Schlafly Hop Trial: Tardif de Bourgogne

[seymour]

As conscientous brewers, it's essential for us to sample beers brewed with a single hop variety. There is no better way to educate our palate to each hop's unique bitterness, flavour, and aroma traits. Obviously, different hops behave differently in different beer. Noted author Stan Hieronymous reminds us that when we isomerize hops in boiling wort, we set in motion complex chemical reactions which continue into the fermentation stage. It's easy to forget hops are in fact a fermentable ingredient. This is why we cannot get a full understanding of what hops will bring to finished beer by simply smelling a handful of hops, making quick-and-easy hop teas, or even dry-hopping alone. If we take a moment to record our thoughts about each hop, we can more effectively blend our favourite traits from different hop varieties into a winning recipe of our own design.

With so many different hops available these days, it's impossible for each homebrewer to brew all of them single-handedly. Jim's Beer Kit is a great place to read what worked for other homebrewers, but it's especially handy when commercial brewers do this "dirty-work" for us. I taste every single-hop beer I can find, and post ratings to Ratebeer, which serves as a handy online resource whenever I need to remember my impressions of a certain hop. It occured to me these thoughts might benefit other nerdy homebrewers on this forum too.

Disclaimer: these are my own subjective opinionated conclusions, based on just one sample, at one specific moment in time. I am frequently surprised by how much another brewer's results differ, even using the same single hop variety. Your mileage may vary, and I certainly don't think my taste buds are superior to anyone else's.

From my Ratebeer rating of Schlafly Hop Trial: Tardif de Bourgogne

Aroma: 9 out of 10, Appearance: 3 out of 5, Taste: 7 out of 10 , Palate: 3 out of 5, Overall: 17 out of 20

Total Score: 4.1 out of 5

Tasted on tap at the Bottleworks into a nonic half-pint glass. The lastest in Schlafly’s Hop Trial series. Mostly clear golden colour with some chill haze, a weak white head and lots of sticky lace. Interesting aromas of freshly-cut lawn, pronounced lemon zest, faint ripe melons, strawberries, lemon zinger tea, and warm honey-drizzled baklava. Good flavours, too: light biscuity malt sweetness again with perfectly tangy hops balance. Bitterness was smooth and pleasant, just right for this simple grainbill and session strength. The low-alpha aroma hops used for every addition lent a green, herbal impression. Reminiscent of sparkling lemonade with more subtle melony, fruity, flowery notes. Overall, I like Tardif de Bourgogne hops a lot: faint but pleasant bitterness, nice mellow fruity flavours, and superb aromas. Very well-balanced and "noble" variety of French Strisselspalt. It’s related to Urban Chestnut’s single-hop Strisselspalt IPA which shared similar characteristics. Delicious. UPDATE: I was thrilled to taste this again at the 2013 Schlafly Repeal of Prohibition Fest; I had another three or four pours. It was still just as unique and flavourful, and was a big hit with all the festival goers. I learned this particular batch was basically a portion of Schlafly’s Summer Lager (a very neutral Helles style, very light bitterness provided by Polish Magnum hops) pulled aside and dry-hopped with MASSIVE quantities of Tardif de Bourogne, which has gone straight to the top of my favourite aroma hops varieties.