Hops with orange flavor?

I'm looking for suggestions of hop varieties that have orange flavor notes, as opposed to grapefruit or generic citrus. I'd like to try to put together a chocolate/orange stout with just malt, hops, yeast, and water, if possible. I'm headed out to the SLHBS later today. Pacifica comes to mind, but if there are others I should look at as well, I'd love to know.

I personally find that Summit can have tangerine notes, though some people also describe it as having a garlic or onion flavor that they don't like. Amarillo comes to mind too as a more orange-like flavor.

I'm not sure why you wouldn't also use some orange rind, though, unless it's just to see how it goes. Bitter/sour/Seville orange rind is used in beer all the time, and it will blend well with hops. I would also recommend a small amount of ground Indian coriander, which has a strong citrusy aroma.

I get a lot of orange from cascade hops. I would try that along with some orange zest at flameout.

Citra and Amarillo Hops due great for a citrus note. Can be close to orange if dry hopped for aroma tricking your brain into tasting orange/tangerine.

Could also combine sweet orange peel?

I haven't used amarillo yet, but I did pick up half a pound of them recently. Maybe this will be a good test bed.

I'm avoiding the use of orange zest/peel (and cocoa nibs) just as a challenge. I want to see if I can coax the flavors I want out of just the base ingredients. I got some one gallon fermenters recently, and I've been having fun getting experimental (so far, I've gotten a horrible catpiss IPA and a promising pineapple mead out of them).

Ahtanum has an orange flavor to it. It's accompanied by a musty/earthy component, so if you are looking for a clean orange flavor it may not be your best bet.

I did a pale ale with a mix of ahtanum and Amarillo. It tastes like fresh squeezed orange juice.

ahurd110 said:

I did a pale ale with a mix of ahtanum and Amarillo. It tastes like fresh squeezed orange juice.

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I've done this same combo -- really fantastic!

I brewed an all zythos IPA, and it was like biting into the side of a tangerine. That keg didn't last long.

ahurd110 said:

I did a pale ale with a mix of ahtanum and Amarillo. It tastes like fresh squeezed orange juice.

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What quantities/times did you add for the orange juice flavor?
What style was the beer? <- I just saw that you stated it was a pale ale.

Agree with Zythos. Super tangerine-y in a very pleasant way. I love a good single-hop IPA with Zythos (can you call it a single-hop if the hop is just a branded blend?)

One of my top 5 beers is Essence from Hangar 24 - they use Cascade and Zythos with (I think) a touch of wheat in the grist, and grapefruit and blood oranges in the secondary. Perfectly balanced and super citrusy.

Huh. That catpiss IPA I mentioned is all zythos. No tangerine, plenty of ammonia.

Weird. My experience is the exact opposite. I love Citra and Simcoe as well, maybe my palate doesn't get the cat piss thing that others report.

They may have been incredibly old. I picked them up at a local beer store that has a small selection of very dusty homebrew supplies. I don't think their stock rotates very often.

I adore citra, cascade, etc, and don't usually get cat pee from them. I think it was just this pouch of zythos.

+1 Pacifica! Nice orange flavor.

US Magnum to me has a great orange aroma

Good suggestions of hops here. I used summit and got tangerine but with the ones described with onion/garilic-those are hop union I believe(they have that actual description on the hops). Ive used both didnt really get the onion garlic in that one though.

I hear ya about the lhbs and old ingredients though, I belive I got some cascade leaf hops I used maybe within a month or two (freezer) from them and I got dirty refrigerator/garbage aromas from it. Unless it was something else ,I was kind of suspisious of a starter airlock(with idophor that maybe became weak) backsuck from being in the fridge more than a few days. The leaf hops didnt seem that bad when I dryhopped with them but maybe a bit buttery/slightly discolored. Its hit or miss with my lhbs too.

Felixio said:

What quantities/times did you add for the orange juice flavor?
What style was the beer? <- I just saw that you stated it was a pale ale.

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It was a few years back and I dont think I have the recipe anymore. I do remember it was a lot of late additions, and leaned around 70/30 Amarillo to ahtanum. I'll post the recipe if I can find it.

I made a Zythos/Ahtanum IPA recently and it was pure Blood Orange. Very good.

beertroll said:

I'm looking for suggestions of hop varieties that have orange flavor notes, as opposed to grapefruit or generic citrus. I'd like to try to put together a chocolate/orange stout with just malt, hops, yeast, and water, if possible. I'm headed out to the SLHBS later today. Pacifica comes to mind, but if there are others I should look at as well, I'd love to know.

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Super late reply to this thread, but use voss kveik yeast. Ferment around 90F and pitch about 75% less yeast as your normal pitch rate.
10 to 15% rye malt will add some body and a citrus/orange note as well

Voss gives me oranges too. I like a mix of Bavarian Mandarina and el dorado hops to juice it up. Mash low so it's nice and dry too.