So I was joking around last night that for my girlfriend's dog, Juarez, that we should brew a beer to drink to celebrate his birthday in a few weeks. Since we're too close to the deadline for most other ideas, I said we should brew an NEIPA using hops names that sound as if they were from Mexico (since he shares his name with a city in Mexico). The ones we came up with were El Dorado, Motueka, and Azacca. I've made a few NEIPA beers before but haven't branched out too far from really safe hops, Mosaic and Citra. I have no idea if these hops would compliment or clash as well as the ratio to use for all of them. I would likely DDH this beer. My grain bill for 2.5 gallons will probably be: 5.75lb - 2 row 2.5lb - Flaked Oats 1lb - American Wheat .5lb - Honey Malt London III yeast Anyone have any opinions on using these hops together or possible ratios that would work?
The last time I brewed with this grain bill and yeast I did all Citra with 3 hop additions, whirlpool and 2 dry hops, no boil hops.I would think I would probably do something similar with this.
I believe Motueka is from New Zealand...derived from Maori...maybe a NeoMexicanus variety would get you a little closer to Mexico.
To my ear, Amarillo and Bravo sound fairly Mexican. Just remember that hops are poisonous to dogs, so toast Juarez but don't let him near the beer or any hops left in the kettle.
Ya dude hops sound good, 1:1:1 ratio, 10 min and whirlpool but I would definitely drop the honey malt and maybe the wheat. Keep the oats to 20%. My 2 cents.
Correct. Many of the NZ hops are named after the towns in the hops growing region, Nelson, Riwaka, and Motueka are some examples.
I stopped by the LHBS after work yesterday to pick up all the ingredients. They didn't have Motueka (not sure if it just wasn't in stock or they don't carry it, I didn't ask) so I just went with Azacca and El Dorado. I don't know if I've had a single hopped beer with just El Dorado but I have with Azacca and it wasn't as strong of flavor compared to some of the other hops used in NEIPAs. I decided on the fly to go with a 2:1 ratio, Azacca to El Dorado to try to make sure Azacca has room to come out. The rest of the grains I got were what I listed in originally.
I had a similar thought when I brewed an Azacca/Mosaic IPA a couple of years ago. I used more Azacca than Mosaic with the hope this would help the Azacca to compete here. I used more of a 1.75:1 ratio. This batch was enjoyable to drink but I really can't provide any specific input on whether my 1.75:1 was an optimum choice. Cheers!
Honey malt in moderation is good in most American IPA's but in NEIPA it probably will give an overly sweetness especially with low IBU's. Good malt just has to be used sparingly in certain situations. My experience.
Great info on Honey Malt from Julian at Beechwood BBQ on a BN session podcast within the last few years. Recommends never more than 2%. At small amounts it amplifies the “tropical notes” of the hops without really adding unwanted flavor from the malt.
