Less common hop varieties

[Simonh82]

I love a hoppy beer whether it's an American IPA or a hoppy British Golden Ale. My personal preference is for a decent amount of hop bitterness and lots of hop aroma and flavour.

I've used a fair few hops in my brews, I think I've tried most of the common ones like East Kent Golding, Fuggle, First Gold, Bramling Cross (for English varieties) and Cascade, Centennial, Chinook, Columbus, Simcoe, Citra, Amarillo, Mosaic (for American varieties). Part of me would like to try some of the less well know varieties but I don't see many people talking about using them and I'm a little wary of dropping £s on a disappointing hop.

I tried a couple of new European hops like Stryian Cardinal but didn't think they delivered on the "tropical fruits" description.

Have you used any less well known hops and if so what did you think of them?

My starter for 10 is Brewer's Gold, which is a British hop by origin but now grown mostly in Germany and the US. I think it makes a great flavour/aroma hop and gives great spicy, fruity flavours that work well when dry hopping. I've made single hop beers with it and also used it in conjunction with First Gold and EKG which I think are winning combos.

 

[jceg316]

I used to love buying unknown hops and seeing what happens.

Polaris - fantastic bittering hop, dinosauric AAs, no flavour and aroma are incredibly subtle
Boadicea - nice English style hop. Quite floral and earthy
Dana - another good bittering hop, goes well as a late addition in a lager as it has that spice flavour.
Calypso - American hop with floral and tropical flavours. A bit subtle for an American hop so goes best with another hop, or in a saison
Lublin - This is a saaz replacement. I think AAs are a bit lower.
Dr. Rudi - nice tropical fruit flavours
Junga - I don't think I've used this hop correctly as it tends to make its way into my more esoteric beers. The flavour has not gone with the beer and I thought the hop wasn't nice, but I need to make a smash with it to really figure this one out.
Jaryllo - an "American" style hop without being harsh on the bitterness.

There are more but I can't remember them right now.

 

[lancon]

English Target makes a good single hopped proper English IPA
Comet is good for a US pale ale
El Dorado is interesting and Summit single hopped pale loaded late and heavily dry hopped is always welcome

 

[jceg316]

English Target makes a good single hopped proper English IPA
Comet is good for a US pale ale
El Dorado is interesting and Summit single hopped pale loaded late and heavily dry hopped is always welcome

I used El Dorado in a wheat beer, it was one of the best beers I've made! A really good IPA/wheat cross. I think I used Summit in a chilli saison, it added a nice citrus flavour but was mostly drowned out by the chilli which came through strong.

 

[Simonh82]

I used to love buying unknown hops and seeing what happens.

Great, thanks. That's an interesting list. I think Dana was the only one of those that I've tried.

Another English hop I like is Pilgrim. It's good for bittering but does have a nice fruitiness if used in quantity for a dry hop. One thing I've learned is not to expect the same kind of intensity from English or European hops even if they have similar descriptors.

 

[Simonh82]

English Target makes a good single hopped proper English IPA
Comet is good for a US pale ale
El Dorado is interesting and Summit single hopped pale loaded late and heavily dry hopped is always welcome

I tried El Dorado in a session IPA along with Citra and Centennial. It wasn't a great beer and there was something about the hop flavour that I didn't like. I assumed it was the El Dorado as I thought the other hops were much more common and likely to be in beers I had enjoyed but I've since learned that Centennial is very finicky and if it's picked too late it develops strong off flavours, so I wonder if that was to blame.

 

[Simonh82]

There are a few American hops that like interesting. Ahtanum, Azacca, Belma, Equinox, Eureka for example. They all sound interesting but they aren't significantly cheaper than hops I know and trust that I've tried them now.

 

[MickDundee]

This thread interests me as I was planning on doing a series of SMaSH brews and thought I’d try some hops I’ve never used before.

Dana sounds interesting, and from the description above I think I’ll do a hoppy pseudo-lager with it.

