Veteran-owned craft breweries from across the country met during the Craft Brewers Conference this year. Their mission? To select the hops that would become the Veterans Hop Blend.

“We had the honor of participating in the selection at CBC and the test batch brew day at Bale Breaker in August,” says Kevin Ryan, CEO of Service Brewing Co. in Savannah, Georgia, and former Commander in the US Army.

The brewers agreed upon a combination of five Pacific Northwest-grown hop varieties, including Ekuanot®, Cashmere, Simcoe®, Mosaic®, and Centennial.  The result is a hop blend that lends a mix of tropical, citrus and herbal hop qualities to beers.

“The Centennial is a perfect addition based on the fact that this is the 100-year anniversary of the end of WWI and the first Armistice Day, which eventually became Veterans Day,” says Ryan, who named the beer Service brewed Armistice IPA. Armistice IPA uses 5 pounds of the Veterans Hop Blend per barrel produced.

Service Brewing will combine their release of Armistice IPA with Veterans Day efforts. The brewery teamed up with other brewers to brew with the blend, as well.

“We collaborated with Orpheus, Two Tides, and Revelry to brew beers for the Moto show along with the Veterans Blend,” Ryan tells us. “We brewed an American Pilsner with white tropical tea with Two Tides, a brut IPA with Revelry, and a dark lager with Orpheus.”

Read more at CraftBeer.com