Hop flavors limits? Better? Different? Future?

Boy, you asked a lot of good and challenging questions there. I don’t any good specific response to those questions at the moment.

I posted previously today about Straub IPL (that got moved to the Mid-Atlantic forum) which relates to this thread:

“So, back to Straub IPL. This is one interesting and tasty beer! As I drank the beer the wheels in my brain kept going round & round trying to come up with a description of the flavor profile and then BINGO: the word “perfume” jumped out. This beer had a flavor reminiscent of perfume to me. It is a tasty perfume! The beer menu at the bar had a description of this beer and mentioned a number of hops; from memory: Bravo, Cascade & Columbus. How these hops were utilized in the boil (and dry hop?) I have no idea but they all came together to create a tasty and interesting flavor/aroma.”

Cheers!

 

There's some interesting information in this article focusing on Oregon hop breeding. They mention blueberry, coconut, and garlic hop character. Indie Hops is doing some cool stuff in this area.

 

right now I'm totally into Mosaic, Kiwi and Citra but don't hold me to just those. lol

 

As far as flavors, I think we'll continue to see many more awesome things.
Bitterness, we're about maxed out; they could keep breeding bitterer hops, but humans can only detect ~100 IBU (don't quote me on the number, but it's something like that) so it doesn't really matter.
My favorite hop flavors are floral, citrus and fruity, like Amarillo, Cascade, Citra, and Sorachi Ace. I imagine I'd love Galaxy too but I haven't been able to find anything that uses those.

 

Dave, you might be interested in the below information that Stan Hieronymus presented at this year’s NHC:

“Compounds, the short list

· Myrcene: green, resinous, piney

· Caryophyllene: woody

· Humulene: woody, piney

· Farnesene: floral

· Linalool: floral, orange

· Geraniol: floral, rose, geranium

· Citronellol: citrusy, fruity

· Nerol: rose, citrusy

· Pinene: spicy, piney

· 3-mercaptohexan-1-ol (3MH): black currant, muscat

· 4-mercapto-4-methylpentan-2-one (4MMP): black currant, tropical"

Cheers!

 

Stan Hieronymus has talked of these at the NHC. The German hop breeding program is at Huell, and the have stepped up activity on aroma hops after seeing the success in America for the new hops with bold aroma. This is from memory of what Stan said at the NHC.

Huell Melon - pronounced melon aroma.
Hallertau Blanc - white wine aroma.
Polaris - super highs alpha as stated above, wintergreen aroma. A huge hop in the field, 3000 lb/acre yield.
Mandarins Bavaria - mandarin orange aroma.

They are just revving up, and have RD money from the state of Bavaria to develope new hop breeds. More to come, I would think.

 

I was at an outdoor party/bbq/beerfest with some homebrewed beers. The brewer grew his own hops and had extras so he put out bowls of fresh hops. I threw a few into my beer and perhaps it was my imagination but it had a pleasant effect on the beer. Could this be a wave of the future? A complimentary [or for real capitalists, an extra charge] bowl of fresh hops when you order a beer. It would be a great way to educate or a gimmick to make a place a little different or dare I say, special.

 

Another post about Indie Hops: The New School (Portland-based beer blog) did an interview with the owners pretty recently. It's a fairly long read, but worth it...

 

His book, For the Love of Hops, is a great read for both the science geek homebrewer as well as beer history buffs. I want to make a "hop coffin" for my homebrew set up.

 

Maybe not new hop flavors, perhaps the next "big thing" will be the first person to engineer hops with extended shelf-lives. Heady Topper already has a review AVERAGE of 4.72 out of 5, not much room for improvement in terms of flavor.

Or perhaps the first brewery to make a "session" IPA as flavorful (or at least as flavorful in the public's eye) as Heady Topper.

In addition to that, higher levels of consistency and quality across the board.

 

Just had an IPA brewed with experimental hop 05256. It was DELICIOUS!

 

Surprisingly enough I have. This was from a few years back. If it was cantaloupe done better I wouldn't have minded, but this beer was all malt for the most part. I have no idea what they did to hit that note, but I specifically remember cantaloupe being the first thing that came to my mind.

http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/193/41019/?ba=DevilsCups

 

Berries was the first thing that came to mind, but I think melon would be pretty nice as well. Looking forward to the day when all of these are regular choices, or combinations thereof.

 

That's an interesting thought. A Heady Topper or Pliny that is just as good 6 months later. That would be huge.

I disagree. There is a massive amount of room for improvement. What you're forgetting is that HT is 4.72 right now, but in 5 years it will be out of the top 10. Just think, a year or two ago, Sculpin was the #1 IPA by a good margin, now it's what, #4 and dropping? Westy 12 was always #1, now it's falling out of the top 10. Dark Lord isn't even in the top 100 anymore. 10 years ago, Victory Storm king was top of the mountain, now where is it?

The bar keeps getting raised.

Dope

 

IPA's that are just flat out different. Asheville Brewing Shiva IPA, not a clue to the hop combo on this one, completely different. Stone Enjoy By, has a muscadine grape kinda taste/finish, again nothing quite like it.

I've has pure Mosaic IPA's and I don't care for it, it's the in hop I suppose, but better in a blend.

Who knows what's possible some mutated variety of hop no doubt, or just some mad scientist hits on a hop blend that is mind blowing. HT uses 5 hops guess which one's?