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stickyfinger
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how does the el dorado come across? fruity?
Single IPA hop you can't live without
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how does the el dorado come across? fruity?
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stickyfinger
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every time i taste chinook in friends' ipas it comes across as kind of herbal to me mostly. it's pleasant and sharp, but doesn't seem mind blowing. i should do a chinook one to test it for myself though.
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stickyfinger
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lots of votes for centennial. i did a crazy beer where i tried doing like 3 oz/gal of centennial in the dry hop, and it was very weird. it had a kind of harsh, woody character. i know it was overdone. i should have backed off on the dry hops. should try a two hearted clone, as it was once one of my favorite beers, back before the ipa explosion!
I love Azzaca with some wheat in the grain bill. The sweetness of the wheat plays really nice with that hop.
Northern_Brewer
British - apparently some US company stole my name
There was a time when all IPAs were Goldings and friends. The heresy began in the 1870s when they started using Fuggles...
But seriously, how many Goldings IPAs have you actually had?
SHAIV
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Ive heard john kimmick say that hops can change from year to year but that the profile can come back in subsequent years. He often says something like i love the summit crop this year
I do love simcoe but i dont really know the flavors of all the new hops yet. I have some mosaic but havent used it yet. I think i just love all hops in general! So my answer all of them! Haha im a cheater like that
Northern_Brewer
British - apparently some US company stole my name
Hops are an agricultural crop, and they do vary - particularly in places like the UK, where there's no irrigation and very variable summers. We had great weather early this year so the bines grew really well and there's a bumper harvest - but August was very cloudy and so you didn't get some of the citrus flavours developing, the Fuggles are really earthy this year.
Another factor with some of the new hops is that it takes a year or two for farmers to get to grips with them, I've seen a number of cases where hops during the "acreage-expansion" phase aren't as good as in trials or once they enter the mainstream, because eg farmers were harvesting them too soon.
Another factor with some of the new hops is that it takes a year or two for farmers to get to grips with them, I've seen a number of cases where hops during the "acreage-expansion" phase aren't as good as in trials or once they enter the mainstream, because eg farmers were harvesting them too soon.
Cascade. It just goes so good with pale ales. I use that hop extensively.
Yep, I get a lot of juicy fruitiness from el dorado.
filthyastronaut
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My favorite IPA hop has become Idaho 7, but I just bottled a pale ale with all Cascade and it blew me away with its character by itself at the rate of 4 oz. in 2.5 gallons. I think I'll keep using it as a single hop more and more.
RonPopeil
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IPA or not is have to say Magnum. Nothing else provides such smooth bittering. With IPAd you're always changing your aroma hops so there's no sense in holding on to one. Controlling bitterness is much more important.
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stickyfinger
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ive never loved Galaxy, but I tried 1 oz/G dryhop in an IPA with other hopstand hops, and it was very nice. Maybe Ill try a 100% Galaxy IPA.
I've had a single-hop Galaxy pale on tap for the last month and would recommend giving it a try. I'd rank it high up in the pantheon of citrusy hops that can totally stand on their own...
Cheers!
TheAleRunner
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For me, it's Citra.
Mind you, I love Galaxy, Mosaic, Nelson Sauvin, Simcoe, etc. But I can't live without Citra.
Mind you, I love Galaxy, Mosaic, Nelson Sauvin, Simcoe, etc. But I can't live without Citra.
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stickyfinger
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Citra is boss for sure. I love it in the hopstand, more than in the dryhop I think.
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stickyfinger
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I dry hopped a recent IPA with 1 oz/gal of Galaxy. I was very impressed. It was amazingly hoppy and very nice. I got a fruit potpourri with a pineapple finish. Everyone I gave it to absolutely loved it. It inspired me to make a 100% Galaxy IPA. The wort sample was super awesome, and it is fermenting now. I do always also get a characteristic sort of medicinal character though with Galaxy as well. It's not off-putting, but I can always detect it. Does anyone else get sort of a very light medicinal character from it? It's hard to describe. It doesn't make the resulting beer bad at all, but I can always detect it. I dry hopped a Belgian Golden Strong Ale with Galaxy several months ago and it really accentuated the medicinal character to the point that I had to dump the batch as it aged. I am very curious about this hop. I'm wondering if a Galaxy-Mosaic, Galaxy-Citra, Galaxy-Denali or Galaxy-Simcoe wouldn't be really nice? I've never met a hop that can stand up to Denali, but I think Galaxy might be able to. It almost seems that as you use more and more of the Galaxy in a beer, it gets better and better. If you use it very lighlty, I seem to not like it as much. Maybe I'm crazy though.
