Time to Stand Up for English Hops

[raiderman]

he he could be the answer!

[killer]

...This thread has got me intrigued. I'm not British but loved British beer when I lived in the UK...

Out of curiosity, what is your nationality and current home?

Hi Seymour. I'm Irish but live in Paris.
I know the UK and Ireland are are not far away from each other but in terms of beers they are miles apart. An irish pub typically has ten beers on tap. One or two stouts, maybe a cider, six or seven interchangable lagers and maybe a red ale. I love irish pubs but I'd take english beers anyday...

[alix101]

it's easy to get caught up in the scramble for american and new world hops, but I'm sick of paying the prices fu@+ them. I for one have loved the experimenting with super hops however at the expense of experimenting with our own varieties....how about a jbk british hop competition

[scuppeteer]

Cracking idea alix.

How about single hop brews only. But any style of beer you wish, that way we could showcase the versatility of the varieties chosen.

[orlando]

Already got one going in my 4 Way SMaSH using Goldings as the single hop. Brewing a Porter today with only Fuggles. Flying the flag here in Norfolk

[raiderman]

Im halfway through fermenting my english and its starting to clear so I had a sip. Considering I chucked 4 bloody bags of hops in theres remarkably little aroma and lets say an absence of zing to the flavour, so I've chucked 55g of styrians in to help it along!

[gnutz2]

I made a 25l batch of EKG IPA about 6 weeks ago.

It had 150g of (home grown) EKG at flame out and was dry hopped with 50g of Styrian Goldings, At 5 weeks in the bottle now its just starting to turn around, didn't taste great up until now.

Very fruity in a different way to american hops, i'll keep some bottles for storage but its looking promising.

[raiderman]

I hadn't thought of that, but it stands to reason that high loadings of hops will need time to mellow and settle in

[jimp2003]

I bottled a 7% Rye PA a couple of days ago. I used 90g of Challenger for bittering and then 50g of EKG at 15, 5 amd 0 mins with another 80g dry hopped. The sample I had at bottling was the best I have tasted at that stage. The slight spiciness of the rye went really well with the EKG and there was plenty of hop aroma. I just hope it tastes as good (or better) come Christmas.

[Padalac]

I've had great results with english hops, and I think its effective to blend new world hops with english hops. One combo that was particularly successful was cascade and EKG (100g of each split between boil, late hop and dry hop on a 25 l batch). The result was extremely satisfying. I've currently got a nelson sauvin/fuggles IPA sitting in bottles maturing, and a columbus/fuggles christmas porter sitting in the primary.

[raiderman]

My Imperial ale is maturing but I've got a banker in the FV 5 days in, 100g Delta and 80g Simcoe all added late and the aroma levels are awesome, which contrasts against very high levels of english hops

[Steve D]

Fashion comes and goes. Ale tasting of grapefruit or blackberries or pine trees is fine for a bit but after a while the palate wants to return to Ale tasting of Ale, and that's when the classics come back, and those classics are Fuggles, Goldings, WGV, Challenger, etc...oh yeah, British hops. Want hop punch? Try making an original IPA as per the early 19th century. OG 1060-1070 extra pale malt and use 2-3Oz (60-90g) per GALLON in the boil, and whack in a good load late as well. Goldings would be the weapon of choice as they were around at that time. Fuggles came in later, about 1860. You'd need to leave the brew alone for 12 to 18 months before you could approach it without being scalped.

[seymour]

Fashion comes and goes. Ale tasting of grapefruit or blackberries or pine trees is fine for a bit but after a while the palate wants to return to Ale tasting of Ale, and that's when the classics come back, and those classics are Fuggles, Goldings, WGV, Challenger, etc...oh yeah, British hops. Want hop punch? Try making an original IPA as per the early 19th century. OG 1060-1070 extra pale malt and use 2-3Oz (60-90g) per GALLON in the boil, and whack in a good load late as well. Goldings would be the weapon of choice as they were around at that time. Fuggles came in later, about 1860. You'd need to leave the brew alone for 12 to 18 months before you could approach it without being scalped.

an emphatic +1 on all points except the waiting for a year to drink! They can't be harsher than Chinook (Arrogant Bastard) which everyone's drinking young.

[Dave S]

I bottled a 7% Rye PA a couple of days ago. I used 90g of Challenger for bittering and then 50g of EKG at 15, 5 amd 0 mins with another 80g dry hopped. The sample I had at bottling was the best I have tasted at that stage. The slight spiciness of the rye went really well with the EKG and there was plenty of hop aroma. I just hope it tastes as good (or better) come Christmas.

How did your Rye PA go down, Jim? I'm planing an IPA next but one brew. The last one I did was with Fuggles, EKG and Styrian. I dry hopped with 100gm Cascade. The aroma was something else.

[orlando]

I bottled a 7% Rye PA a couple of days ago. I used 90g of Challenger for bittering and then 50g of EKG at 15, 5 amd 0 mins with another 80g dry hopped. The sample I had at bottling was the best I have tasted at that stage. The slight spiciness of the rye went really well with the EKG and there was plenty of hop aroma. I just hope it tastes as good (or better) come Christmas.

How did your Rye PA go down, Jim? I'm planing an IPA next but one brew. The last one I did was with Fuggles, EKG and Styrian. I dry hopped with 100gm Cascade. The aroma was something else.

What country did the Cascade come from?