as lodges, are still there to this day. Here they would fortify the finished wine with brandy and ship it off to England. The aim was to help it travel better but customers also liked a strong wine. At this stage, most port would have been dry. George Robinson, in his 1754 book Port, complained of a grower who "is in the habit of checking fermentation of the wines too soon, by putting brandy into them while still fermenting; a practice which must be considered DIABOLICAL."  In the mid-18th century, the mainly British merchants fell out with the Portuguese growers. Both parties accused the other of adulterating the wine with elderberries or wine from outside the region. The merchants refused to buy, so the growers enlisted the help of the Prime Minister of Portugal, Sebastião José de Carvalho e Melo, later the Marquess of Pombal. In 1756, he formed the Companhia Geral da Agricultura e Vinhos do Alto Douro, which would buy all the wine, set the price, and sell it on to the shippers. Crucially, Pombal also demarcated the boundaries of the port region.  Port became immensely popular in Georgian England. The wine would be shipped over in cask and then bottled. Port lovers discovered that the fiery, strong liquid did something magical after years in the bottle, and so developed the cult of drinking long-aged wines. In the 1820 vintage the grapes became so ripe and full of sugar that they could not ferment fully. The resulting sweet wines were a sensation. To replicate the style, producers began adding brandy sooner to arrest fermentation. But not everyone approved. One merchant, Joseph James Forrester, wrote a paper in 1844 complaining that port had become a "nauseous, fiery compound of sweets, colours and alcohol." Forrester is one of the giants of port: he mapped the Douro river, and catalogued the different grape varieties. Eventually, however, the sweet style won out.  Port was popular with all sections of society in Victorian Britain: there was vintage port for the rich and cheap ruby port, often drunk with lemonade in pubs. By the mid-19th century, around 90 per cent of the wine drunk in Britain was either port or sherry.  But hard times were coming. In the 1870s, the phylloxera louse arrived in the Douro and destroyed the vineyards. The region replanted and recovered, only to be hit by the great disasters of the 20th century: the two World Wars and the Depression. From 1928 to 1970, Portugal was ruled by the authoritarian dictator António de Oliveira Salazar, and the country became a backwater. The industry saw some great vintages, such as the legendary 1963, but it proved hard to make money, and many old family firms sold up.  Portugal joining the EEC in 1986 brought an end the restrictive practices that had plagued the industry. In 1991, producers were allowed to buy aguardente (brandy) on the open market rather than from the state monopoly. Despite consolidation, many old family companies survived such as the Symington group, which owns Graham's among others, and Taylor, Fladgate and Yeatman.  Changing tastes in the 20th century favoured lighter wines. In the 1990s and 2000s, many vineyards were turned over to table wine production as the market for cheaper ports declined. According to shippers, however, the market for more premium styles is holding up.  As one of the world's hottest wine regions, the changing climate poses a particular challenge in the Douro. Producers are seeking out higher-altitude vineyards and researching more heat-resistant grape varieties. To help address this, Taylor's founded the Porto Protocol, an organisation dedicated to finding solutions to these problems.    How Port Is Made  Port is made from very ripe black grapes such as Touriga Nacional and Touriga Franca. Dozens of varieties are permitted. Small amounts of port are also made from white grapes. The grapes are crushed, sometimes by foot, to extract as much tannin and colour as possible. After two or three days when about half the sugar has turned to alcohol, grape brandy called aguardente is added, which kills the yeast and leaves a sweet wine of around 20% alcohol. Depending on the quality, this wine will be used in ruby, tawny, or vintage port (see definitions below).   Port styles explained  Ruby: The most basic style, usually aged in large wooden vats for two or three years before bottling.  Late Bottled Vintage (LBV): From a single year, but aged for up to six years in wood, so it is ready to drink once bottled. Some are bottled unfiltered and can age surprisingly well.  