Least Favorite Hops?

Ingredients
41

Hmm. I seem to love most of what people hate except Amarillo. I can take it or leave it at this point but I’ve not brewed with it. I will in the near future to see if I like it or not. (I tend at this point to make a single hop IPA with a neutral grain basis to see if I like it or what the flavors will be. Amarillo is on the check list as well as Citra.)

However let me possibly be the first to report I can’t stand Cluster hops. I’ve tried them as a stand alone and they make me shake my head. Sometimes its fine, as I know that the Spotted Cow Clones love them but I’ve always had to add more hops to the batch to cover the rotten cattyness from them. I’ve tried them in different settings and they seem to be the funk that just does not clear my palate.

42

Simcoe.

43

I hate Mosaic and Simcoe. A little too crazy for my preference.

44

[quote=“rebuiltcellars”]
You picked out one of the few British dishes that almost everyone can agree is great.[/quote]
The best British dishes are Indian dishes. :stuck_out_tongue:

45

I think the problem with a lot of hops (CTZ, Simcoe, Mosaic, Citra, etc. which plenty of people are saying they dislike) is that they are often used injudiciously. I don’t like those hops either if they are used solo or if they are dominant when used in combo with other hops. When used in a balanced way, they can improve the overall aroma and flavor of a beer.

Summit is the one exception I’ve found. Just nasty in any application.

46

I agree that the way you use the hops can yield in some instances a great tasting beer, or a goes-down-the-drain beer.

I too dislike really piney beers, so typically am not a chinook fan, although it’s great in balance with other hops in Pliney the Elder. Maybe it has been CTZ I’ve disliked in some beers, but it’s pretty renown for adding a bit of dankness in moderation as a bittering hop to balance other hops. I’ve made a Columbus, Centennial, Cascade IPA using a bit of Columbus (also Simcoe) for bittering, and also as one of a couple dry hops, with just over 3% Golden Naked Oats in the grist, and it is terrific.

Last week I tried a single hop El Dorado IPA or Pale Ale, and it was terrible. Yes, there was a tiny hint of watermelon in the background, but mostly it tasted like concentrated green tea tannin and dirt.

I recently made a Summit Amarillo Citra IPA and the late-season whole summit was very clean as a bittering hop. When I used an ounce per 5 gal as a 7-day keg dryhop in combination with another hop, and squeezed the hop bag, I got a lot of onion-garlic (from sulphur compounds) that I didn’t care for, but it mostly dissipated after about 5 minutes in the glass exposed to air, and disappeared 3 1/2 weeks following the end of dryhopping, leaving a wonderful juicy orange flavor. So I think summit plays by its own terms!

I love citra in many applications, including my all-citra Zombie Dust clone, that uses it in FWH and late hop additions followed by a hop stand, and omits its use as a 60 minute addition which I’ve read can cause a cat pee flavor. I like it most as 5 minute or less addition, plus as a dryhop in moderation. I didn’t get great results with it from the 2011 crop.

I use traditionally English hops within English beer style guides, and enjoy them that way. Same with northern brewer for steam beer, wee heavy, or other tested uses.

Calypso is another one that I think is meant for use in balance with other hops in PA or IPA - I really enjoyed it in an IPA I made with Amarillo and Cascade, and a bit of Columbus FWH.

I didn’t like the Nelson Sauvin beer I tried.

1 Like
47

brewsumore, i have talked to some people that have said that they got the oiniony taste from the use of summit.

48

Yes I know. The summit hops is definitely where that flavor came from. My points are, at least in my experience, that: 1) the onion/garlic is from late addition or dry hopping. It is clean when used as a bittering hop, and 2) the onion/garlic flavor I got from dryhopping faded away pretty much completely in my kegged beer after 3 1/2 weeks over time, and up until that time the savory onion character faded after poured in the glass after a few minutes exposed to air.

49

Yes I know. The summit hops is definitely where that flavor came from. My points are, at least in my experience, that: 1) the onion/garlic is from late addition or dry hopping. It is clean when used as a bittering hop, and 2) the onion/garlic flavor I got from dryhopping faded away pretty much completely in my kegged beer after 3 1/2 weeks over time, and up until that time the savory onion character faded after poured in the glass after a few minutes exposed to air.[/quote]

I brewed a single-hopped pale ale with Summit, and the onion flavor was still there well over a year later. I did use FWH and a big flameout addition, so I’m thinking that exposure on the hot side is helping keep these compounds in solution. It’s nice to know that there may be a way around it by reserving Summit for dry hops only.

50

Interesting. My first keg kicked, and a day or two ago tapped the second one. I must admit it is just a tad savory/oniony but it comes off mostly like a dank flavor that sits in balance with the citrusy, fruity other hops. I admit that I don’t have the summits figured out.

51

Yeah, I’m with you on the Amarillo. I drank a craft beer at The Brewery in Gatlinburg, TN this weekend and had to ask my waiter what hops were in it. After consulting the brewer, he told me Amarillo. Not a fan of the “something-tastes-strange” in it. Of course, I’m a hophead from Asheville, NC. I love chinook, simcoe, and cascade.