Legacy Hops

Did anyone else go ahead and order this? Any reviews yet? There is very little information on this new variety.

Legacy Leaf Hop 2011 NEW CROP

Alpha Acid 7.8%

Dual purpose hop, with a floral, blackcurrant and spicy aroma.

Typical brewing styles: Ales, Lagers, and Stouts.

Legacy is our newly registered variety. Email us we would love to hear your imput.

Possible substitutions: Cluster, Galena, and Northern Brewer.

Farmgrown here on Puterbaugh Farms

It smelled nice out of the bag. Spicy, rustic and a little pine perhaps. A little more browning than I'd like but in otherwise good condition.

I used it in a Golden Bitter for bitterness but haven't done any sampling yet.

I for one would be very curious to know about these... the description sounds awesome!

I have em and and used them a couple of times. So far I love 'em. The black currant is a little stronger than I anticipated (especially in the dry hop), I did a winter ale that was about 50/50 legacy and serebrianka and the black currant pretty much took over the beer.

What I'm really excited about though, I used em in a pale ale in combination with amarillo and citra, where legacy was slighty under half of the total hops. Insane! Never tasted a beer quite like it, I've been trying to keep my hands off it as it still tastes a bit green/watery, but the hoppy-fruityness is just crazy.

I brewed an IPA on monday with mostly C-hops, then just a little legacy mixed in at flameout so it doesn't taste so ordinary. Looking forward to that one!

Belgian pale ale or IPA is going be coming up soon for me, I think this hop will do a great job in there.

So far I've used legacy hops in a flemish oud bruin. I only used them for bittering though. I am brewing up a belgian dark strong in which I'll be using legacy. I am splitting the legacy with strisselspalt so it should be interesting. I made a hop tea and they had a spicy fruity flavor when I tasted it compared to a floral taste like the serebriankas I also got.

Thanks! I'm having a hard time tho' imagining the 'black current' flavor - is there another hop that has that sort of flavor (in hopes I've tried it so I can a better sense of the flavor)?

sounds like a good hop for a malted cider

I decided to focus my brewing around Ultra hops right now since the weather is perfect for lager brewing. I'll be putting Legacy through it's paces in a few weeks in with a Bitter, a Northern Brown and a Porter using it exclusively.

Legacy recently went in to my Belgian Dark Strong and my Belgian Dubbel. I must admit when I read the black currant flavor I became fixated on using them in dark belgian beers. Well I finally got the brews completed. The dark strong tastes GREAT so far after three weeks of fermentation. That beer is slowly finishing up fermentation but it's crawling down as 1.020. The dubbel is rocking right now and have not tasted yet. The BDSA was split between Legacy and Strisselspalt. The Dubbel was Ultra and Legacy.

The IPA containing about 25% legacy hops in the flameout in dry hop is done and I'm in love with it. I highly recommend using it in a blend w/ c-hops if you're into the bright/citrusy/fruity kind of IPA. I just entered it into an IPA-only competition so we'll see how it stacks up.

Just had a bottle of the Golden Bitter mentioned in the OP and the Legacy hops work very nicely. It works well with the fruity esters that the Wyeast 1469 is providing. Peach and apricot I think are as expected but there is a grappa note that I can only attribute to the bittering hops. Very nice indeed.

I can see the dark fruit flavors (ie, belgian ales, dark milds) working very well with this hop.

thought i'd resurrect this thread...

i ordered some Legacy from HopsDirect recently, and will be brewing a SMaSH at some point to get to the bottom of this variety. i'm curious about this blackcurrant claim.

others here also got in on HD's yard sale and may have picked up some Legacy. if you've used them, please let us know what you think.

The dubbel had awesome flavor from the Legacy. Unfortunately I contaminated the batch. It even got semi-decent ratings at NHC with the contamination. I will brewing it again soon with out contamination!

I did a legacy SMaSH with MO and it came out really good, can't say that I remember any black currant flavors, but it did go quick. I'm going to do a legacy only pale ale soon.

I'll add a further 2 cents, as i've been brewing a lot with this hop. i used it in an ipa where legacy was the premier hop, along with some ahtanum and citra, and it was really lacking that classic citrusiness of an IPA. it became earthier more than anything else, which I wasn't expecting at all. It is a "wierd" beer, but I've been blending it with a simcoe/cascade pale ale and the combination is just awesome.

I also used it to bitter a diacetyl-laden oatmeal stout which was a bit unpleasant... but that doesn't have much to do with the legacy. whoops! still learning the ways of the highly floculant british strains.

I do get the black currant note when I smell the hops, but to be fair I'd say you could just call it a "berry" note, or even simply "fruity" and it'd be accurate. Did anyone else get some earthy qualities in the finished product or is that just me?

My favorite application of this hop is still sneaking a half ounce into the flameout and another half ounce into the dry hop of a tried and true citrusy west coast IPA. It just adds an exotic fruitiness I can't find in any commercial beer. I have a pale ale and an IPA on tap featuring this quality right now and I just can't get enough... and I used to HATE hoppy beer.

PS. the beer from my earlier post scored a 39 and made it to the top 16? it's kind of a wierd competition... out of 70 or so American IPA's. The judges comments were "so close to beauty" and were thrown off by the cattiness from a 15 minute simcoe addition. The complaint was that the hop character was too complex.

used them in a maris otter/legacy SMaSH barleywine (boiled 3 hours). i'll let you know in six months or so when i try it, but i figured the fruity flavour would only help the style

I am very curious about this hop. Im new on the brewing scene but I ordered a pound of these from hops direct two days ago, good timing too because i checked today that they are all out. Im making a honey wheat ale tomorrow but I've got at ipa on deck that I am really excited to use these in!

