***Side Note***
Harvested some hops mostly cascade I think and then later that night harvested all my Skywalker OG. (See Link in Sig).
I've tried hops on a few different occasions, usually during the brewing process. Decided that I would taste some fresh off the vine. Quite bitter with a little bit of a burning sensation. The more you chew and suck on it the flavors that hit you. Basically the flavor is so strong that you will only taste "Hops" for a little while. It wan't unpleasant, I like the flavor actually, but if you aren't an IPA fan you may not like chewing on hops.
Hops and Cannabis are related basically cousins. The growth is very different except for how the flowers look. They both kind of bud up and you can see "cones". Obviously they are different but you can see the similarities.
Last night in the middle of trimming I started getting hints of a hoppy smell. I learned that every time I smell hops and then smell cannabis I can still smell the hops. Sometimes it is vice versa as well. Anyway, I decided to try a small nug. I chewed it the same way I chewed the hop cone. At first the flavor was pretty intense with the same mild burning sensation, just like the hop, but then it turned quite different and became a grassy nasty finish. I am assuming that all of the horror stories about brewing with Cannabis have resulted in this exact flavor.
I am still pretty confident that we can nail a delicious beer that reminds you of the plant it came from with the added benefit of THC. The plan is still to brew an IPA style of beer aiming for 9-10% ABV. The method for adding cannabis will be similar to the QWISO technique. The process will be like putting a bowl of fresh cured cannabis flowers (pre-decarboxolated) onto a strainer and pouring the wort through into the bottling container where the priming sugar is then added. From there it will be bottled as normal.
FYI: The process will not actually be a strainer, although it will still probably work similarly, I will be making a custom container with a wide mouth quart size mason jar that will attach to the auto siphon and them pour into the bottling container. You do not want the wort to come in contact with to much open air once it is cooled and ready for bottles.
Here is a random picture I found on the internet comparing hops and cannabis: