Help me find "my" hop

If you can get your hands on any of the Mikkeller single (I know it's expensive) hop series, give it a try. Really helped me kind of figure out for myself where what I like/don't like.

 

It's a good idea but some of their beers aren't great. And when it comes to the price tag, I'd better be enjoying my $9 12 oz bottle of warrior beer. Ptooie!

 

I also have a hard time pulling the trigger on a hop forward beer that has made that trek to get to me. By the time they got to me, Mt. Hood and Columbus tasted way too similar, or it was harder to find the differences than it should have been.

 

Where I did warn about the price, I gotta say "ouch!" $6 per bottle by me (plus a few were gifts), so I have to agree at $9 a bottle that would be even tougher. Where I didn't necessarily like all of them, I wouldn't say some of them arn't all that good/great, I chalked that up to my taste preferences. What I may have liked best could have been a beer somebody else didn't like and vice/versa.

 

That's a very good point, one of the reasons I generally won't trade for IPAs unless I know the person pretty well. Can't comment on the Mt Hood, but overall I was very impressed with the shelf life of some (been fortunate enough to try a few of them fresh and with some time on them).

 

Yeah, I might be a bit more responsive if they are fresh.

 

I'm gonna throw my hat into the "you like amarillo, citra, centennial, simcoe" ring. Mash low, watch the amount of crystal, use a cleanish yeast, get most of your IBUs late in the boil, etch.

 

Good call, I like Peeper ale as well, and actually a decent amount of shelf life to it as well. A friend gave me a bottle that was past it's "best by" date once and it was still really good. According to the website: Magnum, Amarillo, Centeniall, and Cascade http://www.mainebeercompany.com/maine-beer/peeper/.

I'm very fortunate that Mikkeller has a decent amount of distribution to my area. Particularly one bottle shop manager that likes Mikkeller and does what he can to bring it in (which I like), but it all really depends on what's been imported. Also could be because their stuff is imported into MA directly, but that's just an assumption on my part, I don't have a huge understanding on how that's done. I wish I could buy more, but as already mentioned, it's pricey. Haven't had any sour stuff, but sours aren't really my thing, so I"m not going to pay much for it.

 

based on this guy's homebrew (hoppy pilsner) i tried over the weekend, citra + simcoe = exact smell of weed. no joke, everyone who tried this was like "who's holding?" after sticking their nose in it. i'm going to brew with these two hops to test this hypothesis at some point.

 

OG: 1.060
FG: 1.011
ABV: 6.4%
IBU: 58
12 Gallons

23lbs 2-row
1lb Carapils
8oz C40
8oz Wheat
Mash @ 152
1oz Chinook (12.4%) @ 60
1.5oz Warrior (16%) @ 60
1oz Citra @ 30
2oz Citra @ 0
.66oz Amarillo @ 0
.66oz Simcoe @ 0

Dry Hop:
2 oz Amarillo
1 oz Simcoe
1 oz Citra
1 oz Centennial
WLP001 - California Ale Yeast


Basically Blind Pig with my own hopping regiment.

 

I've tried some of the mikkeler single hop series which are expensive but I thought a great idea to be able to compare. It'd be amazing to sit down with the full set and try them next to each other!

Personally think smash based recipes are great for pinpointing what a hop will do for you in a beer- start with a simple grain bill you like and then brew a few batches using different hops each time. I tried a 2 row based pale ale to highlight citra hops and will be doing a marris otter based one next with different hops- cascade or Amarillo possibly.

I'm with you on the juicier, fruitier hop flavor profiles, citra simcoe et al. Also found dry hopping imparts an incredible element of the hop aroma which is good when that's the element of the beer you are trying to highlight.

Cheers and good luck hop hunting

 

As stated previously in this thread, some of the beers you like and some you dislike have the same hops. Some people don't like certain hops but I'm not sure you need to find your hop, but need to find a recipe that accentuates the hops in the way you would enjoy the most. I think addition times and the amounts of hops coupled with the malt bill and mash temp may play a bigger role in an IPA than the actual type of hops as shown by DFH's 60 Min having 2 hops that you seem to enjoy but the fact that it is a maltier IPA, most likely makes you enjoy it less than a beer like Sculpin and other "west coast style" IPAs.