I had a beer recently with Styrian Wolf hops in it, and it was incredible, so much fruit flavor from the hop. Does anyone happen to know a homebrew supplier of these hops? I have had zero luck finding them, and have a few ideas I'd like to try. Cheers!
there are quite a few hop varieties that become available to commercial breweries that don't make it down to the homebrew level. Ron Mexico was one of the few that went the other direction...
I don't think Ron Mexico came around again. Any idea of the status? The release to homebrewers was off of a 1 acre plot IIRC.
Jeff, you can purchase HBC-438 from Northern Brewer but it is pricy at 3 bucks an ounce: http://www.northernbrewer.com/hbc-438-hop-pellets Cheers! P.S. HBC-438 is also available at MoreBeer for the same price point.
FYI - All suppliers who carried this LD Carlson, Brewcraft, BSG charged the shops $2.95 per ounce. No one made any money here, one of the purposes was to fund ALS research, something like a $1.15 from each ounce went to ALS research.
Probably from the same year. If the hops don't get through the trials, they are pulled out and the field gets a new Hop for trials. Edit - I bought some more a year after my first purchase, same lot numbers on the package, so those were not a new fresh crop.
Good question...i got to play 'assistant brewer' with Russian River, brewing their Ron Mexico and he seemed to have plenty of it, so gotta think they're still producing it. Ron Mexico was an odd one, I got an interested asian-ginger type aroma from it doing a hop rub with it. Still seems available on quick search: https://www.morebeer.com/products/hbc-438-hop-pellets-1-oz.html
I think Get'er Brewed in northern ireland claimed to have got all the experimental slovenian hops a year or two ago, I won one of their giveaways which included Wolf - I was very impressed with all of them out the packet, but couldn't comment individually on them as I mixed them up in the beers I brewed. They do sell the last crop of wolf, so maybe if it isn't produced on much scale still they still have all of it, or at least all of the homebrew supply of it. You could try buying it from them. It would be expensive though
It could be still an acre. It seemed to be Jason Perault's favorite. When I was at Hop School, Stan Hieronymus said they were pushing HBC-291, but it hadn't gained traction. It did in the meantime, and is now known as Loral. One story was that they were going to rip out tha fields of what we know as Simcoe. Then Russian River and Weyerbacher put in commercial orders. It then became a big thing for that.
During a German beer festival in Philly I had he opportunity to sample a beer brewed by Yards Brewing that featured Loral hops. I enjoyed drinking that beer. Cheers!
Got a simple blonde ale I'm about to dry hop with a small amount of loral and it's been all Loral up until that and I've got my first Pilsner brew planned for this weekend that will be Loral/Saaz. Melvin had a small pilot batch of a Pilsgnar that featured Loral last September that as the best hoppy Pilsner I've ever had. Never heard of Styrian Wolf.
Grabbed 10oz of Styrian Wolf from Hop Head farms and brewed a batch of Pale Ale with it this AM. I believe it’s the 2016 crop. Bags smelled awesome upon opening. Vibrant punchy, etc etc etc. Rubbed a few pellets and was surprised to decent amount of what I could only describe as Dill. Never brewed with Sorachi Ace but the beers I’ve had that featured it were very Dill forward, to me aroma was similar. Aroma coming out of the kettle from first whirlpool addition was similar.. 6ish gallon 6lbs Rahr 2-Row 4lbs Simpson’s GP 1lb White Wheat Small amount of Cara Aroma added to mash at Sparge for color. .5 Oz Wolf FWH .5oz Wolf at 5 2oz Wolf Whirl 200 2oz Wolf Whirl 180 1/2 whirlfloc @ 15 Yeast Nutrient @ 10 1968 @ 1.2mil/ml/* Plato (hopefully) Pitch 64, Ferment 66 OG 1.051 Mash PH was for some reason high at first?? No clue, first time in a while it’s been off. Added 2ml Lactic to get boil PH to 5.2. 60 min boil. Total WP time 30. Interested to see how it turns out. Will most likely 2.5- 3oz DH with a few points to go. Interested to see how it turns out.
Not quite fully carbed yet but probably going to have to say this is the oddest Hop I’ve ever used. Aroma starts as pretty intense fruit then goes crazy floral, I had to look into the description to figure out the exact aroma. They mention Violets which is definitely it but it’s so strong it almost comes off as synthetic. It literally explodes out of the glass. Flavor is just as odd starts with a touch of dark fruit, then maybe that kind of anise character you get from Columbus sometimes, then finishes with straight Dill. No denying it either, dill dill dill and more dill. The oil content on these hops is crazy high, like 3.5-4.5. I’m having a hard time figuring out how to best use this Hop if I were to use it again. If it weren’t for the dill I think it could add some crazy complexity you’ve never experienced before. Definitely not your typical IPA/Pale Hop. Maybe in low quantities in a Farmhouse Ale/Saison of sorts??
Dill is an odd note, and I usually always equate it with a fish dish. Along those lines, would you think at a very low level it might have a place in a gose? Saltiness might bring the strength of the hop down a little, and the floral/dark fruit qualities might pair nicely. Would undoubtedly take a few iterations to get the quantity/timing of the SW right, given your notes.