Vintage Port: Only in exceptional years does a producer "declare" a vintage. It comes from the top vineyards and is bottled after just two years of ageing. In the past, vintage ports required at least 20 years in bottle, but they are now accessible much younger. They should be decanted, as they throw a sediment.  Single Quinta Port: In years not good enough for a full vintage declaration, producers release a wine under a single estate label. These offer exceptional value and mature more quickly.  Tawny Port: Aged longer in barrel with oxygen contact until the wine loses its red colour and takes on a nutty, amber quality. Usually sold with average-age statements such as 10, 20, or 40 years old. Vintage tawnies are known as colheitas.  White Port: Made with white grapes, this increasingly popular style can be bottled young and fresh to preserve fruit flavours, or aged to bring out more savoury, nutty character. It is particularly good with tonic water.    How to Drink Port  Port is an extremely versatile wine that shouldn't be kept only for Stilton on Christmas Day. Tawnies in particular are great with all kinds of cheeses, charcuterie, and puddings, while young vintage styles have a great affinity with chocolate.  Image by Cheese at Leadenhall Port, especially white port, makes a superb cocktail ingredient.      About the author  Henry Jeffreys is an award-winning drinks writer based in London. He is a regular contributor to publications including the Spectator, Daily Telegraph, Decanter, JancisRobinson.com and Club Oenologique and has appeared on BBC Radio 4 and BBC Two. He is the author of several books including Empire of Booze, The Home Bar and Vines in a Cold Climate, which won Drink Book of the Year at the 2023 Fortnum & Mason Awards. In 2024, he launched the Intoxicating History podcast with Tom Parker Bowles.   https://www.wsetglobal.com/knowledge-centre/blog/2026/the-history-of-port https://www.wsetglobal.com/knowledge-centre/blog/2026/the-history-of-port Tue, 26 May 2026 04:25:45 Beer foam is often misunderstood, seen by some drinkers as little more than decoration or wasted beer. Yet from a brewing and sensory perspective, foam plays a fundamental role in how beer looks, smells and tastes. In this article, brewer, beer judge and Budvar Global Brand Ambassador Radim Zvánovec explores the science, tradition and service techniques behind great beer foam, from the proteins and hop compounds that stabilise it to the Czech pouring culture that treats foam as an essential part of the drinking experience itself.    Many consumers still see foam as something undesirable, maybe a trick to serve less beer for the same price. In many parts of the world, a beer with a thick, creamy head is still met with the familiar reaction: “Too much foam.” Or “Can you add Flake in it!?” Yet from a brewing and sensory perspective, the exact opposite is true. Good foam is one of the clearest indicators of beer quality.  A stable foam head reflects proper carbonation, clean glassware, healthy foam-positive proteins from malt, well-balanced brewing processes and correct pouring technique. It is not merely decoration sitting on top of the beer, but an integral part of the drinking experience itself. Foam influences aroma release, mouthfeel, flavour perception and even protects the beer from rapid oxidation during consumption.  “A beer without foam is like espresso without crema.”  Just as crema defines the texture, aroma and visual identity of espresso, foam plays a crucial role in how beer is perceived and enjoyed. In some beer cultures, particularly in the Czech Republic, foam is treated almost ceremonially, as a symbol of freshness, craftsmanship and respect for the beer itself.  Understanding beer foam means understanding beer quality. From raw materials and brewing science to dispense systems, glassware and pouring technique, foam represents the point where chemistry, physics and hospitality meet in a single glass.   The science behind beer foam  Beer foam is a complex colloidal structure formed primarily by foam-positive malt proteins, isomerised alpha acids from hops and polysaccharides, which together create a stabilising matrix around CO₂ bubbles. In practical terms, these compounds help trap gas within the beer and keep the foam dense, stable and creamy rather than thin and short-lived.  Stable foam is characterised by small, uniform bubbles, good elasticity and the ability to resist collapse over time. This is commonly measured using the NIBEM Foam Stability Test, which evaluates how long it takes for the foam head to collapse by a defined distance under controlled conditions. During the analysis, beer is poured in a standardised way and an electronic sensor monitors the decrease in foam height over time.  