Belma Hops

[day_trippr]

Belma is grown by a single farm and doesn't show up in national hop statistics.
It's barely made an impact in the ~ 6 years since it was released - I don't think I've seen anything on HBT that was particularly complimentary - usually it's a "not a whole lot there" underwhelmed kind of review.

I suspect it's not long for this world...

Cheers!

 

[bleme]

A friend just gave me another pound of it because he didn't like anything he used it in. I've used it a lot and always been happy with it.

The last time was a Black NEIPA, with only whirlpool and dry hops that used a little Belma and a lot of other hops. You sure couldn't pick out the Belma, but the beer was great. A local pro brewer said he was blown away and for the rest of the day I kept getting people saying that Randy told them they HAD to try my beer.

Before that, Belma was the only hop in a 15 IBU wheat beer that was kegged with the juice from a whole flat of strawberries. You couldn't really taste the hops at all as the Belma was very complimentary. That beer was served at a beerfest and kicked in under 2 hours.

That same base recipe on a few pounds of blueberries is my wife's favorite beer. I need to make this again. I'm tired of those blueberries hogging my freezer space...

Another club member was on a Belma kick and brought several different beers to meetings. Honestly, I wasn't thrilled with any of them. I don't know if he got a bad batch or didn't store them properly but they all had a faint rotten fruit taste.

 

[CircaChris]

So The verdict on Belma is still not out.... More dislike that acceptance. Although there is a whole lotta love it also seems. Maybe freshness and storage may be the problem. I like it, and find it compliments other hops fantstically (e.g. Warrior, Apollo, Citra) but also found it actually did wonders by itself. I get the fruit combo brews being liked because it is subtle and unperceived and can attain a low bitterness and berry taste when added late boil or as a dry hop. Guess it depends on the beverage brewed as a whole and on the imbibers palate. Thanks for the reply jimmyjusa on how the brew turned out.

 

[jimmyjusa]

I don't think there is anything negative with it that I've found personally, but it seems to be a good blending or layering option with other hops. I am using whole leaf and i don't know if that makes much difference since they are my only hop that is whole leaf vs pellets.

 

[Stand]

I just got an inexplicable pound of Belma from hopsdirect when I ordered a bunch of other stuff, and I have no idea how to use them. Seems like people having good luck are blending them in IPAs/Pales or using them in wits or saisons?

I would be down with any of those. Anybody dial in a good recipe they can share?

 

[pvpeacock]

I received a lb. of Belma hops unexpectedly with my hop order and decided to make a simple, single hop IPA with it. I am not impressed. It is underwhelming and provides very little flavor. The only flavor I get is "earthy" not fruity or berry-like. I will try using it as a bittering hop and with other hops, but not alone.

 

[eulipion2]

I received a lb. of Belma hops unexpectedly with my hop order and decided to make a simple, single hop IPA with it. I am not impressed. It is underwhelming and provides very little flavor. The only flavor I get is "earthy" not fruity or berry-like. I will try using it as a bittering hop and with other hops, but not alone.

The berry and melon can be subtle. I usually use Belma for bittering, in combination with other things, or in small beers. I did a very nice session saison with Belma and Styrian Goldings a few years ago that I keep coming back to.

 

[Northern_Brewer]

Just tried the hydro samples of some Belma pales I made as part of some yeast trials with 100% Otter at 1.050 OG. Since the yeast were the focus I just grabbed the oldest hops in the freezer that weren't going to overwhelm the yeast, which turned out to be 2016 Belma from BrewUK. They smelt OK to this long Covid sufferer but after I'd used almost all of them my beautiful assistant had a sniff and suggested she was getting a whiff of Roquefort from them. Too late - I guess it becomes a test of that Janish stuff about the cheesy-smelling short-chain acids being important for forming esters. I had 25 IBU of bittering and then 100g Belma smeared over 10-min/flameout/whirlpool/dry-hop in 18 litres, so 5.5g/l total (=3.7 oz in 5 US gallons).

And I quite like the result. If you're looking for something like Citra then you're going to be disappointed, but if you think more in terms of say some of the Styrians then it works quite well. I could definitely get melon from them - and I really don't smell much these days - and MBA got melon plus some peach and with one bucket in particular she got pineapple - which is what Janish suggests you will get from cheesy hops, I guess there may be a yeast-dependent aspect to that.

We'll see how it develops, it's still a bit green but at this point it's looking really promising as an easy-drinking session pale. Not the sexiest hop, none of the drama of Nectaron or Sabro and I probably won't be racing to buy it again, but it works as something a little bit different in session beers to be drunk by the gallon.

 

[pvpeacock]

Update: Back in October I made an IPA with Belma hops. I was not impressed. The hops tasted earthy to me and not in a pleasant way. However, as the keg aged/lagered in my keezer over the next few months (primarily because I had a better keg on tap at the same time) it got better and better. The earthy flavor disappeared and a subtle berry/melon flavor appeared. It was actually good. While I doubt I will ever buy Belma hops again, I recently used them in a Kolsch and am letting this batch lager for a few months before tasting in the hope that I will get the best flavors from the Belma hops.

 

[mashpaddled]

I bought some of the original Belma release in 2011 I think? It's a very mellow hop with nice strawberry and melon notes. It shows up in saisons where it compliments yeast flavors but doesn't overwhelm or compete. Lighter blonde styles leaning towards fruity hops would work. It will play nicely with older fruity varieties like the Styrian goldings variants. I'm not sure who is after that kind of beer these days.

It's going to get lost among any of the usual IPA type hops even in the older C hop style. To get clear hop flavor you have to be heavy handed.

It works well as a bittering hop where you want a smoother bitterness so basically anything but west coast IPA or certain lager styles. Very smooth bittering.