Which hops do you dislike the most and why?

[Hoppy2bmerry]

Reading some people's descriptions of hops they dislike which seem far from what others taste/perceive makes me wonder if it is a genetic difference as with cilantro. Some people find the herb absolutely aweful because of their genes.

 

[Singletrack]

What is it about Saaz that you don't like? Brutal honesty is OK.

Oh, I'm not worried one bit about hurting Saaz's feelings. We're still talking about hops here, aren't we? If so, I think my limited taste vocabulary will fail me. But just for you, I've checked my records. On Dec 27, 2014 I brewed a Czech Pilsner bittered with Hallertau and flavored with Saaz at 30 min, 10 min, and flameout. I calculated 43 IBU. I used 8 0z of Saaz in a 6 gal batch. Probably too much.

My tasting notes said: Not delicious! Too bitter and weird hop flavor. Maybe I don't like Saaz.

I think I have used Saaz since then, but not sure when/what.

Sorry, that's as brutal as I can get. Suggestions?

 

[pshankstar]

Reading some people's descriptions of hops they dislike which seem far from what others taste/perceive makes me wonder if it is a genetic difference as with cilantro. Some people find the herb absolutely aweful because of their genes.

I have kind of thought that too going through this thread. That would be an interesting study for sure.

 

[brewstergalVT]

I have kind of thought that too going through this thread. That would be an interesting study for sure.

Yes, it would be a fascinating study. Like anything having to do with smell, we all have different strengths and weaknesses. I do think we can train ourselves with practice to expand our sense of smell. Much has been written about this and part of it is being able to identify and mentally tag smells.

In some commercial beers (and some by respected breweries) I've smelled what I've only been able to describe as dirty baby diapers. What is it really? Is it from the yeast, hops or what? Then the other day I was cutting up cabbage and scallions and poof! Right in front of me the same smell wafted through my nose. Obviously a combination of sulfur compounds. Really, it was the fresh vegetables. I've concluded that in beer it's from hops. Now if only I can figure out which hops are causing those aromas I'd be really happy!

 

[brewstergalVT]

Oh, I'm not worried one bit about hurting Saaz's feelings. We're still talking about hops here, aren't we? If so, I think my limited taste vocabulary will fail me. But just for you, I've checked my records. On Dec 27, 2014 I brewed a Czech Pilsner bittered with Hallertau and flavored with Saaz at 30 min, 10 min, and flameout. I calculated 43 IBU. I used 8 0z of Saaz in a 6 gal batch. Probably too much.

My tasting notes said: Not delicious! Too bitter and weird hop flavor. Maybe I don't like Saaz.

I think I have used Saaz since then, but not sure when/what.

Sorry, that's as brutal as I can get. Suggestions?

Hmm, you're right, not very brutal.

My suggestion is to not give up on Saaz yet as 8oz for 6gal is more like a punched in the face IPA hopping rate. Maybe trying it again but using just 2-3 ounces at the end might give you a better feel for Saaz AND if you still don't like it you might be better able to identify what it is that you don't like with the hop. Just my opinion but I think it's a lovely, elegant hop (and not easily offended).

A little off topic but I made a spruce tip ale last year and wow, I used way too much but I'm not giving up, just cutting the amount by quite a bit when I make it this spring. I think the same goes for most hops, it's when they're punching you in the face that the nastiness is obvious to some. I tend to be in the 'less is more' camp but I stray sometimes.

 

[brewstergalVT]

Besides not liking Centennial because it smells dirty to me, galaxy is also on the list of dislikes. I had used galaxy in my IPA's but there was something about the IPA I didn't like, I kept changing things, trying to pinpoint what was giving the beer a taste/smell similar to black jelly beans. Then I was out and ordered a beer, could barely drink the beer and when I looked up what hops they used: only galaxy. Done.

I find most NE IPA's have an odor similar to the odorant in propane (a mercaptan I believe) which is nasty but I can usually get past it after the initial taste. It's been a mystery to me as to which hop varieties cause this odor. Anyone know? Only Apollo has given me a little in my beers.

