Experimentation

Has anyone been really experimenting with flavors because of the hops shortage?

I guess it depends on what you mean by "really experimenting." If you mean using lesser known hop strains that are easier to acquire, then yes. I've come to find that I absolutely love crystal and sterling hops. All I ever used to use were cascade, fuggles, and saaz along with a couple high alpha varieties.....I'm currently the planning stage for a pale ale with summitt and crystal. Should be tasty!!!!

I'm really liking the crystal, as well. I'm also discovering williamette and some others. I'd say the hop shortage has at least been interesting as far as learing about and experimenting with the different hop varities.

Well if I can finally score 500 grams of safbrew 33 I'll probably make a hell of a lot of belgian ales.

I just made a cream ale with a friend that is great and we were surprised at how good it tasted after 2 weeks in the primarys. It is a very nice taste of malt with a touch of hops. Extremely light and drinkable. I have also used Columbus and Magnum in my amber ale. I want to get some Sterling and Summit and try them.

We used the following for 12 gallons:

Amount Item Type % or IBU
16 lbs Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 80.00 %
2 lbs Cara-pils (3.0 SRM) Grain 10.00 %
1 lbs Caramel/Crystal Malt - 10L (10.0 SRM) Grain 5.00 %
1 lbs Vienna (3.0 SRM) Grain 5.00 %
1.50 oz Cascade [5.50 %] (60 min) Hops 12.9 IBU
1.00 oz Amarillo Gold [8.50 %] (15 min) Hops 6.6 IBU
2.00 items Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 15.0 min) Misc
2 Pkgs Nottingham (Danstar #-) Yeast-Ale

I have been experimenting since day 1 of brewing. Recently I have been printing out 3 or 4 recipes when I go to the LHBS in case they are out of something. They seem to have a lot more now than they did a couple months ago.