East Kent Goldings

[np1962]

I never refuse any beer...I just whinge the whole time, and say 'it would be better with fuggle....' over and over and over again. I swear that Nige changed his bitter from EKG to fuggle, not cos he thinks it will be better, but just to get me to shut the hell up. :lol:

Bitter V3 with Fuggles, V4 with Styrian, I'm still learning and actually want to see what each brings to a standard recipe. Am quite happy with the EKG version.
Will bring over a couple bottles of mild later in the week....... NB and EKG..
And don't expect I will ever shut you up
Cheers
Nige

 

[Bribie G]

Bitter V3 with Fuggles, V4 with Styrian, I'm still learning and actually want to see what each brings to a standard recipe. Am quite happy with the EKG version.
Will bring over a couple bottles of mild later in the week....... NB and EKG..
And don't expect I will ever shut you up
Cheers
Nige

Hold him down and pour it down his throat

I actually have B's address and next week I'll post him a bottle of my Yorkshire Golden Summer Ale (see his post re a Golden) which has 35g EKG as bittering and Styrians for finishing. Drink it and suffer.

To OP, tweaking EKG with something like Styrian is a marriage made in heaven :icon_drool2:

 

[buttersd70]

Whilst it went off topic, I think in a kind of wierd way it's come back full circle....bitters can be great for showcasing hops, even though they're predominanlty a malt driven beer. imo, unlike their american counterparts (which are just hop hop hop), they have a balance with the malt, and with the phenolics and/or esters, which, to me, adds to the enjoyment of the hop rather than detracting from it. I've said in the past that sometimes less is more.....

Particularly if it's a golden bitter (aka summer bitter), which tends to have more hop in the profile. The amount of late hopping in the range of 0.75 - 1g/L really lets the hop come through, with the malt and the esters accentuating it.

Other hops that benefit from this treatment are, as others have said, fuggle, styrian goldings, Northern Brewer (which is used predominantly for bittering, but imo is underated for it's rather subtle flavouring ability), and Bramling Cross (one of my current favourites). And the combinations are great....I use NB+styrian, NB+fuggle, fuggle + styrian, and yes, I have even used EKG (in moderation....to qualify, my only real gripe with EKG is more that many beers, from other brewers, I've tried with it have been too heavy handed, rather than a problem with the hop itself).

 

[haysie]

EKG to my way of thinking is a bit analogous to base malts. It's a good base hop. And just as we can go on to use special malts to dress up the base malt then there's a big range of hops that complement and extend EKG when used in combination.

I didnt understand a word of this :unsure: and for sure didnt have a clue on analogous

 

[Dazza_devil]

Thanks for all the input and added amusement
The history behind EKG intrigues me as much as it's uses and I'm yet to explore it and it's flavour and aroma in depth.
Some of my English ancestors were farmers from East Kent region, perhaps they grew them. As for my other English ancestors I wouldn't like to comment on there association with the hop.
Would it be fair to say that EKG is one of the oldest hop varieties to have been used in beer and perhaps my ancestors from the late 1800's would have drunk an English Ale with the same hop profile that the EKG's of today impart to the brew?
I've just ordered some Challenger pellets to try as well but as for the EKG, I'm looking forward to being familiarised with it and complimenting it with other hops in the future.
I would have to say that the Northern Brewer pellets do have a nice aroma and I wouldn't hesitate to use them in that function along with flavour. Same would have to go for Target from my limited experience. Just recently I bottled a Best Bitter that was bittered with Northern Brewer and has flavour, aroma and dry hop additions of Styrians, it's shaping up very nicely indeed.

 

[Maple]

snip
I would have to say that the Northern Brewer pellets do have a nice aroma and I wouldn't hesitate to use them in that function along with flavour. Same would have to go for Target from my limited experience. Just recently I bottled a Best Bitter that was bittered with Northern Brewer and has flavour, aroma and dry hop additions of Styrians, it's shaping up very nicely indeed.

Was that the German Northern Brewer, or the American version? I am quite partial to the USA variant, purely for that resiny/piney spicyness that the German variety doesn't have.

 

[Dazza_devil]

Was that the German Northern Brewer, or the American version? I am quite partial to the USA variant, purely for that resiny/piney spicyness that the German variety doesn't have.

It was the German, yet to sample the US version but it sounds very interesting.
I wonder how both varieties differ from the original English variant.

 

[Bribie G]

I didnt understand a word of this :unsure: and for sure didnt have a clue on analogous

Rewrite:

Base malts such as Maris Otter, Joe White Ale etc can result in a nice beer by themselves but are usually 'embellished' with special malts such as Crystal Malts . In the same way, East Kent Goldings is a basic hop that has been used for yonks and despite the fact that it is often used by itself, many brewers add other hops that work in nicely with the EKG to produce a more aromatic and flavourful beer compared to using EKG by itself.

Analogous = similar, alike, like, comparable, akin.

 

[haysie]

Rewrite:

Base malts such as Maris Otter, Joe White Ale etc can result in a nice beer by themselves but are usually 'embellished' with special malts such as Crystal Malts . In the same way, East Kent Goldings is a basic hop that has been used for yonks and despite the fact that it is often used by itself, many brewers add other hops that work in nicely with the EKG to produce a more aromatic and flavourful beer compared to using EKG by itself.

Analogous = similar, alike, like, comparable, akin.

Relax BribieG, analogulous is similar. Settled.
What I have noticed in all the replies, is English beers. EKG makes a great Belgian, pale ale and blonde. I grabbed a 3rd at Beerfest for an all the way EKG pale ale, as someone else posted earlier, its quite often used too extremes which doesnt do it justice. I bittered an Alt with the same hop recently and finished with some Spalt, very good beer. Great hop!

