Comments on Summit Hops?

Anyone tried Summit Hops yet? My LHBS just got them in and posted this about it to facebook:

[quote]NEW hop in stock! The Brewer’s Apprentice now has Summit! Quite new on the scene but with 15% alpha acid the consensus is very positive for its bittering value coupled with robust citrus notes of orange, tangerine and grapefruit.
[/quote]

According to brew365 it subs for Amarillo or Cascade

edit: added url to brew365

Summit can also have in addition to what you mentioned, onion and garlic flavors.

It’s a great bittering hop. No onion/garlic like you get from late additions.

It’s also really nice for dry-hopping, although there are lower-alpha varieties that will get you roughly the same effect.

I agree that it is a great bittering hop.

To explore the flavor and aroma aspects, I just recently made an extra pale ale with Summit hops.
I was hoping for a “tangerine”-ish extra pale ale and was sort of disappointed with the result. 
Maybe it was a suboptimal batch of Summit hops, but maybe not… 
It was a good base recipe I’ve used before with great success with the proper attention paid to grain bill/ water profile/ mash temps/ sanitation/ temp-controlled fermentation/ yeast/ etc.

Jeff and Sean’s comments seem to mesh with my experience.

I single hopped using the all late hopping method–25 minutes or less for all additions, including aroma steeping for 20-30 minutes (when T<170F during whirlpool/chilling).  Very smooth and vaguely “fruity” flavored but not much aroma which may have been lost due to CO2 scrubbing during fermentation and/or adsorption of hop oils to the yeast.
Since the aroma was disappointing, I dryhopped in the keg (1 oz pellets/5 gallons) and got better aroma, but, as Jeff describes, there’s a not-so-great onion/garlic component that is quite noticeable and unexpected.
Initially, I thought I had somehow infected the keg during dry-hopping.  But, it is all coming from the Summit hop.
Like Sean says, there probably are better (cleaner smelling and tasting) choices for late additions and dry-hopping.

There is a sulfut compound that is high enough in some hops that can give you the onion/garlic flavor.

We were in Battle Creek MI the other night, and I tried a small glass of the Hop Rocket IPA, which uses Summit.  No idea of the hop schedule, but one could pick up some onion/garlic in the background.  I have had some other beers made with Summit (usually at the club meeting) that would have gone well with a roasted garlic appetizer.  As Sean says, the use of the hop will determine the amount of oinion/garlic you get.

I absolutely love Summits.  If you look in the recipe wiki there a recipe called Griffin Spit that uses all Summit late hopping.  It’s one of my all time favorite IPAs.  Although Summit can have the onion/garlic aspect to it, I have never had it fail to age out and leave behind a wonderful tangerine aroma.  Give 'em a try!

The ones at the club meeting that I get the onion/garlic from are usually the Griffin Spit.  How long before the flavor ages out?  Might have to revisist those hops someday.

Geez, Jeff, you’re taxing this old brain!  In general, I’d have to say not too long since I hardly ever age an IPA.  Maybe a few weeks to a month or so?

Those were probably young then.  A few weeks is not that long.

As far as old brains, I am right behind you in that department.

I doubt the Gubna I had was younger than that, but it was a total garlic/onion bomb.  Maybe because they use so much.  I avoid summit.

I’ve gotten the garlic/onion from Green Flash, but never from anything I’ve brewed with Summit, including Grifffin Spit.

3 weeks in primary, 2 weeks in keg and still getting the onion/garlic notes with the summit-hopped XPA.

I’m usually of the opinion that IPA’s are best when they’re fresh
(and in my house, that’s usually the only kind I have since the keg doesn’t last long!)

Same here!

Lower fermentation temps may help with the garlic/onion taste. Info from a probrewer who all summit IIPA was wonderful. never checked it out yet.

I love it, it’s tangerine comes out even at as 60 minute hop. It’s a bittering hop for Tangerine Dream IPA, which is a house favorite.

That’s interesting Marc since I almost never ferment above 65F.  Maybe that’s why I don’t get the onion in my own brews.