Hop Bill Mysteries

Discussion in 'Beer Talk' started by purephase, Aug 20, 2022.

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  1. purephase

    purephase Zealot (731) Feb 23, 2008 Connecticut
    Trader

    I was having a discussion with a friend tonight trying to remember or determine if a particular hyped IPA ever had its specific hop bill released and thought this might make for a fun thread for favorite IPAs (or otherwise) with undisclosed hop bills and/or speculation about what those hop bills may be.

    Here are some heavy hitters from New England that I know of to get started.

    Alchemist Heady Topper: Meant to feature Simcoe but no complete hop bill has ever been released as far as I'm aware.

    Alchemist Crusher: All Citra in the dry hop and at least at one point had a little bit of Summit, but no further info that I know of has ever been released.

    Fiddlehead Mastermind: I believe at the very least it features Mosaic but I have no clue if there's anything else. I'm actually unsure of any of their distributed IPA hop bills.

    Fox Farm Burst: I believe this and Double Burst are the only two hoppy beers they've done not to have any hops specified publicly. I thought I may have heard at one point from someone there it had lesser hyped hops like Falconer's Flight and/or Idaho 7, but having found no verification online I can only assume that was most likely a (drunken) delusion.

    Hill Farmstead Society and Solitude #5: Even with the website update, it remains: "American and New Zealand hops. Think grapefruit."

    Lawson's Sip of Sunshine: This may be a controversial choice but I've long been dubious of the idea that it's all Citra a la Double Sunshine since the initial description when it came out talked about hops they have regular access to and Citra was harder to acquire at that point in time. Super Session 2, which was the other giant Lawson's contract brew when Sip came out, was all Amarillo and I wouldn't be shocked if that was prominently featured in Sip as well.

    Tree House Julius (and relatives): They're a common target for being too opaque about their hop bills and I figured the flagship and family were the most obvious case. The original was a descendant of Nate's Citra and I suspect it has Amarillo but I have no idea if there's anything else.

    Honorable mention to NEBCO Sea Hag, which some of my friends and I speculated after the Fuggles English IPA era simply consisted of whatever hops the brewery happened to have on hand whenever it was brewed.
     
    #1 purephase, Aug 20, 2022
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  2. Resistance88

    Resistance88 Grand Pooh-Bah (3,462) Apr 9, 2015 California
    Society Pooh-Bah Trader

    Well damni thought Stouts were complicated
     
    #2 Resistance88, Aug 20, 2022
  3. Rug

    Rug Grand Pooh-Bah (3,454) Aug 20, 2018 Massachusetts
    Pooh-Bah Trader

    Man, this is a thinker. I wish I could more easily identify particular hop varieties instead of the notes they give off
     
    #3 Rug, Aug 20, 2022
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  4. BeerGeekExtraordinaire

    BeerGeekExtraordinaire Zealot (542) Mar 6, 2020 Illinois
    Trader

    Me too. I am horrible at determining the varieties, and a lot of timesI do good just to pick up the notes...
     
    #4 BeerGeekExtraordinaire, Aug 20, 2022
    Rug likes this.
  5. DrStiffington

    DrStiffington Grand Pooh-Bah (3,740) Oct 27, 2010 New Jersey
    Society Pooh-Bah

    This has to be an impossible task, given that many IPAs have several different hops in the boil: and then sometimes even more different hops used in the dry hop. Now single hop IPAs are a bit easier (still tough for my palate), like Nelson hops are very distinctive.
     
    #5 DrStiffington, Aug 20, 2022
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  6. woodchipper

    woodchipper Grand Pooh-Bah (3,735) Oct 25, 2005 Connecticut
    Society Pooh-Bah Trader

    Where are the master Cicerones? (probably have better things to do).
     
    #6 woodchipper, Aug 21, 2022
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  7. JackHorzempa

    JackHorzempa Grand Pooh-Bah (3,375) Dec 15, 2005 Pennsylvania
    Society Pooh-Bah

    At Happy Hour!?! :beers:

    Cheers!
     
    #7 JackHorzempa, Aug 21, 2022
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  8. DCH

    DCH Savant (1,119) Jun 12, 2013 New York

    Haven’t seen a lot of fuggles hops in a while. I distinctly remember the shipyard English ipa with primarily fuggles hops and it smelled just like dank weed.
     
