Unique Hops - How to Use?

[wstcstnative]

My LHBS recently went out of business. It was very sad to say goodbye...they were some of the nicest people I've every met and always took time to answer my questions when I was just starting out and knew nothing about how to homebrew. By the end of their "going out of business sale" it go so bad that they started just giving everything away.

Which leads me to my question - how would you suggest I use all these random hops I got from them? Here is what I have:

Hood 4.3%
Centennial 10.9%
Lib 4.6%
Perle 5% (two pounds of this!)
Polaris 20.8%
Hok 12%
Equinox 14.6%
Mb 7.4%

I'm sure most of these aren't very fresh, so who knows how much of that percentage is actually still valid. Some don't smell great and weren't packaged well and others were sealed up tight. There's also a mixture of leaf and pellet.

Any suggestions on how to use these? I was thinking of some SMASH beers so I can figure out if I even like these varieties, but don't want to waste a bunch of time and money if these hops aren't worth using. THanks in advance!

 

[Ruckusz28]

I'm not sure if many of those hops would play nice together. I recommend writing down some flavor/aroma descriptions from each hop and see what sounds good to you. The beauty of homebrewing is that you run by your own rules.

Centennial, Equinox, and Mandarina Bavaria could be blended for a nice profile in a hop forward beer IMO.

 

[dstockwell]

+1 to Ruckusz28, check out the flavor descriptors. I have been using the morebeer site for awhile.

 

[Ruckusz28]

Farmhouse brewing supply has nice descriptors as well. Looks like you would be on track to do some nice pilsners for the upcoming summer. Lots of those hops would go great in some lawnmower gulpers.

 

[wstcstnative]

Farmhouse brewing supply has nice descriptors as well. Looks like you would be on track to do some nice pilsners for the upcoming summer. Lots of those hops would go great in some lawnmower gulpers.

sounds great, thank you. I know the perle will be good. That bag is sealed up pretty well too. I'v never even heard of some of these hops so wasn't sure what they'd be good for.