I’ve got a pound of US Goldings, in pellet form. Does anyone have experience with these and have any opinions on how and how much they differ from UK Goldings, particularly East Kent?
As mentioned in another thread I’ve got a sack of Maris Otter, and along with this pound of Goldings I’m planning to get some practice brewing of some good bitters going. Just wondering if I’m in for a surprise with the cheaper domestic Goldings, or if I should find them pleasingly similar enough for this sort of beer style.
I’m interested in the answer to this question as well. I’m going to be doing an ESB and my plan was to use EKG but hopsdirect has US goldings and I might go with that depending on the answer.
I’ve been using whole leaf U.S. Goldings for a few years now and don’t notice much of a difference between them and the EK Goldings. The EK variety may have a slightly more perfumy, flower-like nose, but the flavor is very similar, IME.
I don’t have anything to report on US Goldings but since Goldings are my favorite hop I feel
I should jump in here and say don’t go there… I had/have a real bad experience with some
US Hallertaus I bought a large supply of only to find they were substandard as a finishing hop.
I would stick with the imported stuff (EKG) or just the Kent Goldings - no issues as a finish hop
in my beers.
Goldings are pricey so I only use them from finishing… use Target/Challenger for boiling in english brews.
I now stay away from any hop labeled “US” - No offence to US products intended.
I bought a 11 lb brick of hops and all I can use them for is boiling… just getting thru the last few pounds
is going to be hell - they are horrible under 20 minutes in the kettle.
I’m a proponent of using authentic hops for finishing, especially in smaller beers like a bitter. You can use U.S. Goldings just fine for bittering, but if you want a good bitter, I think you should seek out the real English hops for your flavor/aroma additions.
That said, I did use U.S. Goldings as flavor additions in an English barleywine recently, and to be honest, I really don’t get much hop flavor at all, nor do I feel I need to, since this beer is much more about malt complexity and smoothness of alcohol, as opposed to hop character, at least it is to me. So for that, I think it was fine. And it certainly did not ruin the beer at all! But it’s all covered up with malt and alcohol.
For a bitter… I’d try to find the real English stuff. But I guess I might use the U.S. version in a pinch (like, if I wanted to brew it TODAY and couldn’t get it). I guess it all depends on how serious you are about making the most authentic possible example of the style.
I tried US Goldings last year and found them to be very grassy. The EKGs that I have now have a spicy nose and a great aroma and flavor. The two aren’t even remotely close IMHO.
I wouldn’t do it, though that’s just me as I really don’t like FWHing.
but in any case, FWH is a bittering/flavor hop charge, not an aroma - in fact, you get very little, if any aroma from them, so it would definitely not be a good sub.
Well blast it…I’ll just have to try it and see I guess. I’m not obsessive about what I would call ineffective authenticity…ie., using white Belgian candi sugar instead of plain old white sugar to make it feel more authentic even if it doesn’t contribute to any flavor differences. But it sounds like several people find the domestic Goldings to be a lot different than English goldings. I’ll probably get the English hops next time, but I’ll give these a shot at least!