What Australian beers are good examples of a certain hop?

[Scobieb]

Hi Guys,

Well into my home brewing at the moment, and to try and establish what tastes I liked, I wondered if you might be able to tell me what beers are good examples of certain type of hops.

For example I tried Oakham Ales Citra at the weekend, which is a single hop beer using citra. After thinking I liked the taste of the citra hop for a while, it quite put me off.

Im particularly interested in brewing IPAs so, any examples of IPAs with certain hops in would be great for me.

 

[.DJ.]

Get to a BWS, you can get a 4 pack of Brigde Road Single Hop IPA's

Galaxy
Ella
Victoria Secret
Summer

 

[brewbienewbie]

Stone & Wood Pacific Ale - Galaxy

 

[JaseH]

VB = POR

 

[Toper]

Feral Golden Ace. Sorachi Ace as the hop.

 

[Phoney]

Mikkeller, while not Australian but available in Australia do a single hop IPA of a lot of varieties too.

 

[fletcher]

VB = POR

i used POR for the first time in a brew recently and realised how lovely this hop is. i only knew it in beers like VB and carlton, and understand it to not actually be the hop itself they use but some sort of cheaper option right? fresh POR is beautiful. such a fuller flavour than the tastes in the megaswill drinks

 

[Barry]

I like Citra but not in some beers I have tried. The hop character will vary with malts, yeast, water, fermentation, quantities and timing of additions, etc.. So sometimes it is worth giving a hop a second chance. I like POR in some of the beers that I have brewed but usually at 20 IBU's or less. Galaxy can be bit too much if it is used for high bitterness IMHO.
Sorry I know it is a bit OT.

 

[Dan Pratt]

if your looking to figure out what hops are what, try Bridge Roads single hop collection and for an overseas version the Mikeller beers that are all siingle hop IPA's.

 

[staggalee]

I like Citra but not in some beers I have tried. The hop character will vary with malts, yeast, water, fermentation, quantities and timing of additions, etc.. So sometimes it is worth giving a hop a second chance. I like POR in some of the beers that I have brewed but usually at 20 IBU's or less. Galaxy can be bit too much if it is used for high bitterness IMHO.
Sorry I know it is a bit OT.

Nice to see you still around, Barry. You would be one of the few originals left on the site. Your posts are to few and far between.

 

[Camo6]

A couple of mates and I went through the Mikkeller single hop range a while ago. Everyone of them was a cracking beer but probably not the best way to identify individual hop character. Personally I think a hoppy APA would work better than an IPA.
We went thirds in each bottle over the avo, with homebrew palate cleansers in between, with a printout of what to expect from each hop but towards the end we was all like: "Mmmm shitrush, mmmmm piiiney." Worth tasting though.

 

[Spiesy]

A couple of mates and I went through the Mikkeller single hop range a while ago. Everyone of them was a cracking beer but probably not the best way to identify individual hop character. Personally I think a hoppy APA would work better than an IPA.
We went thirds in each bottle over the avo, with homebrew palate cleansers in between, with a printout of what to expect from each hop but towards the end we was all like: "Mmmm shitrush, mmmmm piiiney." Worth tasting though.

mik.jpg

I've had a few of them and thought they weren't great at all - good to try to pick out some qualities of a hop, but there was just too much (mostly it was deep and danky, not bright, florally or citrus-like).

Maybe the ones I tried hadn't travelled overly well... and I should have checked the date.

 

[Bribie G]

i used POR for the first time in a brew recently and realised how lovely this hop is. i only knew it in beers like VB and carlton, and understand it to not actually be the hop itself they use but some sort of cheaper option right? fresh POR is beautiful. such a fuller flavour than the tastes in the megaswill drinks

CUB uses a couple of hop extracts from POR. The main one is an extract produced by liquid "supercritical" CO2 that actually contains all the flavour and aroma compounds. Then there is Isohop which is basically just a fraction that contains the isomerised alpha acids. There is a common misconception that Aussie megaswills just use "isohop" which is incorrect.

Various combinations of hop extract and isohop are added when the beer is "dressed" on the way to the packing line. For a good example of a beer with a light but noticeable hop nose try Melbourne Bitter.

Many of the cheap euro imports such as Oettinger just use an extract but still have the typical Hallertau etc hop aroma and flavour. For a really good example of POR added in its natural form: Coopers Sparkling, served not too cold. Nice hop whiff on opening.

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

And if you want to see how POR & Saaz go.....grab a Coopers Mild

 

[Droopy Brew]

And if you want to see how POR & Saaz go.....grab a Coopers Mild

Then get a Redback and see how a different yeast/malt combo goes with the same hops (POR and Saaz)

 

[Camo6]

I've had a few of them and thought they weren't great at all - good to try to pick out some qualities of a hop, but there was just too much (mostly it was deep and danky, not bright, florally or citrus-like).

Maybe the ones I tried hadn't travelled overly well... and I should have checked the date.

Yeah, can understand that. To me they all tasted very similar, more or less, but all entirely drinkable. The given IBU's on the bottle ranged from 75-100 IIRC and made it hard to differentiate one hop from the other with my inarticulate palate. The ones we had certainly weren't fresh but the bloke who sourced them was a former bartender from Biero's and was confident of their handling. I've had a lot worse IPA's from Dan Murphy's and the like. I had a BP Big Eye the other day, which I normally enjoy, that tasted like it was bled from a cypress and left in the sun for a week. Mmmmmmmm.

 

[Josh SA]

Hey Scobieb.

I loved Citra in my home brews but was really disappointed with oakham citra ale also.
Citra ale seemed to be lacking in everything. Oakhams Scarlet maccaw is heaps better beer.

SNPA tastes like cascade, JSGA used to taste like amarillo. other than that i dont know.

Ive wanted to experiment with single hop beers. With the same grist, same flav & aroma quantities and only the bittering addition adjusted to give same IBUs. would learn a lot about diff varieties, but at this point i am strugling to find time to put down a kit brew. cheers josh.

 

[tavas]

Sorry for the off topic, but Is 2g/l a good starting point for dry hopping Citra? I have an APA ready for dry hopping but I have never used Citra before. Thinking 2g/l would be a good start to get a taste of it.

Edit: spelling

 

[Barry]

Yes 2g/l would be a good staring point. I tend to dry hop in two parts. For example 20g for 2 days, removed (needs to be in a hop bag or, like I use, a large ss tea ball) then another 20g for two days. Seems to maximise oils and minimise vegetal doing it this way. Others will have different opinions.

 

[Shonkzy]

Try the beer Called Arvo. Nice Armarillo Note to it