Feedback requested on pale ale hop bill: WGV, willamette, amarillo?

[Torrefaction]

Hi all,
My next batch is a American pale ale, mostly 2-row with some victory, munich, vienna, and crystal 40. Something like 1052 OG, 5% ABV, and bittered to around 40 IBUs. I’m going with WLP007 yeast, which I find hits a nice malt/hop balance.

My question is: I was planning on mixing WGV (Whitbread Golding Variety, which I’ve never used before) with Willamette (also a first) and Amarillo (which I know and like).

The hop plan is:

12.5 g WGV first wort
12.5 WGV @ 60
12.5 g amarillo @ 15
25 g willamette @ 15
25 g WGV @ 10
12.5 g amarillo @ 5
25 g willamette @ 0
25 g amarillo @ 0

The descriptions of these hops seem fairly harmonious (flowers, fruit, earth & spice), but I thought I’d reach out for some input just in case. Anyone with experience mixing these hops? Am I going to end up with a muddled, confused pale ale?

Thanks for your feedback!

 

[Qhrumphf]

WGV and Willamette I could see playing well together. I've used both, but never together. However, I've used similar combinations of similar/substitute hops (like Kent Goldings and Fuggles, WGV and Progress, etc). They're both entirely different animals from the Amarillo. I suspect the subtle earthy floral characters of the first two would be dwarfed by the pungent tropical-citrus of the Amarillo, even if they're used in higher amounts.

If you're going for an American Pale Ale, I'd probably go with the Amarillo alone before I'd mix those three. But I haven't tried, so obviously I can't tell you with any certainty. Nothing wrong with experimentation.

 

[JKaranka]

If you remove the Amarillo you'd have a cracking special bitter, though!

 

[JKaranka]

To be fair, now that I think about it, one of my local breweries blends Amarillo with Celeia for a blond ale, Harviestoun blends it with EKG and Fuggles in a pale ale too. You won't get a full-on American style pale ale, though. It will be more subtle and floral, and if you go that route I'd be careful to balance the pungency of the Amarillo against the milder hops you got there.

 

[Torrefaction]

Thanks for the feedback! I think I'll brew this and post results. A local Montreal brewery (St-Ambroise) produces a tasty pale ale with a similar hop bill (Golding instead of WGV and Cascade instead of Amarillo, plus Willamette and Hallertau). It's probably more English than American, but I'm shooting more for "tasty" than "true to style." Cheers!