French Press Dry-Hopped IPA

At a recent homebrew club meeting, I wanted to spice up a dark IPA by doing a cold-press of leaf Simcoe hops in a french press coffee maker. We did a side by side against the unadulterated version and the results were what you might expect:  really, really good! I put 1 oz. of leaf Simcoe hops in the press and slowly added two bottles of the IPA (which was brewed with Simcoe and Citra pellets). It steeped in the refrigerator for about 1 hour before serving. The press hopped beer revealed more of everything associated with hops (and I really pressed the juice out of those hops). More aroma, more flavor, but it was different. You got the citrus and pine, sure. But there was an intense, biting, vegetal spice that the non-pressed beer lacked. It even made my fellow club members a little (shall we say?) high. We all had an aura of hop glow around us for several minutes. It was nice, but boy were those hops intense! If you have some extra leaf hops, or just want to buy hops for this express purpose, I would highly recommend everyone do this at least once. Be warned though. It's kind of a waste of lupulin if you don't have something to do with the hops afterward, and it kind of turns your friends into hop zombies. Here are some pics to go along with the post, including what my friend, Ian, looked like when he tried to eat on of the hop cones. Enjoy! Be Fermentive!