Simcoe substitute for pine aroma?

I've just heard from my homebrew supplier that they probably won't get any Simcoe until at least 2017 due to shortage in the market.. (i'm in EU)

I want to brew an IPA with strong pine aroma/flavour and the recipe uses 70% Simcoe / 30% Chinook. Is there any good Simcoe substitute that would be equal on the pine?

As the last resort, I was thinking - what about cutting some fresh/sappy pine wood and adding as dry hops or maybe at the flameout?

Go all-Chinook. IMHO, Chinook is even piney-er than Simcoe.

As for the other part, I have seen a recipe on this very site that used spruce tree tips.

*shrug*

My homebrew supplier also suggested "Nelson Sauvin" as Simcoe substitute, but I don't know anything about them..

As for spruce tips - do you think the tips from a cut christmas tree would work? (although it's now completely dried out and most of the needles are shed..)

Northern Brewer will contribute some piney characteristics. It goes well with simcoe and chinook.

Domaso said:

My homebrew supplier also suggested "Nelson Sauvin" as Simcoe substitute, but I don't know anything about them..

As for spruce tips - do you think the tips from a cut christmas tree would work? (although it's now completely dried out and most of the needles are shed..)

Click to expand...

IMO Nelson Sauvin is not at all like Simcoe. NS flavor profile is more like the wine, not piney.

Chinook is pretty piney. I'd recommend that.

Also, I don't know about using old needles. I think most people use the new growth, not old dried

Aside from Simcoe, IME if you are looking for pine:
Chinook
Waimea
Southern Cross
Columbus
Dr Rudi
Lemon Drop

in descending pineyness

While Chinook is going to get you all the pine you want, I think you need something else to bring the citrus/tropical flavors of the Simcoe. I would increase the Chinook to 50% (if I liked pine) and substitute citra, mosaic or cascade.

As for spruce tips, they really need to be fresh and not sprayed with fire retardant. Juniper berries work too.

m00ps said:

Aside from Simcoe, IME if you are looking for pine:
Chinook
Waimea
Southern Cross
Columbus
Dr Rudi
Lemon Drop

in descending pineyness

Click to expand...

I'll take a look into these. I once made a Columbus smash APA and I didn't even notice any pine.. hmm..

bleme said:

While Chinook is going to get you all the pine you want, I think you need something else to bring the citrus/tropical flavors of the Simcoe. I would increase the Chinook to 50% (if I liked pine) and substitute citra, mosaic or cascade.

As for spruce tips, they really need to be fresh and not sprayed with fire retardant. Juniper berries work too.

Click to expand...

Well, the recipe is this:
https://www.brewtoad.com/recipes/lumberjack-ipa-3

So, should I make it entirely All-Chinook?

I used rosemary sprigs recently in an IPA and it produced a very strong piney flavor and aroma. I added it with 15 mins left in the boil. The hops used was cascade, I had read it paired well with that. Next time I would add it at flame out, or 5 mins left in boil. I should also note that I had picked the rosemary fresh from my garden. Not sure how store bought sprigs would do. Kind of not the norm but thought I'd mention it as it definitely added pine flavor and aroma.

Domaso said:

My homebrew supplier also suggested "Nelson Sauvin" as Simcoe substitute, but I don't know anything about them..

As for spruce tips - do you think the tips from a cut christmas tree would work? (although it's now completely dried out and most of the needles are shed..)

Click to expand...

NS is not a substitute for anything piney. IDK why your LHBS would tell you that.



As others have said, spruce tips need to be cut green, not dried (and possibly sprayed with chemicals).

Maybe the guy at the LHBS who recommended NS misheard "pine" as "wine."

S**t, now I gotta figure out how to make pine wine.

I love the pithy grapefruit peel character in my IPAs and have recently made an all Simcoe that got pretty close to what I was after. So I guess I always associated Simcoe with the citrus side. I'll have to think about that a bit more.