Columbus as a single hop

I just brewed an all-columbus pale ale/ipa (~50 ibus) and its primarily orange and pine.

I have nothing to back this up, but my perception is that columbus seems to vary more from farm to farm, ie, terroir. My columbus are from hopsdirect.

 

I remember a few years ago a friend and I were using Columbus hops from Hops Direct. They were really weird and we ended up throwing them out. Almost like rotting fruit. Other times I've used Columbus hops I've either bought them through Freshops, Northern Brewer, or the LHBS, and they always smell like dank and cannabis-like (which is what I like about this hop).

 

Could be from the cara150L. I use C120 more so, but I get occasional tobacco notes from that.

Is it like ashy tobacco? or more sweet raisin like tobacco like Beechnut side chew?

The last beer I drank where I got very apparent tobacco notes was Cigar City's Jai Lai (the Beechnut kind). I was in Tampa, and got a few sixers, and they all seemed to have that tobacco note. I don't seem to pick it up from the ones I procure in NY though. Could be related to freshness. Or their hops and malt bill. It would be interesting to see what their stated recipe is.

 

I just brewed an all Columbus IPA with Hops Direct hops. Still in primary but I will let you know what I made.

 

I have not personally homebrewed with Columbus. A very recent anecdotal story: I recently attended a Hill Farmstead event as part of Philly Beer Week. Shaun Hill is the owner/brewer of Hill Farmstead and he is an OUTSTANDING brewer. I had a number of Hill Farmstead beer at the event. My personal favorite was the Citra Single Hop Pale Ale. One of the beers I drank was Society and Solitude #3 which is a DIPA brewed with Columbus hops. I made mention to my wife while drinking this beer: “This beer is good but not a favorite of mine. I suppose I will never homebrew with Columbus hops?” My thought process is that if Shaun Hill’s beer doesn’t ‘thrill’ me then I have zero chance of homebrewing a Columbus hopped beer to my liking.

Below are descriptions of Columbus hops from various sources:

Freshops: “High on the bittering scale yet also valued for its oil content creates a hop that is an interesting dichotomy of sharp and herbal.”

Another source: “Columbus (US)14-16 both aroma hop and bittering hop Pungent”

One more source: “”dank, onion, garlic, spicy”

So, there are a number of ‘interesting descriptors used for Columbus hops. None of these ‘descriptors’ are very appealing to me.

I suspect that based upon my perception of Hill Farmstead Society and Solitude #3 and the three descriptions above that it seems likely to me that Columbus hops could very well be the reason for:

· “weird little flavor”

· “all I can say is it is alright...”

· “the flavor is just short of weird”

Cheers!

 

“FWIW, a couple of my favorite beers I ever have brewed used Columbus.” Thanks for that input.

Everybody has different tastes. I will continue to keep an eye out for commercial Columbus hopped beers to try. At this point in time I am still thinking that if Shaun Hill of Hill Farmstead can’t make this hop ‘shine’ for me then in all likelihood this is not a hop for me.

To repeat what I posted previously, the descriptions from Freshops and other sources just aren’t appealing to me.

Cheers!

 

“Was the beer 100% Columbus?” I am not 100% sure. Columbus hops were the only hops detailed on the beer menu for this beer.

“I am starting to think it doesn't work in this application (for a pale ale at least).” Well, I have only one ‘data point’ here but I tend to agree with you.

“I guess what I was trying to say is that until you use it, it is really hard to say you wouldn't brew with it.” True enough. My ‘dilemma(s)' is that I was not a huge fan of the Hill Farmstead beer that was Columbus hopped. I also find the descriptions for this hop to be unappealing. I like to try ‘new things’ from time to time. For example I have a Simcoe/Citra hopped IPA in my fermenter right now. I have never combined these two hops together but I am fairly confident that I will like the resulting beers. I have previously brewed an all Simcoe hopped IPA and an all Citra hopped IPA and I really liked both of these batches. I have a ‘good feeling’ that these two hops will complement each other.

“I don't get the onion and garlic (like I do in Summit, which I personally like), but I do get pungent, dank and a touch of citrus.” My taste buds are similar to yours. The description of “pungent, dank and a touch of citrus” is pretty close to what I perceived in the Hill Farmstead Society and Solitude #3 beer. I am guessing that the pungent/dank aspect is the ‘off putting’ aspect to me?

“We all have different palates, and preferences so I can understand you may not like this hop at all.” Well, I thought that Society and Solitude #3 was good but not great. I think that I really need to ‘explore’ commercial beers that us Columbus hops a bit more. I will not say I will never us Columbus hops in my homebrewing but I doubt that I will use it anytime soon.

“Either way, this is the wonderful world of brewing” Yea Verily!!

Cheers!

 

i am a big fan of columbus but have had trouble with it as well from certain sources...more often than not, when it is labeled Zeus. My first all-columbus ipa remains fairly high up on my list of favorite of mine, basically a 2-hearted clone with columbus instead of centennial. To me it was mainly pineapple with some tangerine & pine goodness but did have a harshness to it. I went onto brew a Pliny clone which was columbus driven with that batch of Columubs which also kicked ass. I bought a lb of zeus after finishing that first bag. I got a lot of weirdness from and really didn't enjoy it unless kept less than maybe 25% of late addition hopping. I mainly used the Zeus for bittering additions. I have gone back to a bag of Columbus and once again please with the results have brewed a Rye IPA with it and APA using healthy amounts in the mix.

All that said, CTZ to me is great a driving force hop, but not necessarily 100% of the hop profile. Maybe <75% of the profile.

 

What was the source of your columbus? This discussion seems to be bolstering my belief that columbus (more than other varieties) varies from farm to farm greatly.

 

north country malt supply was my source for bulk hops for years, so that is where I probably would have got the columbus & most likely the zeus....last order of Columbus was from Nikobrew. Trying to think of other places I have purchased bulk hops from. I bought from Farmhouse Brewing and Hops to You as well but I think those would have been for other varietals.

 

No...IMHO a fine hop that works better in tandem with just about anything else. Don't like Nelson Sauvins much by themselves either...but great when blended with others...IMHO

Disclaimer: had one commercial beer (IPA and IIPA)that were excellent and maybe single-hopped Columbus...from Columbus, Ohio if I remember right.

 

Jack, you should have tried Hill Farmstead's Columbus IPA. It was fantastically dank. I just had Society and Solitude this past weekend, and the beer had an almost minty/herbal finish to it.

 

love Columbus. I frequently FWH and dry hop with it, sometimes in the same recipe.

 

“Jack, you should have tried Hill Farmstead's Columbus IPA. It was fantastically dank.” Hmmm, that is supposed to sound ‘good’!?!

“I just had Society and Solitude this past weekend, and the beer had an almost minty/herbal finish to it.” I did drink a Society and Solitude #3 this past weekend. It is not a favorite of mine.

I guess I don’t understand your ‘message’!?!

Cheers!

 

My message is don't discredit Columbus just yet. I don't think Society and Solitude #3 is 100% Columbus hops, it was too fruity, but I guess that could be the yeast as well. The Columbus IPA was 100% Columbus as part of their single hop series and it was drastically different in terms of hop profile.

 

Columbus Hops smells like weed to me. Stinky, moist bud. Man I loved the flavor of S and S 3....

 

I'm not sure if S&S#3 is single hopped either. I thought I tasted Simcoe but the flavors can overlap I suppose. Pretty certain Everett is single hopped with Columbus though.

 

I won’t ‘give up’ on Columbus just yet. As I posted previously: “I will continue to keep an eye out for commercial Columbus hopped beers to try.”

I wonder if I would have the same opinion of Hill Farmstead Columbus IPA as Rifugium?:

“Rifugium

2.63/5 rDev -35.2%

look: 3 | smell: 3 | taste: 2.5 | feel: 2.5 | overall: 2.5

First had: on tap at Hill Farmstead, Greensboro, VT

Yep, definitely something going on with this brew, and it wasn't good. Hazy orange-yellow body with a small white head that fizzled away to nearly nothing. Aroma of biscuity malts, herbal hops, some indistinct funk. Taste was...quite weird, frankly. For something labeled an IPA, up front this resembled more of a stale saison with lager-ish qualities, wet grass funk, phenols, saltines, cardboard, giving way to some of the biscuity malts and herbal hops noted in the aroma, but with a general blandness throughout. I don't know if it was an off batch or what, but considering this was fresh from the source, I really can't give it a high rating. Light-medium body, thin and almost...flat? Just too stale and off-tasting to be drinkable. Quite disappointing for an otherwise consistently solid brewery.

