Amarillo

[Stuster]

With summer coming, a person's thoughts turn to APAs (right Tony?). I thought we'd look at one of the newer American hops, Amarillo (yellow). Here is what Brewrats have on this hop.

Amarillo hops usually fall between 8-11% alpha acid content. That's a high enough alpha acid content to use them for both bittering and flavoring hops.

And as far as bittering goes, Amarillo hops give you a nice slightly clean bitterness. They have a high enough co-humulone rate (21-24) to give you enough of a bitter bite to your beer but not as much as say . . . chinook. But amarillo hops certainly make sure you know they are bittering your beer.

And the flavor of amarillo hops is outstanding. Amarillo hops give your beer a very distinct grapefruit flavor to them.

Aroma: Floral and citrusy
Alpha Acids: 8 � 11% w/w
Beta Acids: 6 � 7% w/w
Co-Humulone: 21 � 24 of alpha acids
Storageability: Average
Total Oil: 1.5 � 1.9 mls/100 grams
Myrcene: 68 � 70% of whole oil
Humulene: 9 � 11% of whole oil
Caryophyllene: 2 � 4% of whole oil
Farnesene: 2 � 4% of whole oil
General: Trade Perception Gaining acceptance, viewed somewhat as a Cascade type
Possible Substitutions: Cascade, Centennial, possibly Chinook or Ahtanum
Typical Beer Styles: American Ales, IPA
Additional Information: Very limited acreage at this time.

So what can you tell us about this hop? How do you use them - bittering, flavour, aroma? What hop combinations are they good for? Are there any differences between pellets, plugs and flowers? Have you used them in anything other than American styles? What commercial beers use this hop?

Tell us all you know so we can all make the best beer we can. :chug:

 

[DrewCarey82]

:super: Amarillo rocks! :chug:

And thats all I got to say about that!

 

[DarkFaerytale]

this is a great hop, i used it way to much in my earlier brews and got sick of it, stayed away from it for 6 months (except the occasional Pale ale when out for dinner) and now i love it again, can't go wrong with this one, everyone seems to love it

-Phill

 

[razz]

Only used em once so far, in a copy of JS Golden Ale. Great flavour into the keg and two months later a lovely rounded flavour, it ended up more like the JS Amber ale but who cares.

 

[Weizguy]

Bluetongue use it in one of their beers (maybe the pils?).
I have made an all Amarillo beer (APA), which is prob a waste of hops.
I have also made the Dreherweizen recipe from BYO magazine, which is a wheat beer with Vienna instead of pils and a small amount of Amarillo for flavour. An OK beer, with an unusual taste.

I just made a Yankee wheat beer with it, used after flameout, with Cascade for bitterness and flavour

Seth

 

[Samwise Gamgee]

I've used Amarillo for bittering, flavour and aroma.

Great for summer quaffers! I love the aroma.

I've used it in a couple of Golden Ales, a barley wine (IIRC), Aus Pale Ale and more recently in a Bitter I did with/for my brother.

My next brew will be my Hoppy Wheat Beer which was discussed a while ago on here, which is all Amarillo and Cascade.

 

[Snow]

Although a good aroma hop, I actually think Amarillo is a perfect bittering hop, as it doesn't impart any flavour when bittered in a 60 min boil or longer. Even though it has a relatively high-ish alpha content, the bitterness it provides is more like a noble hop softness. I've used it in everything from Belgian tripels to English bitters and stouts and it's perfect.

- Snow

 

[Mothballs]

I really like it. i think it is a great flavour and aroma hop. I am actually using some along with some cascade in the kettle right now. I am brewing a American Amber Ale based on Ross's recipe and it smells fantastic. I have never used it for bittering, will have to try it in the future, what I have at the moment is 8.4%AA so you would get good value from it.

Cheers
Mothballs

 

[bindi]

In my AAA, APA it is the first hop chosen for aroma, it will aslo bitter as Snow says, but prefer Northern Brewers or a little Chinook for that.

 

[user 384]

In my AAA, APA it is the first hop chosen for aroma, it will aslo bitter as Snow says, but prefer Northern Brewers or a little Chinook for that.

For my APAs and AAAs I've settled on Hallertau for bittering and 50/50 Amarillo/Cascade for late additions. I've been extremely happy with these results. Works even better if you use pseudo-bittering by adding the hallertau at 30mins.

Cheers
MAH

 

[Voosher]

I'm generally pretty happy with Amarillo as an all-round hop. I find it good for bittering, flavour or aroma though my personal preference is as a flavour hop. The 'house' APA is NB/Simcoe for bittering, Amarillo for flavour, Cascade for aroma though I happily substitute Amarillo for bittering.
The one criticism or warning I offer is its variability. I found a significant difference flavour wise from the 2004 crop to the 2005 crop the latter being less 'rockmelony'. I would think that as it becomes more popular and as the plantings become more widespread it will probably become more consistent. I've found this with a couple of the other US hops as well. Simcoe for example varied flavour from 2004 to 2005 (less 'piney' with the later planting and a better hop IMHO) and I've also noticed Simcoe has generally dropped AA ratings each season as well. Nothing major, just a personal observation.

 

[DrewCarey82]

My last APA I did. I bittered with Centenial and then later hop additions with predominately Amarillo and some Cascade.

Previous APA I did which turned into a mid due to adding to much water(dulp) was all cascade and quite nice. Very much looking forward to my latest one which just got bottled.

Have used Amarillo with Golden Ales and absolutely loved it.... See recipes for my golden ale recipe.

 

[tintin]

I've brewed 3 APA's with Amarillo (combined with Chinook and EKG) and I reckon they're the duck's nuts for flavour. I also mash hopped a small amount in my latest stout (the majority were Fuggles), and initial tastings are pretty bloody good (it's still fermenting).

 

[bindi]

In my AAA, APA it is the first hop chosen for aroma, it will aslo bitter as Snow says, but prefer Northern Brewers or a little Chinook for that.

For my APAs and AAAs I've settled on Hallertau for bittering and 50/50 Amarillo/Cascade for late additions. I've been extremely happy with these results. Works even better if you use pseudo-bittering by adding the hallertau at 30mins.

Cheers
MAH

I also use Amarillo/Cascade for late additions, also Liberty and Nelson Sauvin sometimes, and going over my last four AAAs three of the four had NB/Simcoe for bittering the other NB/ Chinook.
Hallertau hey <_< must give that a go.

 

[Screwtop]

Amarillo is great for aroma in anything pale in my book. Must try it for bittering.

 

[mje1980]

I got some a while ago, and i definately dont regret it, and i will be getting it again. Very nice for ales.

 

[Jazman]

the jur stillout with me as the apa i did last year was great this i did a simalar on not as happy but i also did a combo of cascade and amarillo and like mah did and i didnt mind that one i also bitter with either northern brewer or southern cross

 

[Bobby]

i really like it. however i do think it benifets from a little bit of time, it settles down and tastes great.
my last apa was abit to much at first, after a couple weeks it was awesome.

 

[Jerry]

I love it and have used it for bittering, flavour and aroma. Its my favourite hop at the moment and as others have said it goes well in combination with Cascade.

I tend to use it mainly for flavour and aroma with NB or POR for bittering.

I've just got some Simcoe recently and I'm looking forward to giving that a go with Amarillo.

Scott

 

[Lindsay Dive]

The combination of Amarillo and Chinook is really nice.

Lindsay.