yes this thread reminds me that hops are like spices when it comes to peoples perceptions, likes, dislikes.
I hate cilantro…others love it!
Well, Dave, this is why entering competitions is pointless, in my opinion. It’s not a pissing contest and we do this to make good beer. Competitions are there for people to get their egos stroked. Sure they can provide good feedback to beginners, but otherwise, as an experienced brewer with a developed palate, you’re going to get crap like that from time to time (or all the time).
Paul, nice Consuela reference. She’s one of the funnier characters on that show.
After entering three competitions recently, with for one example my smoked apple ale scoring anywhere from 24 on the low end to 45 and 2nd Best of Show on the high end… I am coming to the same conclusion. This crapshoot of having to enter at least 3 competitions for every beer in order to get 1 or 2 good quality scoresheets back is no longer worth the ~$100 in entry fees and shipping. I’ve become a better judge and critic of my own beer than 90% of these posers that I am paying to judge my beer for me. I might not enter many competitions anymore. Still, I do crave the occasional stroking of ego. But only if it’s cheap, or where I stand a good chance to win $500 or whatever (Arktoberfest, anyone?).
Mostly doing the same Dave. Other than NHC, and maybe a couple MWHBOTY comps, maybe if I’ve got something great and see someone offering a sweet BOS prize, maybe I send it in.
Medals are nice but I prefer beer and money.
Anyway, back to the hop hatin’
The easy answer for me here is Summit. Same reasons for everybody else. But I’m going against the grain (except for Dave (but I love simcoe)). I hate Mosaic! I try to like it. I always buy commercial beers with it to see if I pick up the great flavors that everybody describes to me. I get the onion/garlic flavor from Mosaic. Same thing when I’ve used it in homebrews. It’s awful. It smells fruity but tastes like butt.
Concider yourself hugged.
Comps… what can you say? I do NHC and Bend. Here’s why, for fun and to support those organizations. As to the outcome, basically if I don’t win then those judges are morons. If I win they are geniuses.
Kidding aside, the best reason to enter in a comp is to support the club or organization that is benefiting from your entry fees.
Cluster is probably my least favorite. It’s definitely blackberries and catpiss to me. I also find it fairly harsh.
Simcoe is not far behind. It’s often catpiss on a cheap pine air freshener. I’m not a huge fan of citra to begin with but I find it’s completely ruined in those simcoe/citra combinations.
Not too big of a fan of centennial either. It’s got a fake floral taste to me like somebody dosed the beer with Glade. I do like it wet hopped though.
I am surprised to see that some share my dislike for mosaic. I kind of thought it was the new universally accepted IPA hop. I do like simcoe and citra though. It seems that the dislike that I have for mosaic is similar to the dislike others have for those although I have never got cat pee out of any hop.
It is amazing how many people know what cat pee tastes like.
Haha. Having 2 cats, I just know what it smells like. I suppose I could start doing some side by sides with simcoe beers.
I don’t use much Centennial, since everyone and their brother already makes a Centennial IPA (or at least did when I started brewing), but I used in a recent IPA and I was amazed by how much dank and resin I got at that kind of hopping rate. The resin was much stronger than any citrus or floral I got out of it.
I smell the cat pee in some beers, but it has to be strong. The compound is 4MMP, you may be blind to it if you have never smelled it. Genetics, just like cilantro is like soap to some.
some people say they think something tastes like butt… :
long time no see Frank!
Centennial is high in cis-rose oxide, which is that floral aroma. The Brewers love it, the growers, well not so much as it is low yield and finicky to grow.
Yeah, from what we learned ah Hop and Brew School, it’s a sign of a hop harvested later than optimal.
LOL touché, my friend, touché
To be exact, 4MMP is present in tomcat urine. If you have an un-neutered male cat who is spraying, that’s where you’re going to find it. It is not a generic “cat pee” smell necessarily. It is also present in blackcurrants, tomato plants and Sauvignon Blanc grapes, among other things. I associate it very closely to fresh-picked blackcurrants (since I pick my own) rather than cat pee, possibly because all my cats have been spayed females.
Interestingly enough, 4MMP is known to be generated by wine yeast during fermentation. It stands to reason that this could happen in beer if the proper precursors are present in the hops as well.
This is interesting, as I was going to suggest “tomato leaves” as an alternate descriptor. Sounds like others might agree. Whatever it is, it’s stanky… or delicious, depending on personal preferences or mood.
If you dont like the cat pee description, sometimes I get the odor of juniper shrubs. Another you might use if you dont want to offend people by saying their beer smells of cat pee is to use the description of meth lab, but I think you have to define which process and probably its the Nazi Method. Not too many have experienced that so maybe juniper is the most polite and useful.
To me juniper is something different. That’s how piny hops come across to me, more like juniper than true pine. Juniper is high in alpha-pinene and myrcene, so that seems to make sense to me.