(Portland, OR) – Widmer Brothers Brewing is set to introduce the second beer in its Brothers’ Reserve Series: Prickly Pear Braggot.

The beer debuted on tap at Aces and Ales in Las Vegas this past Friday. Individually boxed 22 oz. bottles are slated for an early spring release and the beer is also being distributed in 1/6 barrels. Prickly Pear Braggot follows Cherry Oak Doppelbock which kicked off the series last October.

Beer description: “Our Braggot is a Strong Ale brewed with a blend of honey, red prickly pear juice, and a variety of pale malts. The addition of Alchemy hops help balance the sweetness while still retaining the natural honey aromas and flavors. The prickly pear juice adds a unique hue to the beer as well as a subtle herbal, quenching-like quality in the finish.”

Beer stats: 10% ABV, 25 IBU, 24 Deg. Plato

Two things strike me as interesting about this beer.

The first is the style: Braggot, “a mead made with malt” according to the BJCP style guidelines. I’ve had the good fortune of tasting Brother Adams Braggot, the benchmark of the style. The mouthfeel was viscous and the beer close to still, meaning little if any carbonation. There are literally only a handful of Braggots out there, mostly brewed in the Northeast, so this presents the first opportunity for many across the U.S. to try this style.

The second thing that struck me: Alchemy hops. I had never heard of them though a Google search yielded some information. Pulled off of the HomebrewTalk forums:

“Alchemy hops are not a single variety, but rather several different varieties custom blended and packaged specifically for Widmer.* Currently the blend is combination of Warrior and Millennium, though in past years it’s also included a small percentage of Horizon hops as well (the acreage for Horizon has been declining the last several years, and with it the quality of selection)* **All three varieties are high alpha, low cohumulone cultivars. **Unfortunately, I can’t give you more details about the current mix because the actual percentages of Alchemy is proprietary.* To ensure against crop failure situations there is a good chance we will look to add another hop to the blend if the Horizon crop doesn’t rebound, but at this point it’s hard to say what that variety it will be or at what inclusion percentage.*

We call it Alchemy because on an annual basis we look at the quality of the crop and try to mix those elements together to make the golden hop.** In addition, we hand select our hops each year at harvest time to ensure we get the very best that’s available.* Alchemy is used as the bittering hop in all Widmer products and it’s been a very successful hop(s) for us.”

This was from nearly three years ago though so the hop mix has probably changed since then, given the roller coaster ride that hop growers have taken brewers on over the last few years. That said, you will notice Alchemy hops as an ingredient in other Widmer Brothers beers so now you know.