Making a single hop beer today. Anyone have experience with these hops? Bravo seems like bittering hop.
I’ve only used it for bittering. it’s a great clean bittering hop in my opinion though. No experienc with El dorado.
I have not personally used Bravo, but a local brewery had a single hop beer competition last year. Bravo was one of the choices. While some to the characteristics were surprising, it was rather boring. Good clean, smooth bitterness, slight to moderate pithy citrus, low pine/spice. It was better than calypso, but paled next to simcoe which were the other 2 options.
If those we my 2 options, I would go with El Dorado. More of the new hop aromatics people are looking for.
+1. I find Bravo more lackluster. El Dorado is tropical, peach, melon - I’ve heard the watermelon Jolly Rancher stories, but I didn’t pick up on that when I used them. Maybe that varies crop to crop.
I think Bravo is very similar to Columbus and will be using them interchangibly if needed for bittering. It can be very pungent in my opinion. In a pale ale I used it for FWH and some dry hopping and it definitely was aggressive…
interesting - I have used Bravo many times before but mostly in bittering.
keith - you should use el Dorado and see what you think. Jon’s descriptors are right on I think. I bought a # last year to experiment with, but after having my local brewery’s IIPA with all el Dorado, and having had a few other el Dorado dominant beers I actually sold the # to Sean. Too much fruity, sweet, watermelon for me - I prefer the more “old school” flavors and aromas - sharp citrus, pine, dank and I guess cat pee since I love simcoe.
and if you like it and others like it, well, you own a brewery, I’m only brewing for me and my friends, who like what I make especially because it is free.
Me too. The more I experiment with new ones, the more I keep coming back to various Centennial/Amarillo/Cascade/Chinook/Columbus/Simcoe combos. Having a hard time with the fruit bombs.
Cool. In trying the el dorado. It’s for the tasting room anyway. Just trying to put some different styles up.
Thanks for the feed back guys!
Btw: if I haven’t said it in a while. What a great forum. I heart youse guys. 
Awww! the feeling is mutual.
I haven’t played with Bravo yet, but El Dorado doesn’t do it for me. It’s powerful, oily and monotone - a lot like Citra. But instead of the cool mango thing it’s straight up sweet fruit - like honeydew or maybe papaya, and maybe a touch of Pez candy. It’s not bad, but it’s just not my tastes.
Just make sure whatever you brew with it gets bone dry. El Dorado leaves a sweet impression as it is, so any residual sweetness in the beer will be amplified by it.
+1. Should’ve mentioned that too. Some of the ‘sweeter’ hops used alone are almost like using extra crystal (to me).
+1 to going extra dry.
Yeah, El Dorado is definitely candy sweet, but at least for my tastes the flavor and especially the aroma are unbeatable.
Keith, I’ll be bringing a single-hop IPA with me to NHC. Don’t know if you can hold off that long but it may give you some ideas.
I did a SMASH IPA with Eldorado being that I was impressed with Hermitage Brewing(San Jose, CA) Company’s rendition. Although not overly excited about the results, I get a huge fruit Nectarine flavor/aroma from this hop. I pretty much used the whole pound I got from Ted(Hop Heaven) It’s fun experimenting with all of the new hop varieties out there but, I keep returning to the “old school” faves for consistency and enjoyment. I must be getting old! 8)
Hear, hear, buddy! Seems like every time I try one of the newer varieties my reaction ranges from ho-hum to “not for me” and I end up with the old standbys. OTOH, there are a lot of people who like them and it’s great to have choices.
I just used El Dorado for the first time with my last brew. Normally I like my IPAs along the lines that Jon explained, but I decided to switch it up and try a fruit bomb IPA. I flavored with equals parts of El Dorado, Meridian, Nelson, and Centennial. 1/2 oz each at FWH, bittered with Columbus, oz each at 10 min, oz each at 0 min with a hop stand. I’ll be racking on an oz of each for dry hopping this weekend.
I loved the smell of El Dorado. Reminded me a bunch of Galaxy with smell and looks. I wish I could give you more info.
a10t2,
OK, I’ll bite…why do you not like Chico?
Roger that on the new hop lines DC, I’ll leave it to the youg’uns to find a different hop direction. 
Late additions and dry hopped Bravo are mostly floral with a bit of fruit. Ommegang uses Bravo as a dry hop in Hop House BPA. The result is girly perfume which can be quite polarizing for extra manly beer drinkers.
I agree with the perfume quality bravo can contribute based on the pale ale I used them in. I did an all columbus beer once which had a similar perfumy quality. This is the main reason why I think they are similar and why I only use Columbus for bittering now.
Williams Brewing describes bravo as a mix of Columbus and Amarillo with orange qualities. This is what originally interested me. I don’t agree with the description…