Mt. Hood Hops

One thing I’ve noticed that may or may not be related is that Crystal seems to have a lower AA% than many of the other US-bred hops with noble parentage, at least in my experience. This means you need to use more hops for the same amount of IBU’s compared to something like Mt Hood or Ultra. I certainly pick up more american hop character from Crystal, but is it because I’m using more? I know that Sterling tastes a lot like Saaz at my typical lager hopping rates and schedules, but it gets a lemonade character when used at higher rates in an APA. Could it be that a similar character is present in all of the hops in this family, but you just need higher hopping rates to bring it out?

even when used at the same rate as an aroma hop and use a high AA hop for bittering, I still get more american hop character.