I'm sure some of you have seen this delicious treat, but it was new to me.

Swag Brewery, where I got mine, have three varieties of hop candy: Cascade, Saaz, as well as the East Kent Golding Variety that I tried (I'm really a sucker for English hops). They also have an interesting line of beer-based soaps.

Anyone who has ever chewed on a dried hop cone or sucked on a hop pellet will find the flavor instantly familiar, but rather than being unbearably bitter as raw hops generally are. These candies are actually intensely sweet with all the floral and earthy notes of the hops, without the mouth-puckering bitterness. If I have any complaints about these candies it is exactly that, the lack of bitterness that comes through.

My science geek guess is this lack of bitterness is a result of using hop oils rather real hops and I'm guessing that sugar, which reaches the soft crack stage for candy at 290˚ f wouldn't boil long enough to isomerize the alpha acids in the hops even if one used real hops. Also, the sugar content of the sugar syrup that forms the base of hard candy is far too dense for efficient hop utilization leaving little room for isomerized alpha acids.

Despite their lack of bitterness I found the candy quite delicious. The flavors are reminiscent of shoving one's face into a bag of fresh hops (Come on, I know I'm not the only one that does this). The East Kent Golding characteristics, yummy fresh floral notes, honey and thyme, shine through and are followed by the sugary sweet hard candy base and an aftertaste of having chewed on a hop pellet making for a very pleasant experience. Wow, look at me waxing poetic about candy.