 

[bonecitybrewco]

Mosaic. Tastes like straight up dirt to me. Talked to the brewer because they switched to Mosaic in their house IPA and asked if he picked up earthiness or dirt. His response "I've heard Mosaic can be earthy/dirty but all I get is a citrus explosion". I get absolutely no citrus whatsoever.

That being said, I just did a Simcoe, Amarillo, Centennial IPA and it smells incredible. Will have to wait until finished before judgement on flavour can be made. Maybe it's the blending that helps? I'm not sure. As someone said earlier, maybe it's a genetics thing.

 

[mattdee1]

Chinook for me. Dry hopped a pale ale with it and I was very disappointed that it resulted in a very sharp/harsh taste compared to most other hops I've tried. I only dryhopped half the batch, so I was able to see the contribution of the Chinook.

 

[peanasky]

For whatever reason, Cascade hops tend to taste grassy to me, and not in a good way. It's not bad if it's in with other hops, but with some beers/recipes, oh boy, it's like sucking on a lawn mower blade.

 

[DaWhip]

Oh, I'm not worried one bit about hurting Saaz's feelings. We're still talking about hops here, aren't we? If so, I think my limited taste vocabulary will fail me. But just for you, I've checked my records. On Dec 27, 2014 I brewed a Czech Pilsner bittered with Hallertau and flavored with Saaz at 30 min, 10 min, and flameout. I calculated 43 IBU. I used 8 0z of Saaz in a 6 gal batch. Probably too much.

My tasting notes said: Not delicious! Too bitter and weird hop flavor. Maybe I don't like Saaz.

I think I have used Saaz since then, but not sure when/what.

Sorry, that's as brutal as I can get. Suggestions?

I picked up a bunch of sterling on sale and have been using it in place of saaz and really like it. If you don't want to try saaz again, give that a go.

As for everything else, I haven't really found one I can't stand either. I have been nervous from using simcoe & mosaic getting a lot of cat piss and dirty sock flavors during fermentation samples, but it has always smoothed out for me by the end of fermentation and carbonation and I really like them. Not enough evidence to back this up, but I think they might get really bad when boiled too long. Lots of mosaic at flame out is delicious and matches the descriptions to me. The ones that made me nervous had earlier additions.

 

[Silver_Is_Money]

Cascade hops taste like grapefruit rinds. Yuk!

 

[MapleGroveAleworks]

Mosaic is the worst. Everyone around me loves it. "It's so tropical. Mango! Passionfruit! Pineapple!" I despise it. Let's be honest here, it smells and tastes like yard onions. Nothing remotely tropical/juicy/fruity or pleasant about it. I wish people would get over this hop and move onto the next new "it" hop.

Nugget is another one. It's so abrasive. I feel like I need to scrape that flavor off my tongue after I take a sip. I'd be totally cool if every nugget vine burned to the ground, never to return.

Chinook is another one I hate. No redeeming qualities. I mean even the name makes it sound gross.

Summit is dreadful too. Garlic and onion again. I like to call this one O.G. mosaic.

Why do you wish people would get over mosaic? How does others enjoying it affect you?

 

[violinguy]

This has been a rather informative thread so far. I'm relatively new to brewing and almost brand-new to recipe building so needless to say I'm learning a bunch here.

Obviously no palettes are alike, but there are a few repeats here. I recently brewed NB's Zombie Dust clone and I like it quite a bit. The citrus is heavy but to me, not overwhelming. The beer smells like grapefruit which I like, but tastes like a mild and somewhat sweet IPA. Again, my pallet is saying that. I bottled a pale ale brewed exclusively with UK Fuggles today. Tasted pretty good. Can't wait until it's carbonated.

While I'm not basing my entire recipe-building and beer brewing life on the answers here, I do put a little trust in the fellas (or ladies) here to know what they're talking about.

