Anyone have experience with Zappa or HBC-586?

[tyrub42]

I know this is an old thread but recently bought a lb of Zappa and ever since then have been hearing negative, including the brulosophy hop chronicle post. How has everyone’s experience over the past year been since brewing with this hop? And have any great combos been identified? I know some above speculated about Mosaic, CTZ, or Eureka would work well. Seems obvious at this point that I won’t be using it as a single hop.

I really liked it, but would definitely use it for half the hop bill or less. The hops you mentioned would all be great to pair, but fruitier hops could work well, too. Zappa has great berry notes from my experience but also a really earthy, musty quality that was a but too strong in my beer (I think it was 80:20 zappa: citra). Equal parts zappa, Mosaic, ctz would be super dank, earthy, and berry fruity esp in a red IPA or a beer with lots of crystal malts imo. It could be super cool with lots of other hops I'd say.

That said, this was the 2018 crop so it may also be very different year-to-year

 

[couchsending]

I presently have two single hop beers on tap or in cans with both these hops.

zappa: made a “modern” hoppy lager with mostly Zappa in WP and DH with a bit of Sterling at the start of the boil. Just like a lot of the Neomexicanus hops it’s insanely strong. It was dry hopped at maybe .7oz/gallon and the hop intensity is crazy. It’s is very fruity but also very “herbal”. Ditch weed might be the best description for it honestly. It’s like crappy weed. Sounds terrible but in a lager to me it ends up being more interesting than it sounds. The herbal character seems to go with lager yeast character really well. I’ve given this beer to at least 5 different people with different levels of craft beer experience or “education” and the response has been “wow” across the board, which I didn’t expect. Shocking levels of hop intensity that somehow still works well with the cold lager fermentation. For me it’s too intense but is definitely a hop to experiment with more. Just like Sabro you can use really small amounts of it in a blend and still pick it out.

HBC586: This might be the best new HBC hop to come out in a while. I’d use it over Talus (692), Sabro (438), 472, 440, 522, 630, etc. I believe Shaun Hill said it’s his favorite PAC NW hop since Mosaic. It has a lot of the tropical qualities of Sabro but without the woody/coconut/vanilla character. It’s rather potent, very tropical, but has this weird sulfur/flinty character to it that’s unlike anything I’ve ever used. It really changes and evolves. I recently poured a pint off a keg that’s been on gas for a month that was as close to lavender as I’ve ever experienced in a beer. Was crazy. A hop that needs to be explored more for sure

 

[tyrub42]

Yeah 586 was just awesome all around. I cant wait to see it get pushed a little harder and then named. Will likely be a star in IPAs of all kinds in the near future