English bitter with hops on hand

[Joewalla88]

Alright, I want to brew a bitter, but I want to use up some stuff I have on hand. I've got it down to Sonnett and Adeena, basically because the alpha fits my idea for the recipe. Which one would work best. I think they're both related to English hops, which is another reason these are my two main choices. Thanks!

 

[lumpher]

Being both of these are similar to EKG and Mittelfruh, either will work. They are both more for aroma, though. If you have any neutral bittering hop you might want to use that for bittering, then either of these for aroma.

 

[DBhomebrew]

Agreed, both would probably work well. I wouldn't worry about using them for bittering either. Compared to American, British-style brewing tends to use hops with lower levels of alpha acids in greater amounts to arrive at their relatively lower IBUs.

 

[Northern_Brewer]

I think they're both related to English hops

Being both of these are similar to EKG and Mittelfruh, either will work. They are both more for aroma, though. If you have any neutral bittering hop

Sonnet is not just related, it is literally a marketing name for Goldings grown in Oregon. And there is no finer hop for a bitter than Goldings, so make that the centrepiece and build around it with Adeena depending how much you have - but be generous <g>.

And Goldings predates the whole idea of bittering vs aroma hops, which is a concept that only really emerged after WWII - as DBhb says, traditionally bitters were bittered with relatively low-alpha hops (and it's one of those eternal arguments about which is best, I personally tend to favour lower alpha) But the one thing I'd be certain is that this is not a job for a neutral bittering hop, any more than you would use a neutral yeast for British styles. Because everything in bitter is contributing to the overall taste, part of the joy is being able to tell the difference between the quality of eg Target and Pilgrim bittering. But you want a bit of rasp, you don't want neutral.

 

[AlexKay]

Sonnet is lovely. Maybe it’s just that the marketing is very good, or maybe it’s terroir, but I find it to be sweetly floral, more so than Goldings.

 

[lumpher]

Sonnet is not just related, it is literally a marketing name for Goldings grown in Oregon.

Ok, we can pretend a hop native to England will taste the same as a hop in Oregon.

 

[Northern_Brewer]

Ok, we can pretend a hop native to England will taste the same as a hop in Oregon.

I didn't say it would taste the same. Two things can be true - the genetics can be identical whereas the taste can be similar but not the same. OTOH Sonnet will generally taste more similar to British Goldings than say Bramling Cross grown in the UK, even though BX is 50% Golding.

And don't underestimate the extent to which British Goldings varies from year to year - before long Covid I could fairly reliably tell what vintage of EGK a beer was made with. They vary a lot, particularly as our weather becomes more extreme. So if you are comparing Sonnet to British Goldings, I would ask - which vintage are you comparing it to, it's a moving target.