 

[youngdh]

Mosaic. Tastes like straight up dirt to me. Talked to the brewer because they switched to Mosaic in their house IPA and asked if he picked up earthiness or dirt. His response "I've heard Mosaic can be earthy/dirty but all I get is a citrus explosion". I get absolutely no citrus whatsoever.

That being said, I just did a Simcoe, Amarillo, Centennial IPA and it smells incredible. Will have to wait until finished before judgement on flavour can be made. Maybe it's the blending that helps? I'm not sure. As someone said earlier, maybe it's a genetics thing.

I love Mosaic and have always gotten the explosion of tropical fruits. It's my go to hop for my DIPA. I've heard others say they don't like Mosaic as well. I wonder if it plays very differently with different palates.

 

[DrKnow]

Why do you wish people would get over mosaic? How does others enjoying it affect you?

The title of the thread is "Which hops do you dislike and why?" I'm just playing along.
I dislike mosaic because it smells and tastes like yard onions. You have to understand I'm in the northeast. So every homebrewer and every commercial brewery is using mosaic non stop. Mosaic, mosaic, mosaic! It's like some kind of cancer spreading unchecked. It's getting damn near impossible to find a pale ale/IPA/DIPA without it. I'm just tired of hearing how "juicy" or "tropical" something is when really it's not. I mean someone has to tell the emporor he's not wearing any clothes. I don't post much but I have such a burning hatred for mosaic hops that I had to chime in. I know it's just the hot new hop and it will fade into the background eventually (the sooner the better). It's totally fine if people want to brew/drink yard onion IPA, I mean it's a free country and all, I just don't understand it. Now kindly get off my lawn.

 

[MapleGroveAleworks]

The title of the thread is "Which hops do you dislike and why?" I'm just playing along.
I dislike mosaic because it smells and tastes like yard onions. You have to understand I'm in the northeast. So every homebrewer and every commercial brewery is using mosaic non stop. Mosaic, mosaic, mosaic! It's like some kind of cancer spreading unchecked. It's getting damn near impossible to find a pale ale/IPA/DIPA without it. I'm just tired of hearing how "juicy" or "tropical" something is when really it's not. I mean someone has to tell the emporor he's not wearing any clothes. I don't post much but I have such a burning hatred for mosaic hops that I had to chime in. I know it's just the hot new hop and it will fade into the background eventually (the sooner the better). It's totally fine if people want to brew/drink yard onion IPA, I mean it's a free country and all, I just don't understand it. Now kindly get off my lawn.

ok

 

[max384]

Chinook

Too piney for me. It reminds me of gin when it's in high quantities in a beer.

 

[Brew_G]

First one to pop into my mind is Sorachi Ace. I've had two commercial beers with it (Brooklyn's Sorachi Ace and Union's Steady Eddie) and both had an unpleasant flavor of dill.

 

[soccerdad]

Never met a hop I didn't like -- yet

 

[Jwin]

Sorachi Ace is my least favorite as of now. I used it in a brew with Warrior as the bittering hop and even though the beer turned out fine, I did not like it myself. I can't recall what it was that I didn't like but I just remember being very disappointed about it.

Now, I'm trying to figure out what to do with the last 10 oz I have of it. I picked up Brooklyn's Sorachi Ace Sasion, so I'll see if I like that and maybe try to clone it just to use up these hops.

I did a summer wheat with sorachi ace(30%), motueka(30%) and Amarillo(40%) last year. Was great
Neutral bittering hops(1 oz in 11g) and about a # of late addition/steeped. Blended hops per above percentages and added at 15/5/steep. 60/40 white wheat and 2 row. Lemon, lime passion fruit with the pillow like mouthfeel. Will be brewing again.
Also, seems like SA is perceived differently by different people and also may vary crop to crop a bit.

Personally, haven't been big on mosaic. Seems to play well with others but as a feature hop, not to good.
But, I think of hops like spices. Fee spices are features in a dish, but the right combination can be awesome.

