AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2025 - 62

" We're back on the ground in Erie
by 1 p.m. and back into Denver to
deliver the hops to the brewery. "
" It's a fun day. You get to visit a hop farm, and at
the end of the day when we're done, we go back to
FlyteCo and drink some beer while we watch Jason
make the beer. "
The beer!
Generally, brewers can only make fresh hop beer
once a year. The beer has a fresh, floral, almost grassy
taste, much like the smell that permeates the aircraft
carrying the bags of hops. The biodegradable bag
is dropped into the boiling brew kettle filled with
Vienna wheat grains that Slingsby has been preparing.
Everyone in the group gets an opportunity to put the
hops into the kettles if they want.
" The earlier you throw in the hops, the more bitter
flavors come out. If you wait until closer to the boil,
you'll get more of the aromas. There's a science there
where you play how much hops to add, and also the
timing of when you add the hops gives different flavors
and aromas, " says Serani.
Slingsby will take over from here, adding yeast and
Serani gave a detailed briefing reminding the participating
pilots of their strategies for flying over the
mountains: " Mountain flying requires a lot of special
strategies. For example, when we cross a ridgeline like
the passes in the Divide, we approach it at a 45-degree
angle. That way, if we encounter strong turbulence over
the ridge, bailing out is only a 90-degree turn. We also
fly a route that has plenty of flat land below in the event
of an engine failure. When flying between mountains,
we are very aware of the winds and always fly on the
upwind side of a valley so that wind lifts the aircraft.
Flying on the opposite side you would encounter winds
that push the aircraft downward toward the terrain.
" We all talk to each other on an air-to-air
frequency so we can know where we're at and give
position reports, " Serani says. " We're flying over the
Continental Divide, over Rollins Pass. There's a ski area
underneath it. Then Winter Park. We fly past Granby
and Grand Lake, the biggest lakes in the mountains of
Colorado. Then another mountain pass, McClure Pass
to get on the other side of the mountains.
" We're back on the ground in Erie by 1 p.m.
and drive the short distance back into Denver to
deliver the hops to the brewery at FlyteCo's Tennyson
Street location.
62
AOPA PILOT / January 2025
waiting until the sugars are converted into alcohol.
FlyteCo will have a tasting party in a few weeks
when the beer is ready. In the meantime, the pilots
and passengers from the hop flight enjoy beer from
one of the 20 taps on site. Flavors such as Fogged Out
Hazy IPA, AeroMexico, and Unusual Attitude Amber
constitute the selection.
" Before we opened, I was going to take my
employees out to Erie Airport to go flying in my RV-10,
and when we got to the airport it was just socked in
with fog. We sat in the FBO waiting for the fog to clear,
and after awhile, we just decided to call it quits, and
Jason had brought this new IPA that needed a name,
so we called it Fogged Out. "
Part of the group returned to Billy Goat Hop Farm
the next week to get more hops (some fresh, some
to be dried and preserved for
traditional brewing). The beer
was released at a tasting party
later in the month. In a word, it
was " hoppy. "
" Indeed, it is hoppy, but not
in the way most people think of
hoppy as overly bitter. I would
say 'aromatic and fresh,' " Serani
said. julie.walker@aopa.org
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AOPA Pilot Magazine - January 2025

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