Unusual hops?

[rapunzel999]

Hi all

I need to buy a birthday present for my Dad, who is an avid home brewer. Was thinking of getting him a selection of rare/unusual/hard-to-find/exciting hops - but I have no idea what to get.

Looking at a few of his recent beers, he has used apollo, cascade, citra, cashmere, mosaic, first gold, northern brewer, and perle.

Any advice for what I should go for? Any help hugely appreciated!

Thanks!

 

[AZCoolerBrewer]

Nelson Sauvin hops are very interesting. I did a single hop and (dry) malt extract beer with them. Very different and pleasant.

 

[rapunzel999]

Nelson Sauvin hops are very interesting. I did a single hop and (dry) malt extract beer with them. Very different and pleasant.

Great, thank you!

 

[Northern_Brewer]

The obvious one is Sabro, the new one from the people behind Citra and Mosaic that was only named this year.

Bru-1 is another new one that looks like it will be big.

Galaxy is the really hot one at the moment, but as a Southern Hemisphere hop that's in huge demand, supplies are tight at this time of year.

Nelson Sauvin is a bit love-it-or-hate-it. Other good somewhat fashionable ones include Ekuanot and Azacca.

You don't say what country you're in but the likes of First Gold and Perle implies an interest in European hops. Barbe Rouge is a new French hop that tastes of red fruit like strawberries.

http://stocksfarm.net/shop/ are a British farm that has new varieties like GP75 and Jester.

https://abushelofhops.co.uk/shop/ conversely is a British farm that specialises in heritage varieties. Most of which have been abandoned for good reason but the likes of Keyworth Early are nice, and the likes of Bullion and Bramling Cross are slightly more mainstream and it's very rare to see individual Goldings clones like Early Bird sold separately.

If you're on a heritage kick, Chevallier was the main barley of the 19th century which has been revived in a very small way but is fantastic to brew with.

 

[Vale71]

As for hard-to-find: anything from New Zealand or South Africa.

 

[FatDragon]

As for hard-to-find: anything from New Zealand or South Africa.

NZ is pretty common since they grow a pretty good acreage. I was going to suggest SA, though; they're generally well-reviewed and hard to find.

 

[Vale71]

NZ is pretty common...

Not where I live, unfortunately...
The situation might be different if the OP were to live, for example, in Auckland...

 

[Northern_Brewer]

Since NZ distribution is concentrated in a central organisation, it tends to be pretty spotty. A lot seem to come to the UK, I get the impression that NZ hops are far less common in North America.

South African hops are almost all in the hands of SAB, now InBev, so they tend to be only available through InBev-owned retailers like Beerhawk and the other Northern Brewer. I get the impression they're not _that_ amazing as hops, but they have high curiosity value.

 

[kh54s10]

I haven't found it at all difficult to find NZ hops in the US. https://www.farmhousebrewingsupply.com/4-oz-bags/?sort=featured&page=4

Here is what they have right now:

Dr Rudi
Green Bullet
Motueka
Nelson Sauvin
Pacific Gem
Pacific Jade
Pacifica
Rakau
Southern Cross
Wai-Iti
Waimea
Wakatu

 

[BrewMan13]

Sabro was mentioned, had a local IPA with these, highly recommended!
Also maybe some neomexicanus varieties like medusa or zappa (sabro has neomexicanus lineage as well).
Idaho gem (not the same as idaho 7) sounds interesting as well (was/is aka cleopatra I think).
Have not personally used any of those, but have been eyeballing them on yakima valley hops.

 

[Vale71]

It would also help if we knew where the OP lived instead of just assuming he lives in the US.

 

[passedpawn]

Maybe get him some wet hops. Apparently, fresh wet hops are only available one place in the winter. Best pale ale I ever had was brewed with wet hops. Note that you need much more ounces (5:1) as compared to dry. Supplier is in this forum... check it:

Wet Hops for sale in January! We grow indoors

 

[mirthfuldragon]

Maybe get him some wet hops. Apparently, fresh wet hops are only available one place in the winter. [...] Note that you need much more ounces (5:1) as compared to dry. Supplier is in this forum... check it:
Wet Hops for sale in January! We grow indoors

I have done wet-hopped cascade ales the last couple of years, using over a pound of wet hops each time. Fun times, interesting beer, but I dunno about it as a gift. Not sure I could Pepsi-challenge pellets v. my home-grown wet hops, to be honest. At $4/ounce, that would be $64 in hops for a batch. More power to them, and I understand their price point, but if someone where to get me hops, a pound of Mosaic, Galaxy, Vic Secret pellets (basically any Aussie or NZ hops) would be well-received. Medusa and Zappa are also new stuff (though I just bought half a pound of each from Yakima).

Also, wet hops need to be used fresh and basically immediately.

 

[duffy5018]

Depending on how much you like him, there's this:
https://www.yakimavalleyhops.com/product_p/hopsvp-hopbox2019.htm
Seems interesting, that price though...

 

[passedpawn]

I have done wet-hopped cascade ales the last couple of years, using over a pound of wet hops each time. Fun times, interesting beer, but I dunno about it as a gift. Not sure I could Pepsi-challenge pellets v. my home-grown wet hops, to be honest. At $4/ounce, that would be $64 in hops for a batch. More power to them, and I understand their price point, but if someone where to get me hops, a pound of Mosaic, Galaxy, Vic Secret pellets (basically any Aussie or NZ hops) would be well-received. Medusa and Zappa are also new stuff (though I just bought half a pound of each from Yakima).