For drinkers, this science has a direct impact on the experience of the beer itself. Stable foam helps preserve aromas, softens carbonation and creates a smoother, creamier texture on the palate. A beer with poor foam stability can quickly feel flat, sharp or lifeless.  From a research perspective, specific hydrophobic proteins (such as LTP1) play a key role by binding at the gas-liquid interface and stabilising individual bubbles. In simple terms, these proteins gather around the bubbles and help stop the foam collapsing too quickly.  Isomerised alpha acids from hops interact with these proteins and strengthen the foam structure, while polysaccharides increase beer viscosity and slow foam breakdown. Together, these compounds help create the creamy, lasting foam associated with high-quality lager and well-poured draught beer. Minerals also play an important role, particularly metal ions such as calcium (Ca²⁺) and magnesium (Mg²⁺), which support the stability of the protein network.  The greatest negative impact on foam comes from lipids (fatty substances), detergent residues, ethanol content, yeast proteinase activity or improperly cleaned glassware. These factors disrupt the stabilising layer around the bubbles and lead to rapid foam collapse. Even tiny traces of grease or detergent can dramatically affect how foam behaves in the glass.  Foam is the result of a balance between beer composition, brewing technology and service quality. Any disruption to this balance is immediately reflected in foam stability and the overall sensory experience.    Wet foam vs dry foam  Not all beer foam is the same. Foam structure, texture and moisture content have a major impact on the drinking experience, flavour perception and overall beer quality.  Wet foam  Wet foam is dense, creamy, smooth and highly drinkable. The bubbles are very fine and tightly packed, creating a silky texture that integrates naturally with the beer. This type of foam is typical of properly poured Czech lager, especially when using side-pull Lukr taps.  Wet foam softens carbonation sharpness, enhances mouthfeel, protects aroma compounds and creates a smoother sensory experience. In practical terms, this means the beer can feel rounder, creamier and less aggressively fizzy, even when highly carbonated.  Because wet foam contains more liquid within its structure, it feels almost like a beer pillow rather than acting as a dry cap sitting on top of the beer.  Dry foam  Dry foam is lighter, airier and composed of larger, less stable bubbles. It often forms when beer is poured too aggressively, when carbonation is excessive or when the dispense system is not properly balanced. Dry foam tends to collapse more quickly and provides less protection for aroma and carbonation stability.  In sensory terms, dry foam can feel coarse, sharp, bitter and disconnected from the beer itself. Instead of contributing positively to texture and flavour balance, it may create a harsher drinking experience.    Why Czechs are so obsessed with foamy lagers  To many visitors, Czech beer culture can seem unusual at first glance. A freshly poured lager often arrives with a thick, creamy foam head that would be considered “too much foam” in many other countries. But in the Czech Republic, foam is not seen as wasted space. It is considered an essential part of the beer.  Czech lager is brewed specifically to support rich, stable and creamy foam. Soft water, decoction brewing, long cold maturation, Saaz hops and traditional lager yeast all contribute to foam stability and texture. The beer is therefore designed not only to taste good but also to pour beautifully.  Equally important is the Czech approach to beer service. In Czech pubs, pouring beer is traditionally viewed as a craft rather than simply filling a glass. Bartenders are trained to control flow, foam density, carbonation release and texture using side-pull Lukr taps and specific pouring techniques. The goal is to create “wet foam”.  “Foam is not the enemy of beer. Foam is part of the beer.” Images provided by Budweiser Budvar   Glassware: the overlooked quality factor  Glassware is one of the most underestimated factors in draught beer quality. The condition of the glass directly affects CO₂ release, foam stability and aroma perception. Microscopic scratches or contamination can lead to excessive bubbling and unstable foam.  Good cleaning is essential. Residual detergent, grease, lipstick or fats quickly destroy foam by disrupting the protein structure responsible for foam stability. Even tiny traces of grease from food or fingerprints can affect how foam behaves in the glass.  