Anyone Tried Ringwood Specials?

[mfdes]

Hi all,

I just recently got my hands on a stack of fresh Ringwood Special hops. These were developed with Pride of Ringwood but are of different parentage (OP Fuggle seedling), and were soon eclipsed by the infamous Pride of Ringwood. As they were only grown for a couple of years in the 1960s, before the breweries decided they could get more bang for their buck with the higher alpha POR, I have no idea what to expect.
The question is, has anyone ever tried them, and if so what did they taste like? English-type, American-type?
Guessing what else was being grown at the time, it's likely the male parent was a Cluster cross.

Any thoughts?

MFS

Edit: They are 6% alpha.

 

[THE DRUNK ARAB]

Hi all,

I just recently got my hands on a stack of fresh Ringwood Special hops. These were developed with Pride of Ringwood but are of different parentage (OP Fuggle seedling), and were soon eclipsed by the infamous Pride of Ringwood. As they were only grown for a couple of years in the 1960s, before the breweries decided they could get more bang for their buck with the higher alpha POR, I have no idea what to expect.
The question is, has anyone ever tried them, and if so what did they taste like? English-type, American-type?
Guessing what else was being grown at the time, it's likely the male parent was a Cluster cross.

Any thoughts?

MFS

Edit: They are 6% alpha.

You can be the guinea pig and let us all know what the results are MFS!

C&B
TDA

 

[ausdb]

I just recently got my hands on a stack of fresh Ringwood Special hops. These were developed with Pride of Ringwood but are of different parentage (OP Fuggle seedling), and were soon eclipsed by the infamous Pride of Ringwood. As they were only grown for a couple of years in the 1960s, before the breweries decided they could get more bang for their buck with the higher alpha POR, I have no idea what to expect.
The question is, has anyone ever tried them, and if so what did they taste like? English-type, American-type?
Guessing what else was being grown at the time, it's likely the male parent was a Cluster cross.

Never heard of them here on the big island but they sound interesting enough if they have a bit of fuggles in them, not sure about cluster the aroma just doesn't do it for me. Why not brew two batches of an english bitter one brewed front to back with these and the other with fuggles front to back with the same yeast for a comparison and report back to us?

 

[warrenlw63]

mfdes

Coming across a new or unusual hop is always a major score.

How about an Oz Sparkling Ale style? Something similar to Coopers.

Warren -

 

[BoilerBoy]

mfdes

Coming across a new or unusual hop is always a major score.

How about an Oz Sparkling Ale style? Something similar to Coopers.

Warren -

I agree, very intriguing, with POR being a derivative that would be a most interesting comparison.

BB

 

[mfdes]

Hey guys,
A few misunderstandings: It is not in any way related to POR, they were just both products of the same breeding program, for example as NS and Riwaka are products of the same breeding program with completely different parentage and flavour profile.
Secondly, it is an open pollinated fuggle seedling. I said I suspect a cluster seedling may be the male parent, just based on what was being grown at the time. On the other hand it could also be an English hop seedling, which were also common. This would put it at 1/2 fuggle, possible 1/4 cluster and 1/4 unknown. 2 things to note here: cluster contribution would be small if any, and parentage is not a good rule for aroma profile: Cascade is almost 3/4 fuggle, for example.
As an aside, I don't like cluster either.
Finally, Ringwood Specials are not a new variety, they're over 50 years old. Just that they were never brewed with for very long.
Interesting to see that nobody seems to have tried them.
I have also done a little searching in southern Tas in places where old hops were once grown, and collected samples of a few plants, marking their position with pink tape and in the GPS. If any other of you Taswegians out there find my pink marking tapes with a code written in black permanent marker, please do not remove!
MFS.

 

[mfdes]

Edit: Alright, I'll be the guinea pig