Serving type: on-tap

Reviewed on: 04-24-2012 02:14:27”

Cheers!

 

i love Columbus, they are a good cheap hop that i have used for bittering, late additions and dry hops and have really loved it in most applications. for about a year i used Columbus as my bittering hop in every beer i made, and i noticed that they all had a common herbal (slightly catty) flavour in the background. since i have used it sparingly and have been using both Nugget and Cascade as bittering hops.

Columbus is sometimes know as kind of a super Cascade, so if you like Cascade i would give it a shot.

 

One of my favorite beers that I make is an all-Columbus american wheat beer (inspired by Southern Tier's Hop Sun). I've never picked up any tobacco hints with the fairly straight malt profile I use for that one.

Additionally I just picked up a Best in Show award for an all-Columbus (in the kettle at least) IPA in a York County homebrew contest (that a buddy entered on my behalf on a whim). No tobacco notes in that one either, and there was a bit more complexity in that mash profile... but it was still on the simple-ish side of things.

I am a big fan of Columbus - I'll have to keep an eye on it if I ever use it with oats.

 

I like several beers I've had that were dry hopped with Columbus, but I think it works much better as a flavoring/aroma hop than an all purpose bittering and flavoring profile.

 

Last Year's Zeus smells really good, like super spicy dank onion, Which could be bad but isn't. That's all I've used lately.

I think CTZ makes for a good buttering hop when you want something more punchy than magnum or warrior but not as severe as say chinook. The aroma is very dank-spicy and I think that as a single hop, it's just too distinct and unique for some people. As part of a blend, it works much better from a balance standpoint, like with centennial, cascade, amarillo or other fruity hops that can counter the spice.

 

No tobacco.
Pretty damn tasty. OG62 FG6 all Great Western 2Row, except for 10% cane sugar.
My Columbus are 16.5%aa from HopsDirect. I used 1oz 60 2oz 15 3oz keghops.
Smells like hops. Tastes like hops.
Grapefruit, orange, tropical stuff too. Alot going on an no single flavor stands out.
Bitterness is pretty aggressive.
SWMBO took her pants off so I think we have a winner.

 

Just this morning I considered using hops to butter my toast

 

That was an interesting auto-correct.

 

Pictures or it never happened!

 

I'm pretty sure Avery Hog Heaven is primarily or even solely a Columbus-hopped beer; that Oskar Blues Ol Dirty Bastard is too; and that Stone's Arrogant Bastard is a blend of Columbus and Chinook, If Jack is looking for some other Columbus-heavy beers to try...

I will say that we all get combinations that inexplicably don't work well together, maybe a combo of dark crystal plus a fruity-estering yeast plus a certain particular hop may just punch a wrong flavor button. I made a single hop Belgian IPA with Nelson Sauvin (first time I ever used them) and WY 3522 and it just wasn't great. The same malt bill and yeast, with a blend of Cascade Amarillo and Willamette, is consistently excellent, can't keep it in the house.

 

http://www.beerreviews.co.uk/beer/meet-the-brewer-christian-skovdal-andersen-beer-here/

just for confirmation, this Danish brewer I was researching brings the CTZ love if you scroll down to his favorite hop choice (nelson sauvin is his #1 pick though)

 

I love columbus. I brew with it frequently. A great all columbus beer is Avery's Hog Heaven, an excellant American style barleywine.

 

I just purchased a lb of Columbus hops and I need a good recipe to use them in, does anyone have any suggestions?

 

Columbus is one of my favorite PNW hops. I don't bitter with it anymore because it's not that clean but a bit in the mid-late boil and dry hop provides a dank and pungent quality. I like it in pale and dark hoppy beers.

 

I just brewed an all Columbus beer in my attempt to replicate Squatters Full Suspension, a 4% session pale ale. The recipe can be found here (straight from Jennifer Talley's (the original brewer at Squatters who developed the recipe) mouth). As the commercial beer is fairly low OG and balanced, the hopping is not over-the-top. Given the aroma, a fellow homebrewer and I always guessed that the finishing hops were Cascade, until stumbling upon this recipe. I guess my point here is that the character of Columbus may be highly dependent upon the amount used. If I remember (but I probably won't), I repost back once this beer is in the keg and carbed up. Cheers!