Both hand washing and professional glass washers can be effective if properly maintained and thoroughly rinsed.  Glass temperature also matters. Chilled glasses can benefit foam stability, but frozen glasses are not recommended, as ice crystals promote over-foaming and suppress aroma expression.   Don’t fear the foam!  Next time you are served a pint of lager, or any other style of beer, take a moment to appreciate the foam as something beautiful and essential to the experience. Because great beer deserves great foam.    About the author  Radim Zvánovec is Global Brand Ambassador at Budweiser Budvar, as well as a brewer and international beer judge. Originally from České Budějovice (Budweis) in the Czech Republic, he grew up surrounded by one of the world’s most celebrated beer cultures.  After many years working in hospitality, Radim developed a deeper appreciation for the craftsmanship behind beer, discovering that its apparent simplicity hides remarkable precision and care. This curiosity led him into brewing, beer education and sensory analysis.  https://www.wsetglobal.com/knowledge-centre/blog/2026/why-foam-matters-in-beer https://www.wsetglobal.com/knowledge-centre/blog/2026/why-foam-matters-in-beer Fri, 22 May 2026 14:06:37 Why does the same drink sometimes taste completely different from one day to the next?  It might seem like the wine, beer or spirit has changed but more often, it’s your senses. Subtle shifts in your palate, your environment or even your level of hydration can affect how clearly you perceive aromas, flavours and texture.  Tasting is central to any WSET qualification, but it’s also a skill that improves with awareness and preparation. By creating the right conditions for your senses, you give yourself the best chance of experiencing a drink as it truly is.  Here’s how to prepare your palate for more accurate, confident tasting.    Key considerations for preparing your palate  Ensure you have a clean, neutral palate  Before tasting, your palate should be as neutral as possible. Strong or lingering flavours can mask more delicate characteristics and distort balance.  Before tasting, you should avoid:  strongly flavoured foods  toothpaste or mouthwash  coffee, cigarettes or chewing gum  In short, if it sticks around, it’s not helping.  If needed, a small piece of plain bread can help remove lingering flavours. The goal isn’t to eliminate sensation entirely, but to avoid competing flavours that distract from the drink itself.  This is especially important when tasting subtle styles - such as lighter wines, delicate sakes or elegant spirits - where nuance matters.  You should also have a spittoon at the ready. Tasting five wines is very different from drinking five wines and alcohol itself can quickly start to alter your perception.    Ensure you remain hydrated  Did you know that hydration has a direct impact on your senses, particularly smell?  When you’re dehydrated, your nasal aroma receptors can become dry and less sensitive, making it harder to detect aromas and flavours. So it’s key to stay hydrated before and during, with sips of water throughout your tasting session.  During tastings, dehydration can happen quickly - especially when spitting, as you will be losing saliva each time. It adds up more than you might expect.  Alcohol itself is also dehydrating. When tasting spirits and sake in particular, alcohol vapours can further dry the nose, gradually reducing your ability to perceive aroma over time.    Remove all strong smells  When tasting your space should be free of strong odours like cleaning products, air fresheners, food or tobacco as these can impact your ability to accurately identify aromas and flavours.  It’s not just the room, either. Strongly scented products like perfume or aftershave can follow you into the glass and compete with what you’re trying to assess.  In short, if you can smell it before you start, it’s likely to get in the way once you do.      How your senses shape what you taste  When we talk about “palate”, we’re really talking about several senses working together. Understanding their roles helps you interpret what you’re experiencing more clearly.    Sight: useful, but potentially misleading  Sight is the least helpful sense when tasting many alcoholic drinks - particularly spirits - but it still plays a role.   We naturally rely on visual cues, and the brain quickly forms expectations based on colour and appearance. A deeper colour might suggest richness or sweetness, while a pale tone might signal something lighter or fresher. These assumptions can subtly shape how we perceive aroma, taste and texture before we’ve even taken a sip.    