Alternate hop choices for English PA

In my opinion none of them sound very "English" and any one of them would put a decidedly different spin on the recipe.

That being said, I have made SMASH beers with MO, White labs London Ale yeast, and both Amarillo and Nugget (separately) and both beers were pretty chronic.

Any one you choose should be an informative study on varietal hop contribution to the finished beer.

 

Of the hops listed I would suggest that only Warrior might be appropriate for an English Pale Ale. I personally have only used Warrior as a bittering hop.

I use a lot of East Kent Goldings when I brew my Bitter Ales. I like the flavor/aroma of EKG but it is not a potent hop; even with generous hopping rates I only obtain a noticeable but on the subtle side flavors/aromas of spicy & floral. In my opinion English Pale Ales should be hoppy on the smooth/subtle side.

I recently spoke to the brewer at a local brewpub and he mentioned that he intended to brew an IPA using only Warrior; he hasn’t done this yet.

I found the below input via a web search:

“I just brewed an all Warrior strong pale ale. The hops were so high alpha, that I hopbursted the beer. I have to say, I thought the hops were “clean.” A little flavor reminiscent of citrus hops, but nothing like cascades.”

Cheers!

 

Calypso would work well. Its very much like they describe, as somewhat tea like, with some apple and pear flavors. Nice, subtle hop that would probably work well with EKG or even fuggles, but as a stand alone would also be in the realm of English hops. The one that really comes to my mind as an English replacement is Bravo, lightly herbal and fruity..

 

I've had a lot of success blending English hops (goldings, fuggles, challenger, northern brewer) with amarillo, cascade and centennial (I realize these last two are not on your list, just mentioning it) in my bitters.

Honestly, the "rules" regarding blending different hop varieties are not as strict as some here would have you believe.

 

I have seen recipes for British beers that use some German hops, so I think Hersbrucker would be fine for flavor and aroma.

 

I've used Calypso and Amarillo in the style, though not alone. And I love Hersbrucker; might have to try it.
Fruity hops like Calypso work fine. Citrusy hops work fine. I've won the EPA category with nothing but Cascade.
I suppose if it was bursting with hops like some American IPAs to the point that it covered up the English yeast and malt it would not present well as an English IPA. Even then, it's definitely going to make beer - I say try 'em all!

cheers--
--Michael

 

Last year I had several ordinary and special bitters made with American hops. The British are using them, along with Galaxy.

 

Nugget might do well. I'm not familiar with Hersbrucker. Personally, I wouldn't be able to call it English if I used Amarillo.
Sure you don't want to get some Northdown or Northern Brewer?

 

I found the below post on Calypso via a web search:

“I had the first glass of my single hop Calypso pale Saturday. It's a decent hop. I can get some of the apple characteristics that it's described as having, but no pear. The apple is sort of a tart apple (but no, the batch is not infected).

It's got a citrus taste to it, someone described it as Meyer lemon. (I don't recall what those taste like, so I can't comment on that). I would say it's like a tart grapefruit, but different from Centennial and Cascade. I don't think it's great on it's own (that could change with the grains, too), but paired with some other hops, it will be interesting to play with more.”

Cheers!

 

I had my first taste of a Calypso in a homebrewed pale ale last week from my Step-Father-In-Law. It also had cascade, but I was able to pick out some pear, moreso in the aroma than the flavor.

For what it's worth. I am also not sure how it would do on it's own...but he handed me a half pound to try out myself.