Has anyone played much with the Yakima Chief American Nobel Hops yet? I picked up some Simcoe that is 3.3% AA. Is this the same amount of flavor without the IBUs? What place do you think these hops have in this style?
I’ve made 10-15 beers with them in some way I think as well as has a few commercial examples that used them.
They’re really unique for sure. I’ve used all the varieties I think. Simcoe, Mosaic, Cascade, Citra.
I mostly use them for lagers and “blonde” ales. They are incredibly floral and it’s almost shocking how well they come through fermentation. Even just using them with 10 minutes left in the boil it’s crazy how well the aroma translates to the finished beer in lighter styles. I don’t ever dry hop these beers and don’t think I need to as they’re very aromatic even after 2 months of lagering.
I’ve used them for dry hopping IPAs 2 or 3 times. Just did yesterday actually. I’m usually not a fan of dry hopping during fermentation but with these I will. There are a lot of aromatic compounds found in the leaf material that can be released by yeast. With such low alpha you don’t run the risk of potentially affecting fermentation either. Using them in a beer that uses 6 different kinds of Citra. Cryo, T-90, American Noble, LupoMax, Leaf, and Terpenes. Done the same with Mosaic. I usually only add them during fermentation for really hoppy beer but thinking of maybe adding them during the boil in the future.
They definitely don’t deliver much flavor, it’s almost all aroma. You can tell it’s the variety but it’s not blatantly obvious. Again they’re very floral and slightly fruity.
They definitely lack any sort of depth, spice, resin, etc. On their own they’re boring but paired with say Sterling or Saaz or Perle on the hotside of a pils or blonde they add a big aromatic punch that’s more “modern” than you standard Noble hop with zero hop oiliness.
Ritebrew has all the varieties and they’re quite cheap.