Smell: aroma and flavour  Smell is the most important sense in tasting.  Aroma refers to sensations detected when you sniff the glass.  Flavour refers to sensations detected by smell when the drink is in your mouth.  In both cases, these sensations are caused by aroma compounds detected by receptors in the nasal cavity. The tongue cannot detect aromas or flavours.  This is why taking time to smell before tasting is so important, and why a drink can seem muted if your nose is congested, fatigued or simply not fully engaged.    Taste: the role of the tongue in tasting  The tongue is responsible for identifying five tastes only:  sweet  bitter  sour (acid)  salt  umami  Taste doesn’t actually tell you what a drink tastes like - only these basic taste components. Which is why we combine so many senses when tasting!    Touch: texture and mouthfeel  Touch is an often overlooked but crucial part of tasting. It includes sensations such as:  heat or burn  weight and body  smoothness, sharpness or mouthcoating texture  These tactile sensations all contribute to how wines, beers, spirits and sakes feel on the palate. No tasting note is complete without considering texture.    Putting all the senses together  In practice, when a drink is in your mouth, you don’t experience taste, smell and touch separately. Your brain combines them into a single overall impression.  Early on, this impression may feel vague - “it just tastes like wine” or “it smells like whisky”. Structured tasting is about slowing this moment down and learning to unpick it. With time and practice, you become better at separating aroma from taste, flavour from texture, and intensity from balance.  Individual sensitivities vary, and personal experience always plays a role. Even so, trained tasters can agree with a high degree of consistency on characteristics such as sweetness, texture or length of finish - a skill that develops through repetition and calibration.    The human factor when tasting  There are some human factors that will impact your ability to taste, which include:  fatigue  colds, congestion or hay fever  stress or lack of focus    It’s worth identifying these factors and taking this into consideration if you’re doing a tasting - your senses may end up playing tricks on you.  Preparing your palate is about giving your senses the support they need to do their job.  A clean mouth, good hydration and a considered approach to tasting allow you to experience drinks more clearly and accurately. When you understand how sight, smell, taste and touch work together, tasting becomes less about guesswork and more about confident, informed observation.     Additional reading: How to train your palate How to pair drinks with spice Strawberry, pepper and petrol: why wine smells the way it does   https://www.wsetglobal.com/knowledge-centre/blog/2026/how-to-prepare-your-palate-for-tasting https://www.wsetglobal.com/knowledge-centre/blog/2026/how-to-prepare-your-palate-for-tasting Fri, 24 April 2026 07:36:41 What happens when a drink rooted in tradition meets the creativity of modern mixology? London-based writer and anthropologist Joel Hart explores how sake is being reimagined in cocktails, and why its balance of umami, texture and aroma makes it such a compelling ingredient behind the bar.    Once scarce in the UK - and when it did appear, often served hot enough to mask a low-grade profile - sake now occupies a very different space. The Japanese fermented rice beverage is more often associated with high-end settings: a life-changing pairing in an omakase, or the offbeat, quietly confident choice within a wine flight at one of the world's best restaurants.   But what about cocktails - should mixing high-quality sake with other components be seen as sacrilegious, or might it occupy an important space in the UK's increasing sakemania?  Once scarce in the UK – and when it did appear, often served piping hot to disguise poor quality – sake now occupies a very different space. The Japanese fermented rice beverage is increasingly associated with high-end settings: a life-changing pairing in an omakase, or the quietly confident choice within a wine flight at one of the world’s best restaurants.  But what about cocktails? As bartenders explore how to use sake in cocktails, should mixing high-quality sake with other components be seen as sacrilegious, or might it occupy an important space in the UK’s increasing sakemania?    Why use sake in cocktails?  