Best Value Bittering Hop

[ikern]

With the list of "currently not available" hops growing all the time (and prices possibly rising) I thought it would be good to get some opinions from the AHB masses as to their thoughts on what varieties represent the best value. By value, my criteria would be high AA but smooth, clean bittering. Some recent posts I have seen lay plaudits on some of the trans-Tasman varieties. I'm looking for a hop I can buy a decent "slab" of and use for the next few months as my "house" bitttering hop, and save the low AA varieties for flavour/aroma.

Cheers :beer:

Soz

 

[Maple]

Depends what your house beer is. if you do say American Pales or IPA's, i'd say Columbus and Chinook (but I'm biased). Glacier is pretty smooth all rounder though.

 

[Screwtop]

Depends what your house beer is.

+!

Anything high Alpha in good supply.

 

[kevnlis]

Just be aware that not all of the high AA hops have that "smooth clean" profile you are after.

What would be best is to make a house recipe which uses a high AA hop and then reproduce that several times over the coming months.

I like Galena myself.

EDIT: Newport is $4 per 90g at Craftbrewer ATM. It is great as a bittering hop in ESBs and other Real Ales/Milds/IPAs etc. I have used it in a few brews and it has been great, and you sure can't beat the price

 

[dicko]

Hi soznewb,

My hop of choice for bittering would be Northern Brewer.
I find it works well in most styles.
I tend to consider the storageability to some extent as well, mainly because I live in rural SA and hops are not available locally.
Northern Brewer has a figure of 70% to 80 % after 6 months at 20 deg c.
I store my pellets in vacuum sealed bags in the freezer to achieve the best result over the longer term.

Cheers

 

[warra48]

I too have been using Northern Brewer lately, and I like the results.
It seems to blend well with later flavour and aroma additions.

 

[NickB]

I'm liking Southern Cross at the moment, but Newport is great in dark beers, and maybe even Super Alpha as a fairly neutral hop...

Cheers

 

[mika]

Mt Hood, Magnum, and another +1 for Northen Brewer. If you want clean, look for low Co-humulone levels. Your hop supplier should be able to give you that information, or look on the net for the 'Hop Union Variety Handbook'. It lists mosts thing you ever wanted to know about a hop.

 

[TidalPete]

Pacific Gem. :super: But nearly all high alphas are good.

TP :beer:

 

[Brewer_010]

Pacific Jade seems pretty good to me with very smooth bittering
So too has Nelson Sauvin and Southern Cross (all have very low cohumulone)

Green Bullet and Super ALpha are also pretty good

Haven't tried european or US versions for bittering, maybe next year

 

[dig]

Pacific Jade seems pretty good to me with very smooth bittering
So too has Nelson Sauvin and Southern Cross (all have very low cohumulone)

Green Bullet and Super ALpha are also pretty good

Haven't tried european or US versions for bittering, maybe next year

Jade gets my nod over Centennial. Plenty of good 'work horse' hops around. Perhaps consider a dual purpose hop like NS, either kiwi 'Hallertau' or Galaxy from Tassie.

But if it's 'value' you want, grow your own or divide up and freeze a tin of extract....

 

[neonmeate]

i haven't used anything over 5% AA for about three years

 

[blackbock]

I could tell what I'm using, but I won't in case you should buy it all up. <_<

 

[Duff]

POR Blackbock?

Anyway, Super Alpha gets my vote, clean as............whatever.

Great in a wide range of beers from Pilsner to IPA ('tis what James Squire use I hear).

 

[hughman666]

Perhaps consider a dual purpose hop like NS, either kiwi 'Hallertau' or Galaxy from Tassie.

+1 for NZ Hallertau. This is a great bittering hop for lager, pilsner, weizen, kolsch, witbier etc.

for ales chinook can be used for a few different sub-styles, and is quite strong so a little bit goes a long way...

 

[THE DRUNK ARAB]

Pacific Gem. :super: But nearly all high alphas are good.

TP :beer:

Too right TidalPete, love the Pacific Gem in ales and Southern Cross goes well too.

C&B
TDA

 

[Rustyc30]

add another one on for Pacific Gem been using for the last 6 months as my house bittering hop and it always goes down well

 

[oldbugman]

POR Blackbock?

Anyway, Super Alpha gets my vote, clean as............whatever.

Great in a wide range of beers from Pilsner to IPA ('tis what James Squire use I hear).

+1

 

[Fourstar]

Depends what your house beer is. if you do say American Pales or IPA's, i'd say Columbus and Chinook (but I'm biased). Glacier is pretty smooth all rounder though.

Big fan of Chinook, early or late. Big resiny smack to the palate!

 

[schooey]

For anything English, I don't mind Target and they still seem readily available. It amazes me that for a hop as much maligned as POR it sure has disappeared from most popular stockists quite quickly, along with another of my faves, Nelson Sauvin.