Wednesday, February 5, 2014

New Hop Varieties

Hop breeding and farming is a seriously cool topic.  Since craft beer has expanded, the farms have had free reign to go all out in producing the biggest, dankest, most delicious flavors and combinations of hops to use.  With everyone trying to get an edge in craft brewing, no matter how weird the hop is, some brewery will be willing to use it in an experimental beer.  Who knows, maybe it will lead us to the next Citra (which was an experimental hop for the longest time).

Lately the following hops have come out of the breeding programs.  Azacca is being used a bit and is why it has a name.  People love this hop and Societe had a really successful Bachelor beer brewed solely with this.  Cigar City used Vic Secret in a single hop pale ale and I got to try it and it was tasty.  I really want to get my hands on some of these when I get back to brewing.


Azacca (ADHA 483)

AA Range: 14 - 16%
Beta: 5.4%
Cohumulone: N/A
Total Oil: 1.8 ml/100g
Characteristics: Fresh citrus, tangerine, mango, grapefruit, piney, spicy, pineapple.
Other Notes: Sounds like this is the best-suited of this new lot (from the ADHA) for American IPAs, so it's no surprise that it's the first to get an actual name.

ADHA 484

AA Range: 11 - 12%
Beta: 3.5%
Cohumulone: 46.8%
Total Oil: N/A
Characteristics: Cedar, wood, bubblegum, spice.
Other Notes: Intriguing descriptors here. Sounds appropriate for English beers, or oak-aged beers.

ADHA 527

AA Range: 14 - 15%
Beta: 4.5%
Cohumulone: 36.8%
Total Oil: N/A
Characteristics: Anise, licorice, spice, mint, floral.

ADHA 529

AA Range: 11%
Beta: 3.2%
Cohumulone: 25.5%
Total Oil: N/A
Characteristics: Sweet coconut, lemon, mint, green herbal tea.

ADHA 871

AA Range: 13.4%
Beta: 4%
Cohumulone: 27.4%
Total Oil: N/A
Characteristics: Floral, citrus, strong mint, herbal, mellow spice, sage, slight lemon.
Other Notes: Should be a contender for some saisons.

ADHA 881

AA Range: 16.3%
Beta: 7.3%
Cohumulone: 35.4%
Total Oil: N/A
Characteristics: Banana, pear, peach, herbal, spice.
Other Notes: First time I've seen banana as a hop descriptor!

Vic Secret


AA Range: 14 - 17%
Beta: 6.1 - 7.8%
Cohumulone: 51 - 56 %
Total Oil: 2.2 - 2.8 ml/100g
Characteristics: Pineapple, passionfruit, pine. Earthy when used in boil. "Lighter and less dominant than Galaxy."
Other Notes: The grower notes: "the clean, distinct fruit and pine characters of Vic Secret are best accessed by dry hopping or whirlpool additions." Also, not really the best name for a hop.

No comments:

Post a Comment