With dozens of sake-based cocktails listed on Difford’s Guide, from sake sours to martinis and negronis, bartenders are clearly beginning to favour it.  For sake samurai Natsuki Kikuya of the Museum of Sake, this is to be welcomed with caution.  “I’ve always believed that sake is complete in itself,” she says. “It doesn’t need to be mixed. However, I don’t see cocktails as a compromise. Rather, I see them as a different lens through which sake can be experienced.”  For Natsuki, sake’s unique structure of umami, softness and relatively low acidity, alongside its distinctive aromatic range, offers a clear point of distinction for mixologists. All of this, she says, “allows it to integrate beautifully with other ingredients. When used with care and intention – not to mask but to build on its character – it can bring a distinctive dimension to a cocktail.”  It also fits neatly into current shifts in drinking habits. As Josh Black, on-trade specialist at DREAMSAKE, explains, “because it is lower in alcohol, it can be a great solution for designing lower-ABV serves for modern drinking trends and guests who are looking for more conscious drinking alternatives.”    Choosing the right sake for cocktails  The key to mixing with sake lies in understanding its diversity as a category. From light, delicate daiginjo styles to full-bodied, umami-rich junmai, each brings a different set of characteristics to the glass – and to the shaker. Rather than forcing a sake to fit a recipe, the better approach is to let its natural profile guide the drink.  Sparkling sakes can replace sparkling wines in interesting ways, from a Sbagliato-style serve to a lighter, more delicate spritz. Daiginjo, typically highly polished and known for its clean, aromatic profile, tends towards notes of melon, pear and white flowers, with a gentle lift of acidity. This makes it particularly well suited to fresher, more delicate cocktails where those top notes can shine, such as a refined highball or a sake-led take on a French 75.  Junmai, by contrast, retains more of the rice’s natural character and is typically fuller in body, with a more savoury, umami-forward profile. These styles lend themselves to richer, shorter builds and can hold their own in more spirit-forward formats, such as an Old Fashioned or Manhattan-style serve.  As Anthony Yukio, Head Sommelier at Kioku by Endo in London, notes, the breadth of sake means that “most of the time it is a case of finding the right sake to fit the profile rather than forcing it to work. There is the famous phrase in Japan: ‘sake doesn’t fight with food’ – and I think that applies for cocktails too.”    Best sake cocktails and how to adapt classic recipes  The most intuitive starting point is rethinking familiar formats.  A Martini made with a split base of gin and daiginjo retains the drink’s elegance while introducing a softer, more umami-laced finish. A sake Negroni, where sake replaces part or all of the gin, stirred with dry vermouth and a Campari-style bitter, pulls the drink into something rounder and more restrained, the sake's umami (glutamates have been shown to suppress bitter perception) quietly moderating the bitterness.   A sake sour, built with daiginjo, fresh lime and lemon, a touch of cane sugar syrup and egg white, makes for a lighter, fresher take on the classic - the style’s natural elegance and mouthfeel doing the heavy lifting in place of a higher-ABV base.  Photo: DREAMSAKE®   Flavour pairings: tea, fruit and umami-led combinations  Tea is a particularly intuitive pairing. Both tea and sake span a spectrum from bright and fresh to deep and earthy, and their shared umami character tends to complement rather than compete. An oolong and daiginjo highball can be clean and refreshing with a lightly smoky edge, while combining rooibos or lapsang souchong with junmai in a shorter serve finds common ground in richer, deeper notes.   Sake’s affinity with fruit also offers scope for experimentation. Stone fruits such as peach, plum and apricot mirror the esters found in many ginjo-style sakes, making them natural companions. A daiginjo paired with fino sherry and a peach aperitif offers a bamboo-style twist with more aromatic lift. More adventurous combinations, such as a highball with fig leaf tincture, aged sake and whisky, can come surprisingly close to the essence of a classic highball while still offering something new. As Yukio puts it, these drinks sit “close to the essence of a simple highball… whilst at the same time being something new and innovative.”    