mhenry41h
Well-Known Member
I'm curious what the theories, successes, and failures are amongst my brewing brethren in the hop category.
I've tried so many different things over the past few years and I just hit on a combo that has me rethinking my hop pairing selection process.
If you've read my thread on my black IPA (The Stroke of Midnight), you'll see a unique pairing of Columbus, Cascade, and Styrian Goldings (in equal amounts.). This beer is, per myself and all who drink a lot of my beers, the best recipe that I've written.
Too often I taste beers from other brewers that are overbearing with just fruity hops or just dank hops, or just too much of one particular hop character and I've done it myself. This got me thinking when I wrote the recipe for The Stroke of Midnight.
The combo mentioned gives the beer a nice firm dank hop note from the Columbus, a background complexity of fruit/citrus from the Cascade, and a delicate floral/earthiness from the Styrian Goldings. All are in balance with none overpowering the essence of the beer.
In closing, I'm now inclined to write my recipes with a combo of high alpha dank hops, a fruity mid alpha hop, and a lower alpha refined hop. All flavors are present, all are in good balance, and used in equal proportions, all tie together with a wonderful complexity that makes it a challenge to discern what hops are in there. (the use of Kolsch yeast in an IPA at low 60's also makes the combo pop) if you want to see what I mean first hand, look up my recipe for The Stroke of Midnight, brew it, and get back to me!)
I've tried so many different things over the past few years and I just hit on a combo that has me rethinking my hop pairing selection process.
If you've read my thread on my black IPA (The Stroke of Midnight), you'll see a unique pairing of Columbus, Cascade, and Styrian Goldings (in equal amounts.). This beer is, per myself and all who drink a lot of my beers, the best recipe that I've written.
Too often I taste beers from other brewers that are overbearing with just fruity hops or just dank hops, or just too much of one particular hop character and I've done it myself. This got me thinking when I wrote the recipe for The Stroke of Midnight.
The combo mentioned gives the beer a nice firm dank hop note from the Columbus, a background complexity of fruit/citrus from the Cascade, and a delicate floral/earthiness from the Styrian Goldings. All are in balance with none overpowering the essence of the beer.
In closing, I'm now inclined to write my recipes with a combo of high alpha dank hops, a fruity mid alpha hop, and a lower alpha refined hop. All flavors are present, all are in good balance, and used in equal proportions, all tie together with a wonderful complexity that makes it a challenge to discern what hops are in there. (the use of Kolsch yeast in an IPA at low 60's also makes the combo pop) if you want to see what I mean first hand, look up my recipe for The Stroke of Midnight, brew it, and get back to me!)