Hops that Disappoint name and shame

[foxy]

Yesi think this too. Many say tropical this and that but i rarely get all they mention via taste/aroma. Its a selling tool with a lot of them. Most hops smell and taste the same to me apart from the cheap bittering ones. My taste buds must be knackered but as long as a beer has a nice amount of late in boil and dry hop im quite happy.

I think your taste buds maybe rooted, take a beer you like try switching the hops, aroma/taste will definitely show a difference but bittering will also show a difference, even if the aroma/taste stay the same. Biggest problem is, 'how fresh are the hops' I suspect that we, the home brewers don't get a fair suck of the sav. I was given some hops recently by a brewery, the smell and look of the hops were different to the hops I buy from the local HBS. Light green and strong aroma. Definitely worth keeping an eye on the hops you buy, plus how you store them.

 

[Keruso]

Hi I have just done a smash with Minch ale and Azacca hops and very disappointed with them it tastes like a noble hop so the beer is like a Pseudo lager/Pale Ale is there any hops that have disappointed you?

I made an IPA recently, recipe called for Glacier hops, never used them before, I had to force the beer down, blooming horrible. I also had a wobble with Lemon Drop, after a couple of weeks the beer has improved but I doubt I’ll use that again.

 

[Greg167]

I’ve just kegged a 4% Pale I made, using azacca and cascade. I dry hopped in 23L 35g Cascade and 70g Azacca. The aroma was pure pineapple but when I came to keg 3 days later it had faded massively and just tasted of Malt. Really naff. To save it I added 100g of El Dorado and left it for 3 days at 7c. This has improved massively for it, just waiting patiently for it to carb up.

Azacca works wonderfully in commercial beers but usually it’s with one or 2 other varieties. I wonder at what levels you’d need to use it at to get the flavour? Definitely more than the 3g/l dry hop I used. I also used 10g at 15 mins and 20g for a whirlpool addition but it didn’t seem
To do enough.

 

[Clint]

Just wondering...will the low temp affect the potency if the dry hop?
I think Brew Dog dry hop at 14 ..as an example.
I dry hop at fermentation temp towards the end of second week.

 

[Greg167]

Just wondering...will the low temp affect the potency if the dry hop?
I think Brew Dog dry hop at 14 ..as an example.
I dry hop at fermentation temp towards the end of second week.

I read an article the other day on experiments of dry hop temp and time, I’ll try and find it. I also tried cooling it to drop the malty taste too, which I think has worked.

 

[Clint]

Very cold temps mute tastes.

 

[Greg167]

Very cold temps mute tastes.

That’s true in taste, here is the article I found A Case for Short And Cool Dry Hopping - Scott Janish

It’s a long one, so grab a beer!

 

[Windy One]

Sabro. Dry hopped an IPA kit with 50g, described as tasting citrus, coconut, tropical. Couldnt taste any of it, and mega expensive, but did get a little certificate with them

A friend of mine from down under has a couple of one legged dwarf pygmy's that call by his house now and again. They stand in the wort for a fortnight until racked into a secondary vessel. He informs that it does wonders for the finished hoppiness. I'll get their names just in case they pass by The Republic of Manchester. Not sure that they issue certificates though.

 

[dad_of_jon]

I had a similar experience with Mandarina Bavaria. It’s just a German hop with a hint of cascade.

I am also unable to taste any strawberry from Belma.

+1 for Mandarina Bavaria. I go to amarillo for my orange hit.

 

[matt76]

Columbus (a.k.a. Tomahawk), according to hopslist.com, "features a punchy hoppiness and deep, pensive aroma with understated citrus notes".

According to me however it's thoroughly underwhelming. Any citrus notes are so understated as to be totally absent. It does impart a generic hoppy aroma and flavour but there's nothing distinctive. It's like when you mix all the colours in your paint set together - instead of getting one "super-colour" you just get a disappointing shade of brown.

I've tried to be creative and sophisticated and convince myself it's deep and pensive - ripe stone fruit maybe - but it just tastes muddy like a bunch of flavours have been mixed together so nothing stands out any more.

 

[Gingerbrews]

Update on my 17 Feb post, the Mandarina Bavaria ale was distinctly underwhelming. Don't think I'll be repeating that experiment...... that's not to say that I won't be drinking them!!!

 

[Old_P]

Taste is obviously very subjective as we all appreciate, but there are also many other variables to take into consideration. Our choice and amount of grains, yeast and water profile will all have an effect on the final flavours as well as the freshness and harvest of the hops we use. If you want to highlight the subtle flavour/s in a particular hop then all these other variable need to be taken into account.