    #8 DCH, Aug 22, 2022
  9. Jaycase

    Jaycase Grand Pooh-Bah (3,858) Jan 13, 2007 Illinois
    BA4LYFE Society Pooh-Bah Trader

    [​IMG]
     
    #9 Jaycase, Aug 22, 2022
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  10. BigIronH

    BigIronH Grand Pooh-Bah (3,762) Oct 31, 2019 Michigan
    Pooh-Bah Trader

    Most of the IPA’s I drink have the hop bill listed on the can or online. They take the “thinking” out of it in this regard. Cheers.
     
    #10 BigIronH, Aug 22, 2022
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  11. JackHorzempa

    JackHorzempa Grand Pooh-Bah (3,375) Dec 15, 2005 Pennsylvania
    Society Pooh-Bah

    Less thinking and more drinking! :beers:

    Cheers!

    P.S. Do you think the above would make for a good bumper sticker? :thinking_face:
     
    #11 JackHorzempa, Aug 22, 2022
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  12. beer_beer

    beer_beer Pooh-Bah (2,306) Feb 13, 2018 Finland
    Society Pooh-Bah

    They should all be as frank as the BRULO Azzaca single hops I rated yesterday. Tasted citrus, wish I could be more specific.
     
    #12 beer_beer, Aug 22, 2022
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  13. BigIronH

    BigIronH Grand Pooh-Bah (3,762) Oct 31, 2019 Michigan
    Pooh-Bah Trader

    I would buy one!
     
    #13 BigIronH, Aug 22, 2022
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  14. StJamesGate

    StJamesGate Grand Pooh-Bah (3,766) Oct 8, 2007 New York
    Pooh-Bah Trader

    We need a parallel thread for all the IPAs that have changed their hop bills over the years...
     
    #14 StJamesGate, Aug 22, 2022
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  15. BigIronH

    BigIronH Grand Pooh-Bah (3,762) Oct 31, 2019 Michigan
    Pooh-Bah Trader

    #15 BigIronH, Aug 22, 2022
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  16. JackHorzempa

    JackHorzempa Grand Pooh-Bah (3,375) Dec 15, 2005 Pennsylvania
    Society Pooh-Bah

    #16 JackHorzempa, Aug 22, 2022
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  17. smutty33

    smutty33 Pooh-Bah (2,172) Jun 12, 2009 Connecticut
    Pooh-Bah Trader

    I love seeing the hop bill when listed. When it’s a mystery it’s fun to guess and geek out a little, but would be more geekery to eventually get some info.

    Great examples @purephase
     
    #17 smutty33, Aug 23, 2022
  18. AElfwine_Nerevar

    AElfwine_Nerevar Savant (1,174) Nov 16, 2018 North Dakota
    Trader

    Sea Hag has the hop and malt bills listed on NEBCO's website.

    Hops: Kettle Hops - Columbus, Centennial, Amarillo & Citra; Dry Hops - Amarillo, Centennial, Citra, Simcoe & Columbus

    Malt: pilsner, munich, and crystal malt blend
     
    #18 AElfwine_Nerevar, Aug 23, 2022
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  19. beer_beer

    beer_beer Pooh-Bah (2,306) Feb 13, 2018 Finland
    Society Pooh-Bah

    How much of each hop? :wink:
     
    #19 beer_beer, Aug 23, 2022
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  20. SFACRKnight

    SFACRKnight Grand Pooh-Bah (3,348) Jan 20, 2012 Colorado
    Pooh-Bah Trader

    I'll be that guy, I think it's a cop out for brewers when they hold those cards too close to their chest. Vinnie has released the Pliny recipe, @erway has been transparent in regards to elevated as well. Both of those beers are still at the top of the heap as far as ipa and dipa is concerned. I would suspect, after over a decade of Pliny being such a great beer and the recipe being ubiquitous, if all a brewer needed was a hop bill to replicate a beer, shouldn't accurate Pliny clones flood the store shelves? But we all know that a well crafted beer, while always imitated, will always rise above the poorly crafted look alikes. Brewers, if you gotta hide your ingredients, there's more going on with your beers than you think.
     
    #20 SFACRKnight, Aug 24, 2022
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