Stupid Hops, remind me of Glade Plug-ins

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Brewpastor

Beer, not rocket chemistry
Joined
Feb 16, 2006
Messages
4,628
Reaction score
66
Location
Corrales, New Mexico
I am sampling an oak aged YETI IMPERIAL STOUT. ($7 for a bomber!) It is a good beer, but it has way too many hops, particularly in the finish. They totally mask all the tasty malt and oak characters of this beer and just leave you with the sense that this is a BIG HOPPY beer.

I thinking I am on the edge of another rant (I HATE WHEAT BEER CLONES!) but why hide all that great malt with hops? Even from an economics stand point, we spend all this money on great malt and then pull out the Glad Plug-in to cover it up. You know what I mean, you go into a friends house and all you smell is ALPINE MEADOW while you know good and well there is some garlic chicken aroma in there somewhere!

I think I need to back off on my hopping rate on the 18,252.5 Nights IPS recipe we are playing with. Maybe get the IBUs down to 50 as well!
 
It's the same spirit of "dicksizing," IMHO, that led to things like roasted-to-the-point-of-burnt coffee (thanks, Starbucks), hot sauces that are practically pure capcaisin (sp?) and inedible, 90 IBU IPAs, and so on.

Don't get me worng: I love dark-roasted coffee, habanero sauce, and hoppy beers. But there's a competitive impulse that takes over and drives these things to ridiculous extremes, especially with food products like the ones I've listed, which the mainstream considers extreme to begin with.

That's a Great Divide beer, right? I really like their Titan IPA, but that, too, is over-hopped a bit IMHO.
 
It's a fad. I'm certainly tired of Cascades in everything. Widmer's w'06 is another example. They say it's a Red, but it's hopped like an IPA. In fact, it's hoppier than their new Broken Halo IPA.
 
david_42 said:
... I'm certainly tired of Cascades in everything. ...
I love hoppy beers, fiery foods,etc., too. But I agree, I'm kind of Cascade-ed out. And I have them growing in my backyard!:rolleyes: I'm out right now and should order more. But I've been more inclined lately to substitute other breeds in their place.

There's something to be said for balance!
 
I tend to agree with you Brewpastor. I can enjoy a nicely hopped IPA but when I'm drinking a big beer I like the malt back bone to dominate the taste with a nice hop back ground to balance and compliment the malt.
I will admit however that the Hop Rod Rye I tried was pretty good. The hops in that almost assault your senses but the malt back bone is still there. I don't know how they do it but that is pretty good beer.

EDIT: Brewpastor you have been added to my spelling checker.:mug:
 
Hop Rod Rye? 25% rye is the main kick.

I've got Cascades growing as well, but I'm really hoping the Fuggles and Willamette come through this year. Fresh hopping, right from the vine!
 
Bjorn Borg said:
Yeah down with Cascades!!!

Nah--cascade is fine. It's the amount that goes into some beers that is the problem.

But i LOVE French roast coffee!!!

Me too--in fact I'm drinking it right now (from a local roasterie). But Starbucks Frenc roast, like pretty-much all of their coffees IMHO, is just over-roasted.
 
I'm a malt-head. I appreciate hops, but I love the malt flavors and love the occasional sweet, malty beer. Then again, I like a hoppy beer too from time to time, but not nearly as often or as much as a malty.

But I agree, it's a fad. It's one of those things that taste horrible, yet people claim to "love it" just to seem eclectic. Just like super-hot sauces, etc. I love hot sauce, but the "Dave's Insanity" inspired sauces are just inedible.

(FYI, for an AWESOME hot sauce, http://www.susieshotsauce.com)
 
Cheesefood said:
I'm a malt-head. I appreciate hops, but I love the malt flavors and love the occasional sweet, malty beer. Then again, I like a hoppy beer too from time to time, but not nearly as often or as much as a malty.