 

[pshankstar]

I did a summer wheat with sorachi ace(30%), motueka(30%) and Amarillo(40%) last year. Was great
Neutral bittering hops(1 oz in 11g) and about a # of late addition/steeped. Blended hops per above percentages and added at 15/5/steep. 60/40 white wheat and 2 row. Lemon, lime passion fruit with the pillow like mouthfeel. Will be brewing again.
Also, seems like SA is perceived differently by different people and also may vary crop to crop a bit.

Personally, haven't been big on mosaic. Seems to play well with others but as a feature hop, not to good.
But, I think of hops like spices. Fee spices are features in a dish, but the right combination can be awesome.

Thanks for the info Jwin! I will have to play around with Beersmith to hit those % you listed and maybe try to make this to use up the Sorachi Ace. I assume the 1oz of bittering was done at 60min? Also, did you mix up the three hops and then portion them up for the 15/5/steep additions? You said you used about a pound of hops late in the boil. By any chance do you happen to know the breakdown for each hop and their amounts?

Thanks for your help to help me use the SA hops and make a good beer.

 

[pshankstar]

First one to pop into my mind is Sorachi Ace. I've had two commercial beers with it (Brooklyn's Sorachi Ace and Union's Steady Eddie) and both had an unpleasant flavor of dill.

I just tried Brooklyn's Sorachi Ace and did not like it either. I don't think it tasted like dill to me, but I could not finish the beer. I even let it sit for a while to warm up some, b/c some beers taste better when they warm up just a bit. Nope, couldn't finish it... I tried.

I hope with Jwin's suggestions on a brew using up the rest of my Sorachi Ace hops works out. I'm willing to try something to use them up.

 

[Jwin]

I just tried Brooklyn's Sorachi Ace and did not like it either. I don't think it tasted like dill to me, but I could not finish the beer. I even let it sit for a while to warm up some, b/c some beers taste better when they warm up just a bit. Nope, couldn't finish it... I tried.

I hope with Jwin's suggestions on a brew using up the rest of my Sorachi Ace hops works out. I'm willing to try something to use them up.

I'll get into beersmith and pull my recipe for ya. Imported by this thread.
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=255659

 

[raysmithtx]

I did a quick tally of the votes so far. I didn't count unless they were a definite 'I don't like'.

Dislike totals:
Centennial - 5
Simcoe - 2
Mosaic - 6
Saaz - 1
Citra -1 (would be 2 if I voted, smells like cat pee to me)
Chinook - 5
Amarillo - 1
Nugget - 2
Equinox - 1
Sorachi Ace - 4
Summit - 1
Calypso - 1
Galaxy - 1
Cascade - 2

 

[dstockwell]

Cascade hops taste like grapefruit rinds. Yuk!

2nd this...

 

[Silver_Is_Money]

So the IPA hops are the most disliked in general. Yet IPA is the most popular ale in the present age. Interesting.

I guess that all this is telling us is that you have to use a hop in order to either like ir dislike it, and the IPA class of hops is the most used of all. In the end this survey is likely therefore telling us nothing.

 

[McGarnigle]

Technically, those are American hops that are the most disliked, not IPA hops. Citrusy/Piney American hops. They're probably the most liked as well.

BTW, no dislike for Nelson Sauvin? I like them myself, but they are a little, um, unusual.

 

[bionut]

C'mon! Mosaic is one of mai favourite hops. I don't taste it like tropical fruits as much as muscat ottonel grapes, it is great. If you get it like yard onions it is a problem witj your tasting buds.
Also, i don't know any hop i don't like. Some are better for certain beer style or in certain combinations.

 

[Upthewazzu]

C'mon! Mosaic is one of mai favourite hops. I don't taste it like tropical fruits as much as muscat ottonel grapes, it is great. If you get it like yard onions it is a problem witj your tasting buds.
Also, i don't know any hop i don't like. Some are better for certain beer style or in certain combinations.

Mosaic is a weird one for me. When I first had a Mosaic beer, I loved it, couldn't get enough of it. Then, almost overnight, I started hating beers with Mosaic. Not sure why or what happened, but something changed.

 

[atoughram]

Sorachi Ace....

I'd rather drink pickle juice...