Strange hop "off-flavor" spanning multiple breweries

Do you (or anyone else) have any thoughts on whether the beer world is likely to board the terroir train any time soon in terms of breweries earnestly trying to differentiate themselves on that metric?

Adding another couple/few thousand breweries in the next 3 or 4 years might leave businesses looking for ways to set themselves apart. On the other hand, the fact that few (any?) breweries grow their own hops makes things quite a bit different than the wine industry where it seems easier to claim there's something special about the side of hill your vineyard grapes grow on.

I don't homebrew and I'm mostly a plebe when it comes to wine, so I have no idea how comparable the terroir differences are between grapes and hops.

 

A few Breweries grow hops, but not many at a large scale. A couple that come to mind are SN (estate series beers use those), and Bells which now has some acres planted near the production brewery (I don't know if those are producing yet).

 

According to Stan Hieronymus, the onion/garlic goes up if the hops are harvested late. Throughput in the processing facility can be an issue, they all can't be harvested at once.

 

Everyone gets that reaction to ringwood yeast.

 

Rogue also grows their own hops and brew a few beers exclusively with them.

 

Weyerbacher here in PA was cultivating hops for a few years, but I think they've now ended that.

Blue Mountain in VA is still growing some of their own hops.

https://foursquare.com/v/blue-mountain-brewery--hop-farm/4b083548f964a520480623e3

 

Alex, in all fairness it is how you utilize this yeast strain. To use a short term of speaking (no pun intended) it is the timing of of using this strain. If you quickly conduct a primary fermentation with this yeast strain (i.e., a Peter Austin method of brewing) you will experience diacetyl (a butter like flavor) from this strain. If instead you provide a proper primary fermentation timeframe with this strain the yeast is fully capable of 'cleaning up' the diacetyl created created earlier on in the fermentation process.

There is a brewpub near me that uses the Ringwood strain as their house ale strain (since it creates a clear beer) but they wait the appropriate time to serve their ales using this yeast; no diacetyl in those beers.

Cheers!

 

I kid - mostly! I quite like Shipyard Old Thumper and Prelude. When in the wrong hands however, the diacetyl with that strain - as you note - is obnoxious. I seem to be particularly sensitive to it, along with DMS. My wife is the same way with Isoamyl Acetate, to the point where I can't crack a German hefe without her saying the house smells like rotting bananas.

 

I agree about the obnoxiousness, but just figured I'd clarify what Jack was saying about the Austin method. It actually involves crashing the fermentation at a certain gravity reading, whether the yeast is still working or not. It pretty much guarantees obnoxious levels of 'd' in the finished product.

I'm extremely sensitive to it myself, so I'm finding it in too many local IPAs these days. They may not be using Ringwood yeast or the Austin method, but a rushed process will still lead to a flawed product.

 

I am very impressed how genuine all the responses in this thread have been. No one said "you just don't like ipas" or anything useless for a change. Very nice and very educational.

To your question, there are a few very well respected, consistently produced beers that I occasionally don't have the taste for, or can't drink too. I always chalk it up to palate fatigue. Interestingly, and depressingly, Bodhi has been one of them. There are times when it just tastes overly floral and soapy. I never noticed it before it was bottled, but I probably went from having it once every 8 weeks, give or take, to buying at least a 4 pack a month.

I will get that soapyness from time to time with some others too. The Enjoy By I have been getting a lot of onion from recently also.

 

I normally get a lot of body odor/sweaty socks out of mosaic and it is by far my favorite hop.

 

Maybe I should post a reference to the Porky's movie here!?!

Cheers!

 

So glad my palate isn't sophisticated enough to taste cat pee, sweaty socks, horse blanket, soap, etc etc when I drink a beer.

But as I enjoy a cold barley soda, I sometimes wonder how exactly some people know what those items taste like...

 

Purple tastes like blueberries of course !

 

Yes! There is such a thing as garlicky oniony hops. In that beer there enjoy by.

 

A regional brewer here uses ringwood yeast. its syracuse I think , their beast bitter. I think that yeast is delicious and accentuates malt qualities that re not too fruity. And that beer is hoppy -"er".

 

But... wouldn't they then be purpleberries?

 

You usually smell it in the beer before you taste it. (I own four cats... well, they own me)