Zappa is absolutely one of the most unique hops around. It has so many different faces that express themselves in various ways. The hop was named in collaboration with the Zappa family to honor Frank Zappa and lives within the same counterculture mentality as Mr. Zappa, himself.

Its origins are a fun story, too, as it is derived from plants found in the wilds of New Mexico. Zappa has a cool menthol quality with massive notes of mango and passion fruit. When used on the hot side, the spicy character can really show itself. When used in dry hop, especially at low temperature and short contact time, Zappa really adds complexity and boosting qualities in Hazy Ipas to hops like Citra, Nectaron, and less pine forward crops of Simcoe. It also really works well in new age West Coast Ipas to enhance more “dank qualities” by adding both depth and brightness to sensory profiles. Zappa can also really play well in dry hopped long term mixed fermentation beer.

All in all, Zappa deserves a place in your brewery. It will never get the most air play or be the rock star selling out arenas, but it definitely is fun and experimental. Order some today, get a little weird and create a paradox that the man himself would be proud of.