From their website.... The hardest part about making new and exciting hoppy beers is sourcing the hops you need. Most hops are bought under contracts which are signed two or three years in advance. If you have a new beer that becomes popular you are often unable to brew anymore of it as there is no source for the hops. We occasionally get opportunities to acquire small quantities of specialty hops that are enough for one batch of beer, but no more. We have decided to create a new Extra Pale Lager(XPL) that we are calling Hop Swap. The idea is that the base beer will always remain the same but there will be a new batch every 4-8 weeks that will use new hops. This will allow us to feature hops that we would otherwise not be able to make use of. Our first release of Hop Swap XPL will be released Thursday, December 5th. It will feature three new experimental hops, HBC-344, HBC-291 and HBC-462. These are all new high alpha hop strains that are not yet widely available. Has anyone had any experience with these newer hop strains? Sounds like an interesting idea.
I've had a handful of beers with an 'new' hop used. Cambridge Brewing had one, One of the Troegs Scratch Series Used one as well, and a couple more I can't recall. I've yet to be blown away by any of them. I will give these a go and see if anything sticks out. The sad part will be really loving one.
We're getting our fair share in upstate New York....It's nice to have a few more quality, regional IPA's (or in JA case IPL's) to choose from!
That's how I feel about most rare/expensive/one-off beers, so I usually just ignore them to begin with. But in this case if I fall in love with one of the hops, I might be able to get ahold of some myself and make my own IPA with them.
Found some short descriptions on the web HBC-462 Gape like fruitiness with spicy/herbal notes HBC 291 is peppery floral and fruity HBC-344 - A daughter of YCR 5 (Warrior), HBC 344 was selected for its unique green apple and tropical
I bottled a single hop HBC 462 Belgian Pale Ale yesterday and it turned out fantastic. White grape-like fruitiness that is much more gentle than Nelson Sauvin. I hope that Yakima Chief makes this a mainstay, because if used in the right styles, it is fantastic.