Sounds a lot like bramling cross to me; black current and spicy dual purpose.

Brewed up a legacy only pale ale this weekend, bubbling away now! Excited to see what this hop brings to the table.

It's good to hear this new variety is making some really awesome beers!

To be honest I haven't got around to using up my pound yet. Sorry, I've become highly obsessed with lagers!

Once I get around to brewing some ales again I think I'll be using it quite a bit. 30-60% in browns and ~25% in bitters along with primarily Glacier and perhaps some Tettnang. I'm imagining pot pourri bitter.

I bought a pound of Legacy from HD but haven't used them yet. I look forward to using them in an IPA.

I too look forward to using them for some sort of an IPA. I think I want to try them in combination of Summit as my bittering and cascade. could be an interesting combination

i've read several times that folks recommend pairing legacy with C-hops.

i've recently bought a 3-gallon carboy for the sole purpose of doing half-batch experiments -mostly SMaSH's. first up is amarillo/optic (next weekend), and legacy/vienna is next in line.

i'll also be using some legacy in a breakfast stout, but i don't expect the legacy to really be particularly noticeable amid all those other strong flavors. my main interest in using them is as an excuse to open the bag and have a sniff

yeah i opened them so I could take that heavy pound bag (more like 18oz) and vaccuum seal them into 1 oz bags

Oh my... Just sampled my legacy only pale ale... It is something special. Definately get a fruity berry like aroma and flavor... Currant? Yes sir! More please!

i opened my bag of legacy this weekend and used some in two batches. however, i couldn't get a good appreciation of the hops' aroma because (1) it was the first time i dealt with leaf hops - aroma is entirely different from pellets; and (2) the gas that they flush the bags with (nitrogen?) smells really strong. i've opened 3 bags from HopsDirect (including 1 pellet) and all three had that strong gas smell. ugh. t'was a very different experience from any other bags i've ever opened. typically i cut the bag open and stick my head inside to hyperventilate on the intoxicating smell. with the HD bags, i had to hold my nose. i'm assuming that the gas smell will be quickly boiled off and the hops true character will shine through... but what a downer.

I split my pounds up and stored them in the freezer, used some legacy in the IPA I brewed this weekend and it smelled much better... The bravo lb I got from them smelled great when I first opened it.

Christer said:

I split my pounds up and stored them in the freezer, used some legacy in the IPA I brewed this weekend and it smelled much better... The bravo lb I got from them smelled great when I first opened it.

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interesting. did the legacy initially smell kinda weird? great to hear that that the smell dissipates.

so far the legacy & cascade leafs, and the amarillo pellets, had that gas smell. i've since re-sealed the bags inside food-savers bags. i'll be brewing again in a month, hopefully i've had the bags open long enough to get the smell to vent out. i still have a pound of columbus i haven't opened, but i'm tempted to if only to give it a whiff.

sweetcell said:

interesting. did the legacy initially smell kinda weird? great to hear that that the smell dissipates. .

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mine smelled a lil weird at first, almost tea-like to me. i just kegged an ESB with them and you definitely get a berry-like aroma/taste

Dry hopped a honey wheat ale with 2 ounces of legacy and it turned out great! Truely a distinct berry like aroma. Was paired with cascade in the brew so I think there is some truth to legacy matching with C hops well. IPA is up on the dockett with these being the primary aroma/flavoring hop.

first one is before I decided to pour in the yeast. There is not much head yet, but the carbonation is there is the beer itself!

oops did not realize how huge those would be....

Going to finally use mine in my triple berry wheat. For those who have used this what was your hop schedule like....I'm going to go for 1oz legacy at 60 minutes and maybe 1oz two minute maybe work in some cascade in there

you won't be getting any flavor or aroma from that 60 minute addition, so if you want to get to know this hop i'd go for a 10 minute and a 1 minute or flameout additions. as for amounts to use it would depend on what style of beer you're making, how big a batch, and how hoppy you want it to be.

sweetcell said:

you won't be getting any flavor or aroma from that 60 minute addition, so if you want to get to know this hop i'd go for a 10 minute and a 1 minute or flameout additions. as for amounts to use it would depend on what style of beer you're making, how big a batch, and how hoppy you want it to be.

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hmmm....guess I will need to experiement with some additions..

I did a Legacy Pale that really turned out well:
(from memory as I'm on my phone)
5.5 gal batch
8lb 2 row (maybe 9...)
2lb Munich
8oz C80
8 oz torrified wheat
Mash at 153
Yeast S-05
1 oz legacy additions at 60,20,10 and flameout.
Dry hopped 1 oz for 10 days. Yum!

Christer said:

I did a Legacy Pale that really turned out well:
...Yum!

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Can you provide a more detailed taste description? Trying to get a sense for these hops.

There is a definite sweet berry-like finish. The description from hops direct said notes of currant. I definately got some of that, at times almost a bit like raisins. I also got a bit of citrus, not anywhere near cascade, but its there playing around in the background.

Christer said:

There is a definite sweet berry-like finish. The description from hops direct said notes of currant. I definately got some of that, at times almost a bit like raisins. I also got a bit of citrus, not anywhere near cascade, but its there playing around in the background.

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Cool, thanks. I'm considering a Cascade / Legacy dry hop. Was planning on Cascade/Willamette, but might have to split the batch to try this one out.

I did an IPA with cascade and legacy in the flameout that was also very tasty. They work well together. Happy hopping

I like all these comments of combining with c hops. I just dry hopped a barleywines with legacy and cascade on a hunch that it would work.

I've been happy with the legacy so far, but I do get more earth/herb than berry or currant. Of the three new ones from HD this year comet was the star. My comet ipa was pure grapefruit.