Hop profile in microbrews...

I am new to home brewing. I am having a really hard time deciding on what hops i want to use for my next brew, thinking about a pale ale.

I have been doing some research on various hops i would potentialy use, however it seems people have differnt opinions about the same hops.

So, i was wondering if people could list some beers that have a distinct hops flavor where i can possibly go out and taste these hops in beer and decide what i want in my next brew.

Thanks,
Mike

Have you read this yet?

How to Brew - By John Palmer - Hop Types

Well there's the more traditional Pale Ale, english in style..... and then there is the American Pale Ale which has become a style of its own.

Bass Ale is an easily available English style. Clean, simple, slightly bitter but not hoppy. Lots of english ales have goldings hops.

Sierra Nevada Pale Ale is classic American style; bitterred with magnum and perle, and finished with citrusy American Cascade hops. I brewed a similar pale ale using williamette and cascades.

I've heard people complain about magnum hops but in a SNPA they are great...... I am turned off by chinook hops when not in very small quantities.

You have to try different beers and then research what hops are used. That is not a bad thing.

Cascades are pretty dominant in American pale ales but then there are Centenials,Columbus, Amarillo and Simcoe which come to mind.

I personally like Magnum and Chinooks so you can see that me and goodbyebluesky have different tastes and you need to determine yours too.

Try beers, ask questions here and your on your way.

Are chinooks used exclusively for bittering? That's what I'm planning on using for bittering for my IPA, however I have UK Goldings, Cascade, and Amarillo hops as well, which of these in your opinion would be best for flavor (15), aroma (5 or flameout), and dry hopping?

Based on the hops you have listed I would use Chinook for bittering and Cascade for flavor and aroma. I would not use the Goldings with any of the other hops you list, but that's just personal preference. If you want to know what a real Cascady beer tastes like get your hands on some Stone Arrogant Bastard.

Don't know about you, but all hops taste nearly the same to me...
Perhaps that is because I am not fond of strong hop flavour (they seem to make my tastebuds numb).

jrakich87 said:

Are chinooks used exclusively for bittering? That's what I'm planning on using for bittering for my IPA, however I have UK Goldings, Cascade, and Amarillo hops as well, which of these in your opinion would be best for flavor (15), aroma (5 or flameout), and dry hopping?

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Chinook seems to mainly used for bittering although not exclusively. It will work fine with the Cascades or the Amarillo but use the Goldings on their own because they will be drowned out by the citrusy flavor of the others.

TheJadedDog said:

If you want to know what a real Cascady beer tastes like get your hands on some Stone Arrogant Bastard.

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Isn't Chinook used exclusively in Arrogant Bastard?