p.s. same reply posted on other belma thread
More on Belma hops. I just popped the second bottle.
http://alcaponejunior.wordpress.com/2012/12/19/belma-ipa/#comment-1204
[QUOTE]OK. It’s been a week, and I’m trying the second bottle of this one.
It’s better conditioned now, although will probably still do well with another week or so of conditioning.
Appearance is pretty murky, light brown or dark tan, with a great, lasting head and awesome lacing. Appearance could improve.
The bitterness is about right for what I had in mind. It’s not overly bitter, but is sufficiently so. I didn’t intend it to be heavily bitter.
Flavor is a bit less that what I’d find optimal for an IPA. I think it needs something besides just belma… cascade might be nice. Late hopping with belma probably isn’t the way to go.
Aroma is pretty good, but if you compare it to something like Ruination, this beer falls short.
Now I know I’m not an expert like Mitch at Stone, but I think this beer was done properly enough to draw reasonable conclusions from this tasting.
I am going to say that belma is a good bittering hop, good for milder beers that don’t require that sharp, pungent, in-your-face hop forwardness like AIPAs or DIPAs. It would probably be better suited to English styles, mildly hopped American styles, or as a general bittering hop.
I do like the aroma that the dry hops lent to this beer, but it’s again not really IPA worthy. Again, good for styles that are less hoppy than IPAs.
I am still quite pleased with my Belma hops, I just won’t use them for super cheep IPA hops. They won’t go to waste, however. I will use them as a general bittering hop, or a hop for milder beer styles. Short of doing a side-by-side with magnum or warrior, I can’t say whether they’d really be a replacement. I don’t intend to do such a comparison, BTW! These will be fine for bittering.
In the end, I’ll drink every one of my somewhat milder than expected Belma IPA. It was a good experiment, and the beer is pretty good anyway.[/QUOTE]