I had some Moon Man from New Glarus recently and I really loved the hop flavour in this APA. I really thought that it had a distinct passion fruit/tropical fruit flavour. I’m wondering if anyone could take a guess on what hops may have attributed this?
I brewed an APA recently with citra, sorachi ace and centennial and it’s good but the flavours are more grapefruit/citrus than tropical/passion fruit. It’s good but not yet what I’m shooting for. I’ve got a bit of simcoe (2 oz only) but I’ve never used it and I’m sort of afraid to after hearing all the disparaging comments on the “Brewing Network”. Sort of a separate question but is this a good hop or not?
Anyway, if you have a thought, please let me know.
Thanks
do some reading on galaxy and rakau. see what you think, i’ve not had moon man. simcoe is one of my fav hops and one of the most popular hops of the last few years. cheers, j
I’ve had beers that have been super tropical in flavor with all Citra and all Columbus hops (two separate beers). The Citra hops, however, seem to be quite different from year to year. 2010 was a good year, but I don’t get the same level of tropicalness from the same recipe using fresh hops from 2011. I’m not sure yet on this year’s Columbus hops. I haven’t tried Tomahawk or Zeus yet but that’s supposedly the same strain as Columbus, just under a different name.
I use a lot of columbus (in the form of CTZ from hop union) and I get some passion fruit like flavors but it is subtle. I’d think you would get more from Simcoe than CTZ. And definitely Citra has that tropical fruit character. I’ve heard Galaxy has that same bent as well.
They said that in some beers, Simcoe has a cat piss character. It can if used to heavily, but used with other hops it makes a great beer ( Pliny & Green Flash West Coast IPA come to mind ).
Centennial should give you the fruity notes you’re picking up on your APA.
Citra tends to be tropical fruity/passion fruit/apricot/mango-ish.
Sorachi Ace is more lemony-peppery.
Simcoe is great, especially when used along with Cascade, Citra, Amarillo, Centennial.
IMO, keep them balanced i.e., don’t do 3 oz of simcoe and 0.5 oz each of the others.
Interesting how different tastes are. My IPA is a blend of Centennial and Columbus and it is all citrus fruits to me with very subtle tropical/passion fruits, if any. I never think of Centennial or Columbus as fruity aside from citrus.
I have a hard time understanding the negativity towards Simcoe. I suppose if you really overdid it it could be an overwhelming flavor/aroma. I recently made an APA with all Simcoe just to see what all the hype/negativity was about, and I love it. I pick up tropical and passion fruit flavors, along with a touch of citrusy character. There’s also a bit of a resiny background note. Like richardt suggested, it would be awesome blended with Citra. Moon Man is a great beer. Let us know how it turns out.
Simcoe is one of my least favorite hops. Perhaps it is just personal preference. And certainly different people pick up different things. For example, some people are very sensitive to diacetyl while others can drink it all day and never know that it’s there. Same story with DMS (I’m a stickler for DMS). So why would hops be any different. I just don’t like those darn Simcoes. And it’s funny… I didn’t really like Citra this year much at all, but in 2010 they were outstandingly excellent. Very different. Funny.
I love Simcoe, don’t get much tropical/passionfruit from it. Galaxy, passionfruit with citrus! Nice dual purpose high alpha hop. Recently crushed 2 kegs of an all Galaxy hopped AIPA and am kegging 2 more in the next day or two. Good thing I’ve got 5 more lbs. of it. ;D Hopsdirect sold out right after I got my last order. Hop harvest in Australia is Feb. and March. I’ll be stocking up… 8)
Looks like I need to find some Galaxy. Checked with my LHBS. No luck. In fact, they are saying they only got 2/3 of their entire order and have about 20 varieties that they are going to be short on. Great.
I’m gonna have to milk my pound of citra for a while
also check out Ivanhoe. it’s an heirloom california cluster type hop. available from seven bridges or direct from the grower. Lots of pineapple/tropical aromas!
I just made an all citra APA yesterday. The wort smelled pretty tropical fruity; pretty excited for the beer. I also don’t get the negative attitude towards Simcoe. They’re delicious! Made a Green Flash IPA clone last week which uses Simcoe, should be delicious.
Elysian and New Belgium did a collaboration that I had about a month ago with Nelson Sauvin, Pacific Gem, and Galaxy. I think they also added a bit of actual Passion fruit juice… I thought it was really amazing, with great passionfruit flavor. Unfortunately, they are keeping the proportions under wraps. Just another hop variety that might be interesting. Also, as far as I know, March/April is when the big Southern Hemisphere hops come out, so it might be more difficult to find them this late.