Sake cocktails as a gateway to the category  Whether transforming classics, exploring inventive tea-led serves or experimenting with fruit, these examples demonstrate how sake’s acid–umami balance, supple mouthfeel and aromatic complexity can move beyond the glass and into creative mixology.  The trick is to work with a sake’s natural profile rather than against it, paying attention to its sweetness, structure and aromatic character, and using these as a foundation rather than something to disguise.  “For many consumers, especially outside Japan, it can feel unfamiliar or even intimidating,” Kikuya notes. “Cocktails can act as an accessible entry point.”      Additional reading: What is sake? A beginner's guide How does sake get its flavour? Different types of sake explored   About the author: Joel Hart is a London-based writer, anthropologist and culture journalist focusing mainly on restaurants, wine and artisanal drinks. His work has appeared in publications including the Financial Times, New York Times, The Telegraph, The Times, Broadsheet, Vittles, Time Out and Pellicle.  https://www.wsetglobal.com/knowledge-centre/blog/2026/how-to-use-sake-in-cocktails-styles-tips-and-recipe-ideas https://www.wsetglobal.com/knowledge-centre/blog/2026/how-to-use-sake-in-cocktails-styles-tips-and-recipe-ideas Thu, 23 April 2026 09:35:33 In this article, beer educator Natalya Watson explores one of the most talked-about techniques in modern brewing: dry hopping. From the science behind hop additions to the impact on aroma, flavour and appearance, this guide will deepen your understanding of how brewers shape some of today’s most expressive beer styles.    Beer labels are full of buzz words... we recently published a blog post exploring the many different types of hop-driven styles from APA, to IPA, to NEIPA and beyond. But the acronyms don’t stop there!   These beers can often have some additional letters on their labels, like DDH, which isn’t necessarily part of the style name, but indicates a particular production choice by the brewer.  That choice? Dry hopping, or “double dry hopping” as the extra D suggests. What is dry hopping and how might it impact the finished beer? Let’s take a step back and talk about hops first.    What are hops?  Hops are tall climbing plants that produce cones as they grow. The cones of the hop plant are harvested annually each autumn, and are used to bring both a bitter taste and a wide range of aromas to beer. Which one we get, though, will depend on when those hop cones are added to the beer. Hops can be used as pellets or in their original cone form   Hop additions for bitterness  Hops are typically added to the boiling stage of the brewing process.  Boiling is a key step in the process because it helps to kill off any microorganisms that may have come into the brew from our raw materials or brewing equipment and it means that when we get to the fermentation stage a bit later, we can be sure that only the yeast we’ve added is busy at work (and we won’t get any unexpected, or off-flavours).  This step is also crucial for helping us to extract the bitterness from our hops. Why? The bittering components within the hops cones, called alpha acids, aren’t very soluble in water. But, with heat and time (boiling typically lasts 60-90 minutes), we’re able to convert those alpha acids to iso-alpha acids, meaning they can dissolve and impart their bitterness. So, adding hops at the beginning of the boil brings more bitterness to the finished beer.     Hop additions for aroma – on the hot-side  By contrast though, a long, rolling boil isn’t as helpful for the aromatic compounds from the hops’ essential oils, as they’re very delicate, or volatile, and essentially boil off during this stage. Therefoe, in order for the essential oils to have their aroma impact, we add hops again at the end of the boil to keep their aromas in, as well.  The end of the boil isn’t the only time we can add hops for aroma though. We can also add hops to a piece of equipment called the whirlpool, which is used the improve the clarity of the beer after the boil. Although no further heat is being applied in this step, the liquid is still very warm, so bitterness will build a bit, but the primary focus is on aroma.    Hop additions for aroma – on the cold-side  But we can also add hops even later - during or after fermentation - and it’s this process that we call dry-hopping.  I hear you wondering, why is it called dry hopping? Truth is, I’m not too sure. I’ve done some research and haven’t been able to find a conclusive explanation. But what’s more important for our purposes is the impact on the finished beer. So, how does it work?  