Has anyone tried this? Is it good/different/special?
I had a commercial pale ale made with it once. It has a slight peach note. I would say good in the ‘I want to brew with wild/unique hops.’ way. The beer and hop character were fine, but not in a ‘This is the next big thing’ way.
I had two bombers and found it really tasty! My taste buds really aren’t all that sharp to be able to discern a lot of subtleties but I did get a general fruitiness along with a very clean, crisp character. The first sip actually took me back to when I first started enjoying beer (late 70’s) when the hopping levels were quite a bit higher (pre-craft), and I can’t remember what beer it was, but the Wild Hop reminded me of that flavor. It could be that the Neo’s contain some of the oil components that the ‘late hops of yesteryear’ also contained? Todd mentioned that he never had an oil analysis done on any of them but I have seen some numbers on some other Neo’s that are out there and the cohumulone levels are off the charts. Either way, I’m a fan!
I had a glass of the Sierra Nevada Harvest Ale with the Neo Mexicanous hop, and I have to say it is a very pleasant hop. Definitely a peach note in the flavor and aroma. I would have another.
HBC-438 is in the Homebrew shops around here. It has a neo-Mexicanos as one of the parents. Maybe your shop could locate some.
I love neomexicanus hops. I’ve used two varieties so far (Tierra and Amalia) and have a third (Latir) that I’m using in a pale ale series. Very fruity in a berry-like way with some tropical/stone fruit thrown in. VERY herbal on the nose when you open the packages and that carries over to the taste underneath the fruitiness (though much more subdued than it was when they were fresh). I also love HBC-438, I can’t wait to be able to buy it by the pound, I’ll be using a lot more of it in the future.
Where do you buy those first three you mention?
There’s a group of monks out in the New Mexico desert that grow a small amount of them, I was able to pick up a few ounces of each variety. Google “Holy Hops” to find their site. They were definitely pricey and the availability is quite limited (they sold out of the 2015 harvest in a couple weeks) so I wouldn’t sub them in for my other hops regularly, but they were definitely interesting and I hope they’re able to expand their operation and hopefully bring the price point down a bit.
I know where the road is that goes south from pavement to there. When we went to Ghost Ranch we were with another couple who would not have been interested, so it wasn’t brought up. If I think next fall I will look for those hops. Thanks for the tip.