But I agree, it's a fad. It's one of those things that taste horrible, yet people claim to "love it" just to seem eclectic. Just like super-hot sauces, etc. I love hot sauce, but the "Dave's Insanity" inspired sauces are just inedible.

(FYI, for an AWESOME hot sauce, http://www.susieshotsauce.com)

to each thier own, but i wouldn't say hops taste horrible. You're likely to piss off a lot of brewers with that statement. lets not forget what balances the malt out.

Yeti is one of my favorite beers. I think the hops could decrease a little bit, but overall i think its pretty well balanced, whjich is key in a beer that huge, and i'm also positive that its the best russian stout i've ever had. When you're producing a beer with taht much malt, you don't even want to think of going below 50 IBUs or youre gonna be drinking just sweet black liquid with lots of roasted notes in it.

Also, reallllllly hot hot sauce has its purpose just like really high AA hops, albeit a pretty limited purpose.
 
I simply found it frustrating that the over riding characteristic of the Oak Aged Yeti was hops. I was expecting more oak, and malt flavor, which I am sure is there, but it is way back behind all those hops. And it isn't bittering hops either, it is hop flavor and aroma. One can make a balanced beer with a huge amount of hops, but still have the malt come through. Just don't put so many finishing hops in it.

Again, this is simply a rant, so take it with a grain of salt. The great joy of brewing is I can make my own RIS and put whatever I want in it. The judges might hate it, but that is their problem!

Have I told you how I feel about wheat beers lately?
 
djmd said:
YES. Very much so.


Haha, yeah, "the Kiss", I remember that from every wall of every male dorm room in my college. Heh.

Also, re: ultra-hot pepper sauce: While I dig that you wouldn't like it at that point (because the flavors are completely subsumed under the heat), I will just say that I do enjoy it, once in a while, just like people with more guts than me enjoy, say, skydiving, or starting big bar brawls.
 
Brewpastor said:
I am sampling an oak aged YETI IMPERIAL STOUT. ($7 for a bomber!) It is a good beer, but it has way too many hops, particularly in the finish. They totally mask all the tasty malt and oak characters of this beer and just leave you with the sense that this is a BIG HOPPY beer.

I thinking I am on the edge of another rant (I HATE WHEAT BEER CLONES!) but why hide all that great malt with hops? Even from an economics stand point, we spend all this money on great malt and then pull out the Glad Plug-in to cover it up. You know what I mean, you go into a friends house and all you smell is ALPINE MEADOW while you know good and well there is some garlic chicken aroma in there somewhere!

I think I need to back off on my hopping rate on the 18,252.5 Nights IPS recipe we are playing with. Maybe get the IBUs down to 50 as well!


Really? I get that beer ALL the time (on draft and in the bottle) and it doesn't seem overly-hoppy to me at all. I think it has an exquisite maltiness with a really nice and creamy oak flavor. Course i've been drinkin this stuff for awhile so I might be used to the hops, but I never remember this beer being that hoppy.

of coarse this is all opinion! :)
 
am not sure about the beer I had, or my condition when I was tasting it, because when I had it again this past weekend it had a very different character. (see my "Yeti Yet Again" thread.
 
Brewpastor said:
then pull out the Glad Plug-in to cover it up. You know what I mean, you go into a friends house and all you smell is ALPINE MEADOW while you know good and well there is some garlic chicken aroma in there somewhere!

Good God, those Glade things reek! Now, if they actually had garlic-scented air freshener, I might use it. Or bacon. Mmmm.... ;)

I'm with you, though - why hide delicious malty goodness? :mad:
 
Or hop scented room fresheners. I had o bowl of hops out yesterday and the whole room reeked, it made me quite happy.

Since you're planning to age the 50th b-day beer for 3 years most of that hop aroma will disapate before you're drinking it. Also you could go for the European method of leaving your hops out to age a bit before using them, drive off some of those annoying aromas.
 
Haha, hop-scented air fresheners. You should totally market that, you'd make millions of dollars. Or at least tens of dollars...

or ones...
 
Back
Top