sonnet hops

alecoholic said:

I was worried about the grass and hay aroma getting into my beer, don't worry none does.

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Good to know. I'm really interested to see how this beer turns out. I actually wouldn't have minded if some of the hay made it through but won't be devastated if it didn't. I've had some really good english bitters that displayed pretty big hay aromas that I found a pleasant sensation. If this beer is more woody/floral though I won't mind a bit. Did you happen to notice the butterscotchy aroma of the hops? I wonder if that makes it through. I was surprised when I detected it because it's not something you would generally associate with hops. But it was definitely there. It would be awesome if it made it through into the beer.

That grain bill looks really bloody tasty.

So I made a sonnet pale ale last night. Recipe as follows.
5.5 gal
5 lb 2row
3 lb vienna
3 lb munich
OG-1055
1 oz amarillo(8.5%) @ 75min
1 oz sonnet(4.1%) @45 min
2 oz sonnet(4.1%) @15 min
2 oz sonnet(4.1%) @2 min
IBU~55
SRM~7-8

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This beer finished extremely low grav. I had it in my temp controlled freezer for a week at 62F. Would not finish so I moved it into the house after a week which was 67-68F. It finished at 1.008. Ridiculous. Does 1056 always do this? Or did I do it? It's in the keg force carbing for the party this weekend now. I had a taste when I took a gravity reading and it is most definately an IPA. I'm waiting til it's carbed and cold to put my tasting resulting about the sonnets up here but I think it finished way to dry to be even considered an english pale.

Just as a follow-up, this beer turned out well. There is a grassy/wild jungle/alfalfa taste due to the shear amount of sonnet hops at the end of the boil. The purpose of this beer was to figure out what the sonnet hop is and I think I have a fairly good idea now. The sonnet seems to be a mild, english tasting hop. What I really like is that there is a subtle citrus aroma. It definately seems like a bitter citrus such as grapefruit, but not like amarillo in the sense that it's not in your face. A wild field/grapefruit aroma, sorta like wildflowers in pollination season. If I were to make this again, I would only add half of the late hop additions. If anyone wants more as far as tasting notes of sonnet hops, I'm willing to drink a few more pints of this beer for research purposes.

BenS said:

Just as a follow-up, this beer turned out well. There is a grassy/wild jungle/alfalfa taste due to the shear amount of sonnet hops at the end of the boil.

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I completely agree. I used 3oz at flame out in a 12 gallon batch of CAP. Grassy/alfalfa nails it. Not bad, but definitely different. The CAP is definitely drinkable, but I won't be doing it again. I'm not sure how I'd use these in the future.

I did something like 3oz bittering, 1 oz at 15 or 10 mins, 1 oz at flameout. I didn't get any grassy notes in the beer.

I did something like 3oz bittering, 1 oz at 15 or 10 mins, 1 oz at flameout. I didn't get any grassy notes in the beer.

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What did you get?

If anyone's still wondering about this variety, I did a single-hop red ale with sonnet as an experiment; I'm continuing to post my thoughts in the corresponding thread.