Also thinking of trying Aurora.

 

[Cwrw666]

I did a Pacific Jade single hop brew a while back the recipe for which I found in a hipster craft beer book. Sort of a best bitter but with citrussy hop flavours. Thought it was very nice but I confess I only made it because I liked the name of the hops. Pacific Jade... how could it not turn out nice.

 

[Linalmeemow]

I ordered a lucky dip kilogram of hops and got Brewer's Gold & Marynka which I put in an English IPA (bottled last night and tasted great at that point), Premiant (which I'm using in a Vienna lager, in the boil as I type, with the rest going in a Belgian Golden Strong in a few weeks) and Mandarina Bavaria and Galena (which I'm putting in an American Pale Ale).

I'll report back on how they turn out.

 

[MickDundee]

I ordered a lucky dip kilogram of hops

Where was that from? Is the offer still on?

 

[Brew_DD2]

Idaho 7 is lovely. As is Cashmere.

 

[Linalmeemow]

Where was that from? Is the offer still on?

https://www.brewuk.co.uk/lucky-dip-vacuum-packed-leaf-hops-100-gms.html

Actually half a kilo, my mistake. Still, two quid per 100g is good value.

 

[AdeDunn]

Pilgrim and summit are nice, and along with nelson sauvin and citra are the hops that go in Hobgoblin Gold, so these are not that unusual really at all.

Belma is a lovely hop, really fruity. 2015 harvest currently available for £1.20 for 100g from The Home Brew Shop. I combined it with Pilgrim, Summit and Citra in a braggot to good effect.

Endeavour is a nice one, NOT at all a challenger for a US hop though, but certainly more citrus than most other UK varieties. Beer made with it though seems to need longer to condition, as if drunk young it had an odd diesel note to it, that vanished after about 3 months or so.

Jester - Not sold on this yet, too early though for final judgement. 100g though in a Grisette (70g of this at flameout) and it's not very hoppy at all. About to dry hop with Cascade to try to fix this. I get NONE of the flavours the growers describe so far in early samples. In fact, at the moment I would compare the flavour to a commercial lager.... That's not a complement.... lol

 

[rank_frank]

Has anyone tried Green Bullet? I've got 100g sitting in my cupboard and I'm wondering how best to use it?

 

[simon12]

There are a few American hops that like interesting. Ahtanum, Azacca, Belma, Equinox, Eureka for example. They all sound interesting but they aren't significantly cheaper than hops I know and trust that I've tried them now.

Ahtanum is very nice but is quite subtle will get overpowered by other hops easily. No idea on the others

 

[Druncan]

I have been on Falconers Flight T90's + 2% Amerillo from CML for dry hop for over a year,,,,,,,

I just wonder , will I go cold turkey if they stop selling them? ,,,,

I even wring out the bag into the Corny and then sniff the sludge.

My name is Druncan and I am a hop head,,,

I do not wish to be saved!

 

[Simonh82]

I have been on Falconers Flight T90's + 2% Amerillo from CML for dry hop for over a year,,,,,,,

I just wonder , will I go cold turkey if they stop selling them? ,,,,

I even wring out the bag into the Corny and then sniff the sludge.

My name is Druncan and I am a hop head,,,

I do not wish to be saved!

I've used Falconer's Flight 7Cs a few times. It works well in combo with other hops.

 

[Simonh82]

Ahtanum is very nice but is quite subtle will get overpowered by other hops easily. No idea on the others

I think flavour intensity is one of the things that is hard to judge from the normal hop descriptions.

 

[Sadfield]

I think flavour intensity is one of the things that is hard to judge from the normal hop descriptions.

I like Yakimachiefhops website as a reference as they give the total oils value and probably more importantly the myrcene % of the total oils, which helps to give an indication of intensity.

https://www.yakimachief.com/wp-content/uploads/Yakima-Chief-Hops-Varieties.pdf

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