Anyone have an experience and impressions using Bravo hops? It seems like it could be good for bittering, flavor, and aroma.
Yes, I’ve come to use Bravo in my last couple of IPAs. I decided to try it when I was so impressed with 10 Barrel Brewing’s (Bend, OR) IPA, that I called them and asked what bittering hop they used.
The thing I like about it is that it produces a clean and focused bitterness vs. broad and muddled.
I highly recommend giving it a whirl!
I made a few all Bravo beers when they first were offered by hopsdirect (2007?). some folks in my club liked the Bravo amber, but I found it to be more earthy and spicy than citrusy or fruity. very oily hop if i remember correctly.
I like Bravo as a bittering hop, and perhaps in the right combination with other more dominant hops it’d be right in the background, but i didn’t like it as a standalone.
Thanks guys.
I just used it in a pale ale for a FWH addition as well as split the dry hop addition with Simcoe. I am not the best at picking out which hop is which so I was just looking for some basic impressions. With Cascade, Centennial, and Amarillo in there as well the hop profile might be a little muddled for me to make any hard conclusions about Bravo…
I should have said in my previous post: I have only used it for bittering, never for late additions or dry-hopping.
Just kegged the pale ale.
I definitely get a dank/resinous character similar to Columbus which I assume is from the Bravo. Strong lasting hop flavor. I dry hopped with 1/2 oz of Bravo and 1/2 oz of Simcoe but the aroma is definitely more subdued than I was expecting. I think I may have had some hop storage/age issues because when I added them them to the fermenter I noticed that they weren’t as fragrant as they should be.
goshman, i’d likely place that aroma with simcoe. I’ve tried bravo in a couple single hop batches with various malts, and I’d never place a dank-ish aroma from it at all…mostly faint citrus and a bit floral.
It is an excellent choice for bittering, if you’re looking for (as stated earlier) clean, focused bittering.
That’s actually exactly what I am going to do for my next attempt. My plan is to do simcoe alone for dry hop, decrease the bittering amount of Bravo, and move it from FWH to 60 minute addition. If I still don’t care much for it, I will replace it with Magnum which is my normal “go to” for bittering.
The beer has come together a bit more and is actually pretty decent. Just too dank for a standard pale ale. Sometimes my lack of understanding of ingredients hinders my ability to make balanced beer…this is one example…