Iconic American Hop Varieties Letterpress Print

For the Love of Hops

When you immigrate to Oregon, you receive two items upon arrival: a rain jacket and a bottle of the hoppiest beer you've ever had in your life. My first experiences with the latter were nothing short of mind-blowing. In the early oughts, the IPA's were blisteringly bitter and wildly alcoholic, miles from the mild lagers I was used to in the midwest. In the '10's, beer became juicy and citrusy. In the '20's, hazies took over.

I'm here, as the kids say, for it. All of it. I love hops with the passion of the newly converted, but the affinity seems permanent now. A few years ago, I had a hop vine tattooed on my right arm.

Iconic American Hops is my homage to the humble hop cone in a frameable, 12 x 18 inch, two-color letterpress print (31 x 46 cm) perfect for hanging in your brewery or bar. It features ten historic hops, listing their origins, purpose, and a brief bit of hop history. It makes an attractive print for any beer lover, but especially the hopheads in your life.

Barrel-Aged ... and -Framed

This print is available in a bespoke frame manufactured by yours truly from upcycled beer, whiskey and/or wine barrels. Each one is a bit different, and makes for a great conversation starter in your home bar, cooperage, or woodshop. With this option, prints are matted and secured behind an archival, USA-made mat and backerboard and postman-proof UV-resistant acrylic sheet.

Please note that barrel frames cannot be shipped to Australia or New Zealand due to import restrictions on wood products.

A Collaboration with Jeff Alworth of Beervana

If you've been a fan of 33 Books Co. since the beginning, you might remember that this venture started as an extension of my now-defunct beer blog BS Brewing. There weren't a lot of beer bloggers then (there are even fewer now), but one of my favorites then and today has always been Jeff Alworth's Beervana.

Where I quit beer-blogging to focus on 33 Books Co., Jeff kept at it, applying his actual writer-ly rigor to the beer world at large for almost two decades now. He has since written four excellent books on the topic which hold special places on my own shelves, and the shelves of brewers and beer enthusiasts around the world.

We first worked together on another print, Essential Beer Glassware, and when I had the idea for this print, I could think of no one else I'd rather collaborate with.

Fresh-Pressed in Portland

This open-edition print was printed by hand, with love, on a gluten-powered, 1909 Chandler & Price letterpress using mostly soy-based inks. This is a two-color print, which means it ran through the press twice: once for the lime green color, and a second time with the darker green. Check out the @33BooksCo Instagram for more printing videos than you can believe.

American-made French Paper

The poster is printed on 100% recycled (30% PCW), acid- and chlorine-free French brand paper, made in Niles, Michigan. If you're as big a paper geek as you are a hop geek, you'll want to know that it's 125# Muscletone Starch White Cover Stock. 

A very special thanks to my friends Max and Ivy at Coleman Agriculture and Alexa at Sodbuster Farms for letting me into the fields with my camera to capture hops at their photographic peak to make this print possible.