Crossword Genius

Giving half of them hoppy beer will cause resentment (8)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

embitter

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'cause resentment' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)

'giving half of them hoppy beer' is the wordplay.
'giving' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'half of' suggests halving the letters.
'hoppy beer' becomes 'bitter' (I can't justify this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'them' with half the letters taken is 'em'.
'em' put next to 'bitter' is 'EMBITTER'.

'will' is the link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for embitter that I've seen before include "poison" , "Will exasperate" , "Alienate" , "Met tribe (anag) - make resentful" , "cause resentment" .)

I've seen this clue in the Sydney Morning Herald.
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