Well, it’s nearing fall and I’m craving beers that I don’t typically want/have. For example, a good malty, super hoppy, English pale/bitter sounds pretty enticing. This got me thinking about hops with berry fruitiness rather than citrus. Are all the berry fruit style hops gone? It seems that this variety of hops always had storage issues and problems with harsh bitterness so I guess I wouldn’t be too surprised if they had all disappeared from the market. Anyway, I hardly ever see pacific gem, bullion, brewers gold or brambling cross anymore? Did anyone else like these hops too? Am I forgeting any varieties? Cheers, j
Nice, I’ve never delt with hopstoyou before. Have you had good luck with them? I hate it when you buy hops from someone new and they clearly were harvested three seasons ago. I actually have about 5 ounces of 2009 bullion (whole hops from hopsdirect) in my freezer, guess I should use them. Thanks, j
I haven’t ordered from hopstoyou yet, still going through what I have in my freezer. Someone else probably has. It would be nice if they posted the harvest year, some sites do.
I haven’t ordered from them yet either, but they’ve been very responsive to email questions and seem to have good customer service. Even though I’m not a customer yet.
When I make English Bitters I like to use Northern Brewer for bittering and EKG’s for flavor and aroma. I prefer my EKG’s imported from the UK in whole hop form. They’re hard to find right now but the 2010 crop should become available very soon I hope.
Northern Brewer is a great all around hop and is way underrated. What’s the most ekg you’ve used in a bitter as finishing hops and what did you think? I like ekg just fine but I like fuggles too. Right now I’m drinking a styrian golding bitter and it tastes like fuggles; it’s hitting the spot for now. Cheers
It really depends on the quality and freshness of the EKG’s that I have on hand. For my ESB (OG=1.060), I like to add roughly 3-4oz between 30min and flameout depending on the overall pungency of the hops. I really like the floral earthy qualities that they lend.