 

[Bribie G]

Relaxed thanks to Kegerator :lol:

Funny you should mention it, the BABBs September beer style is Belgian. I have never brewed a Belgian and have no experience here... last time I was in Belgium many decades ago I spent an evening in a bar in Brussels drinking Maes Pils which I expect is Flemish for Mouse Piss.

In my wasted youth I didn't know that Belgium is a country of great beers and on checking out some recipes, as you rightly say EKG features in the recipes. And this is no surprise as Belgium is about as far away from Kent as Sydney is from Goulburn and I imagine that there has long been a cross-channel trade in hops.

 

[buttersd70]

The history behind EKG intrigues me as much as it's uses and I'm yet to explore it and it's flavour and aroma in depth.

I have a pdf which is based mainly around american hops, but talks about the parantage of the different hop varieties, and has a fairly lengthy section about EKG, and the various sub varieties, which is an interesting read....

damn. slightly too large to upload directly. Hang about, I'll up it to rapidshare and put up the link.
available here. 2.2mB.

 

[manticle]

Isn't EKG your favourite hop butters?

 

[Dazza_devil]

I have a pdf which is based mainly around american hops, but talks about the parantage of the different hop varieties, and has a fairly lengthy section about EKG, and the various sub varieties, which is an interesting read....

damn. slightly too large to upload directly. Hang about, I'll up it to rapidshare and put up the link.
available here. 2.2mB.

Cheers Butters,
Very interesting. I haven't had time to read it all but, from the info, my ancestors being from Wye, East Ashford would have probably been familiar with the Bramling, Eastwell (used in the breeding process of Target) and Amos's Early Bird cultivars of Goldings and definitely Fuggles would of been around. I don't know anything of the area historically or geographically but genetically, who knows.

This bit got me;

"Fuggle was so extensively grown​

throughout the U.K. that by 1949 it​

reached 78% of the total English crop. In​

the 20​

​

​

​

th Century, it was grown in the​

U.S., Tasmania, Canada, Belgium,​

Austria and Yugoslavia (now Slovenian​

Republic). I mention Yugoslavia​

because it is not called Fuggle there but​

Styrian Golding. The reason for this​

mishap in names is as follows: In the​

1930s, the Yugoslavian hop industry​

went down with a Verticillium Wilt​

strain that affected their aroma hops​

which were of German origin. They then​

looked to the U.K. for new plant​

material and thought that they had​

chosen an English Golding, hence called​

it Styrian (originally Steirer, after a hop​

growing area on the Austrian/Yugoslavia​

border) Golding."

Looks like Fuggles is next on the list.

 

[Bribie G]

Go for the New Zealand Fuggles Flowers. Frggggnnn spectacular. :icon_drunk:

Damn not currently available from CB, <_< get them to notify you when available.

 

[buttersd70]

Go for the New Zealand Fuggles Flowers. Frggggnnn spectacular. :icon_drunk:

Damn not currently available from CB, <_< get them to notify you when available.

I'm slightly wary about some of the NZ flowers...good hops in their own right, don't get me wrong...but just not the same for the most part. How does the nz fuggle compare flavour wise to UK?

The irony is....all I can get locally atm in the way of fuggle is the NZ. BB has tons of NZ fuggle, and no English fuggle.

 

[Bribie G]

:icon_offtopic: I know what you mean about some of the NZ hops, either they are voted piss poor compared to their namesakes (I have seen posts re Cascade and Styrians in particular) or they are nothing like the overseas versions (BSaaz thankfully renamed to Motueka). However some of them are really nice, I'm plannning an all-Green Bullet and Single Malt "SteinAle" shortly. And Motueka is beeoootiful if used cautiously, It's one of my favourite hops. Going back to the Fuggles I love the fact that they come in flowers and I have found them to be a really good sub for UK Fuggles. Probably ideal climate there like Herefordshire on a good Summer's day with the hop picking wenches travelled out from Birmingham for the fortnight, their golden tresses and rosy cheeks. ......

I'm outta here. :icon_cheers:

 

[drsmurto]

:icon_offtopic: I know what you mean about some of the NZ hops, either they are voted piss poor compared to their namesakes (I have seen posts re Cascade and Styrians in particular) or they are nothing like the overseas versions (BSaaz thankfully renamed to Motueka). However some of them are really nice, I'm plannning an all-Green Bullet and Single Malt "SteinAle" shortly. And Motueka is beeoootiful if used cautiously, It's one of my favourite hops. Going back to the Fuggles I love the fact that they come in flowers and I have found them to be a really good sub for UK Fuggles. Probably ideal climate there like Herefordshire on a good Summer's day with the hop picking wenches travelled out from Birmingham for the fortnight, their golden tresses and rosy cheeks. ......

I'm outta here. :icon_cheers:

:icon_offtopic:

The Adelaide Mash Brewers had a SMaSH challenge earlier in the year. Green Bullet and Pils malt. Some of us roasted varying quantities of the pils malt so the beers ranged from lagers thru pale ales, big IPAs and dark ales. Very nice hop IMO.

We are currently undertaking a single hop challenge where everyone involved picks a different hop. Grist is fixed (simple pale ale) as is the yeast and the flavour/aroma additions. This way we get to learn a bit about hops that we may not have tried (or want to try).

Back to EKG, i use it a lot, a few times as the only hop but more often i blend it with fuggles/styrians.