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stickyfinger
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I have been disappointed with Centennial of late. Does anyone else get a sort of woody, rustic character from it? I used it very extravagantly in an IPA at around 3 oz/gal dry hop, and it was SOOO woody and rustic. It was not great. I've used it with a lighter hand since then, but I always can detect the woody character now. Am I crazy? How can I get that character that Bells Two Hearted Ale has? That is much more fruit forward, like fruit loops almost. I think maybe a heavy hand in the hopstand with centennial and then something else in dryhop would be preferred for me.
Columbus / CTZ hands down. Easy to get, cheap, versatile. Need dank..can do. Fruity juicy.. sure why not? Single hop...the best. Plays well with others, check. Takes the lead or sings backup...check and check again. Really impossible to go wrong with this hop in virtually any American style hoppy beer.
Did I mention I like Columbus?
Did I mention I like Columbus?
Same here. It adds that je ne sais quois to the beers I use it in. I'm not a big IPA brewer but when I do there is some Amarillo in it.
If we're talking an American IPA, centennial.
A lot of people really like Citra. I like it well enough, but it's so common in beers now that I avoid it. Making it even less appealing for me is that some people get pronounced cat-pee flavor/aroma from it. Plus it does not age well in a finished beer in my experience (I've had many commercial citra hopped IPA's that I tasted, thought "yuck" and the date showed that it was 4+ months old. All hops fade, but to me citra goes from tasty to nasty as it ages (as opposed to just having muted flavors).
BeardedBrews
Well-Known Member
Centennial if I were picking only one hop. It has enough character to be interesting, but also plays well with a variety of yeast profiles without overwhelming them. Also very budget friendly 
I have to agree, I was a huge Citra fan, but now after using it so much, I'm kinda getting tired of it. But I have the opposite experience with my citra only brews. I don't think they are good at first, but after ageing a few months they get really good.
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stickyfinger
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I just tried my first 100% Galaxy beer. I had always thought that Galaxy radically changed my beers when I used it as part of a grouping of hops and worried that a 100% Galaxy beer would be way over the top. It turns out that I actually like the flavor of the 100% Galaxy beer more than when I use it as part of a mix of hops for some reason. It is very tropical, pineapple, etc. When used as a group it always seems to "dry" the beer to me somehow and can give a kind of medicinal character. It's not bad at all and often great, but it is different it seems. This is assuming my usual hop usage rate but just making it all Galaxy instead of 2,3 or more hop varieties.
I’ve got two...both make outstanding SMASH beers..
Comet and CTZ. Good as single hop, good in combinations. Both are on the lower end of the hop cost spectrum.
Comet and CTZ. Good as single hop, good in combinations. Both are on the lower end of the hop cost spectrum.
I would say Centennial, but the last two years have not been great imo. 13-14 were nice. Haven't had any of the 17 yet.
That being said, I'll call Columbus as well. So versatile, depending on boil time addition. I just got my first comet on black Friday (thanks Yakima valley hops) and I'm looking to do a IIPA with the two. Shooting for old school west coast dank city. 50/50 through the boil. Maybe some Idaho 7 cryo in WP..?
Hoping I dig it because both hops are pretty cheap.
That being said, I'll call Columbus as well. So versatile, depending on boil time addition. I just got my first comet on black Friday (thanks Yakima valley hops) and I'm looking to do a IIPA with the two. Shooting for old school west coast dank city. 50/50 through the boil. Maybe some Idaho 7 cryo in WP..?
Hoping I dig it because both hops are pretty cheap.
Amarillo, good three ways. Bittering, late addition, dry hop. Citra great dry hop not so much bittering/late addition. Magnam, bittering, not late or dry hop.
Now if the question is, “What late addition hop”. There is no other answer than Fuggle.
