As I was sipping an eisbocked pippali pepper/pear mead the other day, a couple of million synapses in my brain got accidentally rewired, and I ordered Northern Brewer hops instead of the E.K. Goldings I need for an English porter. The recipe has Fuggles as bittering hops and Goldings @ 10 minutes. How should I change the recipe to use the NB?
Also I read that NB has a “minty” flavor, so it “goes well” with chocolate. Well, sorry, I’m Belgian, and in Belgian mint and chocolate do not go well. What should I do now? Hasty visit to my therapist to have the daily dose lowered? Order the Goldings anyway and pay 10 euros for the transportation cost? Look for another hobby? Brew a Gose instead?
Just bitter with the NB in place of the Fuggles. The ‘mint’ character is pretty overstated IMO and wouldn’t show up anyway in a dark roasty beer. And you’re using it only as a bittering hop - any subtle flavor or aroma character will boil off and be dominated by dark roast. No worries.
You could get all your ibu from the bittering hops, especially if its a toasty porter and just omit the late addition. I don’t think porters and stouts necessarily need flavor or aroma from hops and IMO it can either interfere or get lost.
Well, when your country is famous for crap like Godiva and Guy Lian, it’s not a surprise that you have no taste for chocolate
Northern Brewer does not taste like mint. It has an herbaceous quality that some may describe as minty for lack of a better term, but it’s not like spearmint or peppermint. It’s closer to horehound candy or a Ricola lozenge in my opinion. It should be just fine in a porter. Personally, I’d bitter with the NB and move the Fuggles to your late addition. The Fuggles have more of an “English” late hop character.
IM-humble-O, Northern Brewer is totally appropriate for a variety of English styles. I may be off, but I thought that it was a somewhat forgotten English hop that survives in Germany and the U.S. that is mainly kept alive here by Anchor Brewing Co. in San Francisco, in their Anchor Steam Beer.
I am from the USA. I like mint. I like chocolate. But mint chocolate is nasty crap lol. I actually just saw a ThirstyDog beer tonight that was a mint chocolate milk stout. My lip quivers at the thought.
I can’t see myself enjoying it in a beer, but the combo in general is just fine in my books. I’ve been growing a mint cultivar called “Chocolate mint” the past few years, and there’s just a subtle cocoa note to it that I really enjoy.
I was brave and bought a bomber of Stone’s Chocolate Mint Stout 2 or 3 years ago. Thankfully, the mint was very subtle. I’d say it was as good as a mint stout could be good. I’d have to say I liked it. Wouldn’t buy it again either.