Unlike boiling, which is conducted at very high temperatures, fermentation is conducted at much cooler temperatures – typically 18–24°C (64–75°F) for ale yeast – so we don’t have the heat required for the bittering isomerisation process to occur. As a result, dry-hopping is specifically focused on amping up aroma, as the essential oils don’t evaporate off.    The impacts of dry hopping   What kind of aromas should we expect? Hops can contribute a wide array of fruity, herbal and spicy notes, but most dry hopping uses American, Australian or New Zealand varietals, which can bring prominent citrus fruit, stone fruit, and tropical fruit character to the beers that use them… like our hop-driven American pale ales, IPAs and hazy IPAs.  Dry hopping doesn’t only impact a beers aroma though – it can also impact the appearance, adding haze. So, as the name suggests, a hazy IPA is one that has been heavily dry-hopped. (It’s also hazy from the inclusion of higher-protein grains like wheat or oats and the fact that brewers don’t filter the finished beer.)   Bonus points: biotransformation  When hops are added during fermentation, there’s another key beer ingredient still present – yeast. And these two ingredients can interact in a pretty interesting way. Through a process called biotransformation, yeast can essentially unlock new aromas from the hop compounds that weren’t present in the first place.  The processes are quite complex and technical so we won’t go into further detail here. But essentially this means there’s potential to get more hop aroma from less hop use – and with how expensive hops can be, you can imagine there’s a lot of exciting new research happening here, so watch this space!     The history of dry hopping  Given its use in many popular modern beer styles, it may lead you to think that dry hopping is a new technique, but it’s actually been around for centuries!   It’s thought that brewers in England – where the pale ale and IPA styles originated – had been adding hops into casks of beer since the 18th century. They weren’t quite using this technique for the same reasons we do today, though.   While we now use hops primarily for their bitterness and interesting aromas, in the past they were used for another reason – hops also contain antibacterial properties, so they were added to beer to slowing down its spoilage, effectively preserving it for longer.  These beers would have also had quite different aromas from our modern pale ales and IPAs, as English brewers would have been using traditional British hops, which are a lot more subtle than American, Australian and New Zealand varietals and bring notes of black tea, black current and earth.    Why do brewers dry hop?  The reason the dry hopping process is so popular today is for the massive aroma hit. But that can only be enjoyed when dry-hopped beers have been stored carefully (ideally refrigerated) and consumed as fresh as possible.  Curious to experience the impact? Look out for a dry-hopped or double dry-hopped, DDH, beer near you and give it a go!  As a note, there are some newer beer styles – like the Italian Pilsner – that use traditional European hops for dry hoping, adding punched up spicy, floral and herbal notes through this approach. Have fun tasting!    Lastly, what about wet hopping?  This is a different technique that’s not due to the timing of hop additions during the brewing process, but the timing of hop use relative to harvest. Most hops are harvested in autumn and dried so that they can be stored and used throughout the year.   But, during harvest season, some brewers experiment with using freshly picked, wet, whole cone hops straight from the harvest.  The aroma impact certainly isn’t as intense as that brought about by dry hopping, but it’s a fun once-a-year opportunity for brewers to understand how hop aromas might express differently depending on how those hops have been processed and when they’ve been added to the brew.  And if they’re added to the cold side, guess what that’s called? “Wet dry hopping”. Yes, the beer world is always evolving!      About the author This blog post was written by Natalya Watson, Business Development Manager for beer in EMEA at WSET. Natalya is an award-winning beer educator with a passion for helping people explore and understand beer with confidence. She holds the IBD Beer Sommelier and Advanced Cicerone® certifications and is a WSET beer educator. She is also the author of Beer: Taste the Evolution in 50 Styles. Follow Nat on Instagram.  https://www.wsetglobal.com/knowledge-centre/blog/2026/what-is-dry-hopping https://www.wsetglobal.com/knowledge-centre/blog/2026/what-is-dry-hopping Wed, 22 April 2026 09:25:55