Toppling Goliath XHops Experiment

Bloomington/St Paul depending on the time of day.

 

Steasy,

Me too, except I am missing the green because I drank it already.

Probaby going to do a 4 way testing of the other 4 colors with some buddies this weekend or next. I will make it a 5 way if I can come up with another green.

 

Orange, Red and Zeelander bottles at Casanova's

 

This isn't new info, but I see TG is showing redesigned XHops labels for ALL the previously released bottles. I thought the XHops project was to get feedback on unlisted hop varieties and then turn those into regular releases like Sol Hunter? With new labels does this mean they are going to run the ROYGBIV gamut of colors again?

 

Not sure why but the XHops popped into my brain again. Were there any results from the experiments? Weren't people supposed to email a special inbox and then the results would be tabulated and might be issued as a regular release? I do recall reading Red XHops was issued as Sol Hunter, but I think that was a one-off. Were other colors promoted to regular release? I'd be interested to know what they contained.

 

It was more for hop farmers to get feedback on these experimental hops. As you mentioned, XHops Red wad made again as Sol Hunter. When they first brewed with the hop, it didn't have a name. Now it's known as Equinox.

 

Looking at the numbers, it makes sense Red was made again. It would be interesting to see if the email feedback matched what people ranked them on BA and other places. Digging around I almost forgot about Ultraviolet that was firkin only at the taproom and was a double dry hopped version of Purple.

BA ratings

XHOPS Red 4.2
XHOPS Orange 4.18
XHOPS Green 4.17
XHOPS Yellow 3.9
XHOPS White 3.86
XHOPS Rainbow 3.84
XHOPS Blue 3.67
XHOPS Purple 3.62

"That mobile app" avg ratings

XHOPS Ultraviolet 4.19
XHOPS Red 4.02
XHOPS Rainbow 3.96
XHOPS White 3.91
XHOPS Orange 3.88
XHOPS Yellow 3.85
XHOPS Green 3.82
XHOPS Purple 3.77
XHOPS Blue 3.72

I'm probably curious for some sort of conclusion because of the original description from the bottle label:

 

Not sure what other conclusion you are looking for? I participate in surveys all the time but I don't go asking for what the consensus was. They just wanted feedback to know which hops to pursue.

 

Green was my jam. Had some great fresh tea notes to it.

 

I'm not expecting a data dump. I'd be happy with Sol Hunter being in rotation or one of the other higher rated colors being distributed. I love stuff like blind taste tests and verticals so I probably got too excited when I thought this was going to be some sort of taste test resulting in some "winners". I found a Yellow in my cellar and I'm going to crack it open and email the results in. :-)

 

There seems to be some confusion with this, but IPA goes in the fridge, not the cellar.

 

When someone "gifts" you an ancient IPA that hasn't been refrigerated then said beer is not worthy of fridge space. PS - It wasn't 100% awful, only about 70% awful. Exploded on opening, honey saison like flavor.