Also, wet hops need to be used fresh and basically immediately.

Yep, my thoughts exactly.

 

[kevink]

Strata is amazing, but I can't find it anywhere!

 

[Northern_Brewer]

Wet/green hops don't work as you're forcing him to brew within hours of picking, which isn't much fun. Better to just give him some hop rhizomes and he can do them himself.

 

[OG-wan Kenobi]

THIS

https://www.yakimavalleyhops.com/product_p/hopsvp-hopbox2019.htm

THE HOPS KEEP COMING ALL YEAR ITS AWEOSME

 

[Qhrumphf]

Please don't give him old, browned wet hops. Using within hours of picking would be awesome, but they really should be used within 24 hours after being picked. When I've used them in the past they've been overnighted immediately after harvest and I've taken a sick day from work if necessary to brew with them.

Most recent time, they spent a week after harvest in someone else's fridge and then dropped off with minimal warning, and the results were less than spectacular.

 

[Qhrumphf]

As far as off the beaten path, I'd suggest:

-Bramling Cross (totally underrated underrepresented English hop with slightly earthy but heavy fruit, notably black currant, flavor)

-Strisselspalt (Bramling Cross's French sister at least in character, not sure about parentage, more spicy and less earthy but still black currant)

-Wakatu (New Zealand, like a higher alpha spicy German hop, close to Hallertauer, but with a neat lime note.

 

[Northern_Brewer]

I'm a big fan of Bramling X, particularly 60:40 Goldings:BX in brown bitter, but I've seen people complaining it's getting hard to get in North America at the moment thanks to the poor harvest this year - the heatwave has seen some growers reporting crops that were 30% down on usual.

Strisselspalt is generally considered a landrace but with ties to Hersbrucker.

 

[Qhrumphf]

Yeah, I recall the UK hop year and continental barley year being poor. Australian barley crop apparently abysmal, borderline apocalyptic.

BX has never been easy to get here at the homebrew scale, but not hard to get in larger quantities on the spot market. Pricey though. Homebrew scale I've only seen it on the large online sites, or special ordered locally. One shop used to stock it for me till I asked em to stop.

 

[AZCoolerBrewer]

There’s also Neo Mexicanus, available under the name HBC 438 Ron Mexico. It’s cool because it is a native American hop. I haven’t used it and I’m not sure if you can get it at all, but the advertisements for it say that it is only available to homebrewers and that some proceeds go to benefit ALS research.

 

[BrewZer]

I tried some Azacca in an American Amber for flavor/aroma and was very pleased with the slight citrus boost it gave.

 

[rapunzel999]

WOW. Really overwhelmed with level of response here. Thank you all so so much for your advice. Hugely appreciated.

I'm in the UK - apologies for not putting that in the original. I'm new to this...

Thanks again - I'll let you know which ones I go for, and what he thinks of them!

 

[thehaze]

Seeing that you are from UK, TheMaltMiller and https://twojbrowar.pl/en/ are your best options for NZ/AUS hops. I use them myself and always got really good service, especially from Rob ( TheMaltMiller ).

https://twojbrowar.pl/en/ have a great variety of NZ/AUS hops and I just order some Topaz, Pacifica, Rakau, Waimea, Kohatu from them. They didn't have Wai-Iti on stock though (which is on my " to brew " list ).

Cheers!

 

[Northern_Brewer]

In that case, Bramling Cross, Strisselspalt and maybe Jester become a bit less interesting, and possibly the NZ stuff in general, but the heritage stuff maybe a bit more so.

One thing to clear up - do you know if he normally uses pellets or whole cones? Most brewers tend to prefer one or the other, British brewers use cones more than most but pellets are perhaps the safer option.

The best two British stores for hop choice are Malt Miller and BrewUK - I've certainly seen Sabro at TMM under its old name of HBC438 but it's not there at the moment. They also have Chevallier. (no affiliation other than as a customer of both)

 

[couchsending]

If you’re in the UK it seems like it should easier to get some of the new Slovenian hops there. They’re really cool. Really interesting fruit characters that are quite different than anything else I’ve used

Styrian Dragon
Styrian Fox
Styrian Cardinal

 

[catdaddy66]

I haven't found it at all difficult to find NZ hops in the US. https://www.farmhousebrewingsupply.com/4-oz-bags/?sort=featured&page=4

Here is what they have right now:

Dr Rudi
Green Bullet
Motueka
Nelson Sauvin
Pacific Gem
Pacific Jade
Pacifica
Rakau
Southern Cross
Wai-Iti
Waimea
Wakatu

I have tried several of these varieties and have a house APA that uses green bullet and warrior. Motueka and all of the 'pacific' styles are good also.

 

[BlueHouseBrewhaus]

I brew a NZ summer wheat ale that calls for Rawaka hops. I couldn't find anyone in the US that distributed so I ordered them from a NZ supplier. As far as I can tell, that's the only way to get them. They are definitely unique but not inexpensive when you factor in the shipping.

 

[rodwha]

I love to make hoppy pale ales with HBC 342. I’ve had a beer made with one of those southern American hops and found it interesting and different.