Mikkeller Hop Trial: Cluster

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seymour
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Mikkeller Hop Trial: Cluster

Post by seymour » Fri Nov 14, 2014 9:04 pm

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 Mikkeller Hop Series Cluster
Aroma: 8 out of 10, Appearance: 4 out of 5, Taste: 8 out of 10 , Palate: 4 out of 5, Overall: 18 out of 20

Total Score: 4.2 out of 5

Tasted from bottle into snifter glass. Poured a thick, medium amber color with truly astounding head retention and lace. Seriously, I gave up waiting and just drank through the foam, and it still persisted long after the beer was gone. As far as the grainbill and resulting malt-sweetness are concerned, the aromas and flavors are typical of well-crafted American IPAs, which is to say: bready, toasty, caramelly, delicious. Obviously, the main point here is the hops profile. It had a pleasing, spicy, flowery aroma. Very nice. Flavors of tart green apple skin, tangy, citrus-rind bitterness, but much less-so than trendier American super-alpha hop varieties, and definitely not grapefruity like Cascades. More layered than smooth, per se. Somewhat wilder and rougher than noble hops, but despite many detractors claims (who I insist have never observed any undesirable effects of Cluster for themselves, but simply perpetuate the diatribe) there was certainly no skunk, cat-piss, ammonia, etc. I’d describe these hops as "manlier" than those fancy European aromatic flowers. Cluster was the main, some would say only, bittering hops grown in the USA for generations. Since American macro beer was often badly brewed, badly packaged, spoiled by age, oxidation, ultraviolet, and so on, the hops component has been unfairly accused as a nasty perpetrator. This beer disproves that falsehood. Medium body, surprisingly full, even "chewy" mouthfeel, sparkling carbonation. Lasting fruity, bitter aftertaste which eventually faded to dryness. I love the single-hop concept, the cool way they isolate the hops variable, enabling us to refine our palettes. I like the simplicity of the name and label. In every way, Mikkeller’s presentation reveals his homebrewer DNA. Even if Mikkeller Cluster wasn’t part of a gimmicky experiment, but was marketed as a standalone strong IPA brand, it would be one of my favorites in the style. Malty and hoppy, complex, tasty. Great with a meal, holds its own against bold, rich food. Highly recommended.

Capn Ahab

Re: Mikkeller Hop Trial: Cluster

Post by Capn Ahab » Fri Nov 14, 2014 9:34 pm

Interesting stuff. Cluster has a really bad rep, so interesting to hear that it's actually an ok hop. From going regularly to two homebrew clubs for the past three years I have noticed that people often blame ingredients for bad beers, when in reality the issues are poor sanitation, poor fermentation health and poor handling, so your reassessment of cluster and the reasons for its bad reputation definitely sound reasonable !

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Re: Mikkeller Hop Trial: Cluster

Post by seymour » Fri Nov 14, 2014 9:48 pm

Capn Ahab wrote:Interesting stuff. Cluster has a really bad rep, so interesting to hear that it's actually an ok hop. From going regularly to two homebrew clubs for the past three years I have noticed that people often blame ingredients for bad beers, when in reality the issues are poor sanitation, poor fermentation health and poor handling, so your reassessment of cluster and the reasons for its bad reputation definitely sound reasonable!
Yeah, exactly. Cluster hops are cheap too, for that very reason. Several UK forum members use 'em too: timbo41, bigdave, armchair, darkonnis, hopit, etc.

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Re: Mikkeller Hop Trial: Cluster

Post by Hanglow » Sat Nov 15, 2014 12:53 am

This makes me wish I'd review more beers I drink. I've rated a few on beer advocate but tend to not bother taking notes

I agree that a nice simple single hop beer is a great way to find out what a hop is all about, but then you also have to consider when and which quantities it was added. A cascade single hop could have quite different flavours if it was all added with 15mins to go compared to a beer with just a hopback addition.

I'm enjoying these reviews seymour, keep them coming!


what citra brews have you had? It's probably still the king of single, modern, hop beers here - the likes of Oakham Citra and Green Devil, and Fyne Jarl are really great modern brews. Ghost Ship is mainly citra too and is an excellent beer.

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Re: Mikkeller Hop Trial: Cluster

Post by simple one » Sat Nov 15, 2014 8:43 pm

What do you mean by 'hops are a fermentable ingredient'?

Is this knowledge I am lacking?!

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Re: Mikkeller Hop Trial: Cluster

Post by seymour » Mon Nov 17, 2014 2:39 pm

simple one wrote:What do you mean by 'hops are a fermentable ingredient'?
Sure, think about it. Hops are organic plant matter. Obviously they are not a primary source of sugar like malted grain, but when boiled in wort they certainly contribute compounds which through fermentation express aromas and flavours which:
a) would not have been present in the finished beer if said hops were not boiled in the wort, and
b) can not be fully replicated by simply steeping said hops in post-fermentation beer

I'm sure you've experienced this for yourself. There is no quick-and-easy way to analyze the complete personality of a new hop variety unless you really brew a beer with it, from start to finish. Dry-hopping alone, or even hop teas do not reveal all the aspects of fermented hops.

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Re: Mikkeller Hop Trial: Cluster

Post by seymour » Mon Nov 17, 2014 5:15 pm

Hanglow wrote:...what citra brews have you had? It's probably still the king of single, modern, hop beers here - the likes of Oakham Citra and Green Devil, and Fyne Jarl are really great modern brews. Ghost Ship is mainly citra too and is an excellent beer.
I've had so, so many commercial beers containing Citra (but none of those UK examples, sadly.)

Plus my own Seymour Citra Gold and Seymour Citra Dark of course. My Seymour El Rey APA took 2nd Place in a contest a few weeks back.

I agree, pretty much any beer under the sun is improved with lots of late Citra hops.

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