I have an award winning NE IPA recipe that I want to tweak a little. My current blend uses Warriors as a bittering hop (60 min) and the rest if a blend of Citra, Mosiac and Galaxy (Flame out, whirlpool and dry hop). I really love Nelson hops and was thinking of just doing a single hop version, but I may also want to change my blend to incorporate Nelson. Does anyone have an suggestions of a blend that would go well with Nelson being featured?
First of all, I have had a hard time getting my hands on Nelson for a couple of years now, so you are a lucky man if you’ve been able to score some.
Second, the best IPA I’ve ever brewed used a blend of Nelson, Meridian, Citra, Motueka and Apollo. The Apollo from that harvest was really orangey, so you could probably swap Amarillo in for that, and the Motueka was a bit overpowered, so you could probably drop that altogether. The combo of grapefruit/muscat from Nelson, stonefruit from Meridian, and mango from Citra is killer in fruity IPA’s.
Was that one you sent me? If so I recall it being marvellous
I think the one you tried was a single-hop Centennial version based off of this recipe that I was brewing for a limited-ingredient competition. The blend above is like drinking a Mai Tai crossed with an IPA.