How many people can actually tell hops apart?

[nikkuchan]

with craft brew booming over the last few years, I have been seeing that many beers will list the hops used on the beer bottles. That's nice and all, but reading that only made me wonder: "How many of the people buying this actually know what the heck it means?" When did beer culture get to the point where someone can mention types of hops like everyone knows what they're talking about? It seems kind of pretentious, like the beer version of cork-smelling. I can't imagine anyone but a very experienced homebrew to be so intimate with hops where they can recall the tastes and characteristics just by hearing a name, or know just what a recipe needs, like a master chef does when cooking. How does one develop such a vast catalog in their head?
I have been brewing for years, and I couldn't tell one hop from another. Most recipes use at least 2 different kinds, so I can never pick out which hops add what to the beer. The only way I can imagine someone could become an expert on hops is if they repeatedly make the same beer with a different hops each time in order to do a taste test, and that would take a lot of time and effort. How many people have gone this far (I'd like to, personally, but I do have the space or equipment to do such an experiment)? And for the people here who do know hops, how long did it take and what did you do to get there?

 

[flars]

The first time I ever saw the hops used in a beer listed on the label, was New Belgium Ranger. My pallette can not distinguish individual hops, but I learned the appreciation how multiple hops can add to the enjoyment.

I live in a Lite beer area. I now brew some IPAs.

Had the IPA with a baseball steak. Flavors were very complimentary.

 

[d3track]

There are some hops that I think are very distinct when used as dry hops or flameout/whirlpool that I can occasionally guess. Citra, chinook, tettnang/hallertau, Amarillo and saaz seem to be ones I will get on occasion.

However, I don't think I could pick a bittering hop if it was a true-false option.

 

[drainbamage]

To some extent, yeah, I can pick out certain hops in a beer. Don't get me wrong, if you hand me a DIPA with 5 different types of hops in it, I won't be able to discern each one and when it was added, but sometimes I can figure out what's going on. Like d3track said, you probably won't be able to tell apart beers with different bittering hops, but for later additions, it can make a big difference. Some hops have a very unique character, like Citra, or Sorachi Ace, or Simcoe. Once you know what flavors or aromas they can impart to a beer, you will start to notice it in others.

To experiment on your own, try to do SMaSH (Single Malt and Single Hop) brews. Use a straightforward grain bill, but then mix up the hop schedule. If you really want to see the amount of variety out there, do one batch with a Noble hop like Hallertau, one with an English hop like Fuggles, and one with an American hop like Citra.

Is it pretentious? Maybe, but as a homebrewer it helps to be able to deconstruct a commercial beer to pick out the components you like so you can work them into your own beers.

 

[FirstAidBrewing]

Agreed, I think the more important thing is to be able to detect the flavor/scent.

Let's say you can characterize a hop as spicy in a brew, it's most likely going to be chinook, columbus or nugget in my area of the world, but according to my favorite hop wheel it could be a dozen others.

Personally if someone told me they tasted/smelled anything other than Citra or a few select others, I probably wouldn't believe them anyway. To me, it's all about being able to pick up flavors which, in the end, is what matters anyway.

 

[Callacave]

Funny this thread just came up because I've never really been able to distinguish hops when layered, but tonight I'm having a Single Hop Mosaic Pale from Hill Farmstead, and it hit me from the first whiff, that distinct Mosaic aroma. Flavor was familiar too. I've been able to pick out Citra a few times too, but this is because I knew what hops were used. If I wasn't told I'm sure I would have a harder time, and wouldn't have a clue.

Hops can have so many subtle differences, and that's what makes them so great.

 

[CJ-3]

Personally I can't tell one from the other most of the time but I'm working on learning more about them.

As for choosing which ones to use I have 2 methods

1) play it safe and use what the majority use in the style I am brewing
Or
2) form an idea of what I am looking for and research which hop is closest to what I want. Admittedly I have only just started to do this but so far so good.

 

[chickypad]

The only way I can imagine someone could become an expert on hops is if they repeatedly make the same beer with a different hops each time in order to do a taste test, and that would take a lot of time and effort. How many people have gone this far (I'd like to, personally, but I do have the space or equipment to do such an experiment)? And for the people here who do know hops, how long did it take and what did you do to get there?

Actually this is a pretty common thing to do, and one reason why SMaSH beers are popular. You don't have to do them all at once with a side by side taste test, you can accumulate knowledge as you go along. For example I've done single hop beers with most of the American varieties and some of the Aus/NZ ones using a couple stock grainbills I have. There are a lot that are pretty distinct - Citra, Simcoe, Mosaic, Amarillo, Cascade, Nelson off the top of my head. Not saying I can always pick out every hop in a hop combo, and I've definitely mistaken like hops for each other before. I would say though I have a good enough feel to imagine what the hop character would be like reading a recipe, or look at a grainbill and know what hops I would like with it. I buy/order beers all the time based on what hops are listed on the menu or bottle.

 

[Paps]

It seems kind of pretentious,

Did you consider perhaps maybe they were hoping to help clue homebrewers in on how to make a clone/similar brew on the small scale?

Do SMASH brews. If you are in a homebrew club perhaps make a huge mash and divide it between everyone to boil it each with a different hop.

Here's a dancing bananna

 

[iijakii]

Had a Centennial IPA the other day and it was super floral. Centennial is one of my favoritesties hops and I've made SMaSHs with it, plenty of predom-Centennial IPAs etc and never gotten floral from it. Really confused on what that was all about.

 

[Picobrew]

Had a Centennial IPA the other day and it was super floral. Centennial is one of my favoritesties hops and I've made SMaSHs with it, plenty of predom-Centennial IPAs etc and never gotten floral from it. Really confused on what that was all about.

I definitely have this experience with Centennial. Wish I knew how to get out the floral aromas from it, I love it!! In fact, based on this reminder, I just posted a thread about it here.

 

[Gnomebrewer]

Had a Centennial IPA the other day and it was super floral. Centennial is one of my favoritesties hops and I've made SMaSHs with it, plenty of predom-Centennial IPAs etc and never gotten floral from it. Really confused on what that was all about.

It can depend where the hops were grown. Locally grown Cascade hops have a noticeably different aroma and taste to US Cascade, but is still undeniably Cascade.

 

[marvin_yorke]

Just pay attention to what you drink and compare distinct but similar beers. For example, one beer has Citra, Mosaic and Amarillo in it, while another has like Simcoe, Citra and Mosaic. Comparing the two you'll be able to identify some flavors and aromas that are present in one beer but not in the other, and vice versa. Most probably, those would be influenced by Amarillo and Simcoe respectively. Single hop beers are also a great way to explore different hop characteristics.

 

[biochemedic]

Some hops are very distinctive (smelling you, Nelson Sauvin, Citra, and Mosaic....) and others for me seem to exist more in aroma and flavor groups....

As others have mentioned: SMASH on!