Name: The Magic Number
Brand: The Establishment Brewing Company
Availability: InStock

Most new hops arrive quietly, tested for a few seasons before anyone brews a beer worth naming after them. The Magic Number goes the other direction. The Establishment Brewing Company has put the experimental varietal on the can, alongside the names of both collaborators, in a layout that reads more like a lab sheet than a label.

The hop is 3Cone, and it comes by way of Segal Ranch Hops Farm and Charles Faram. Establishment describes 3Cone as being something like a cross pollination of three living legends - Citra, Simcoe and Mosaic - and calls it one of the newest varieties available to it.

That framing is worth slowing down for. Brewers combine those three hops constantly, and the trio has become close to a default for the style. Breeding traits from well-known parents into a single new variety is a different exercise entirely, and a much longer one. It happens in the field over multiple seasons rather than in the kettle on brew day, and the point is to get a distinct hop rather than a blend that approximates one.

Both partners are established names in that world. Segal Ranch, a Yakima Valley farm, is described by Establishment as legendary for its horticultural experimentation, and the ranch has introduced several varieties of its own in recent years. Charles Faram is a British hop merchant well into its second century in the trade, and it handles distribution for Segal Ranch varieties in the UK and Canada.

The beer itself is a Hazy IPA at 6.2 percent. Establishment says the hop brings an orchard of citrus and pineapple through what it calls its always ultra creamy base, and lists the notes as Fruit Gushers, Cactus Cooler and Tang powder. The brewery's own summary of the collaboration is simpler: it felt the magic in the air immediately.

The Magic Number is a taproom exclusive from Friday, October 2 through Monday, October 5, with the province-wide and online release following that weekend.

Editor’s Take

There is a meaningful difference between blending three hops and breeding one, and this beer sits on the right side of it. Anybody can throw Citra, Simcoe and Mosaic in the whirlpool together - that combination has been the house special at roughly every hazy IPA brewery on the continent for a decade. Getting those characteristics to arrive in a single cone means years of crossing, selecting, and throwing out the ones that did not work, and then somebody still has to be willing to brew with the result before it has a track record.

That last part is the bit that gets overlooked. An experimental varietal needs breweries willing to commit a whole batch to something with no reputation attached, which is a genuine risk dressed up as a fun collaboration. Establishment has put the collaborators and the varietal right on the can like a lab label, which feels like the correct instinct - if you are going to be an early adopter, say so plainly. Worth noting the brewery kept its standard creamy base underneath rather than redesigning the beer around the new hop. Sensible. If you want to know what a hop actually tastes like, you do not change three other things at the same time.

Source & Editorial

JollyPint independently prepares release articles using information published by breweries through newsletters, websites, and other official public communications. Brewery-supplied descriptions and tasting notes are reported as provided, while editorial context is added by JollyPint.

The Magic Number Is Built on 3Cone, a Hop Bred From Three Famous Parents

Citra, Simcoe and Mosaic walk into a breeding program. Establishment's collaboration with Segal Ranch and Charles Faram is built on 3Cone, an experimental variety the brewery says draws on all three, poured over its usual creamy hazy base.

Source & Editorial