That little blurb is indeed somewhat confusing. It would seem to me that running hopped wort through the mash tun would just diminish the hop character, not intensify it, so I don’t know about that idea. And I don’t really understand the idea of running caramelized wort through the mash tun either…maybe for something malty like a Schotch ale, but not a hoppy beer. It sounds like they’re just trying to be clever and overcomplicating the process instead of just using more traditional methods that work better, like just using more hops in the kettle to intensify the hop character, and just boiling the wort longer to intensify the malt flavor. I have used hops in the mash tun on more than one occasion, though, and I do believe that it definitely does help round out the hop character, so I don’t question that method. All that having been said, in all fairness I have never tried the beer in question, nor have I ever even heard of it, so I certainly can’t say with any degree of authority if their unorthodox methods pay dividends or not. If I ever see it around where I live, I’ll have to give it a shot because I am fairly intrigued.
