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Thread: Hop Or Drop?

  1. #1
    Roving RAT ROBCamra's Avatar
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    Default Hop Or Drop?

    I realised recently that I've started to avoid beers called Cascade or ones which say they are brewed with Cascade hops.

    I've found most of these beers to be OK, just not very interesting or even very different from each other.

    So if there's a decent choice on the bar I'll go for something else.

    On the other side of the coin if a beer is called Citra/or brewed with Citra hops or is brewed with New Zealand hops I'll almost always try one.

    Is is just me who seems to be partially taking the wine route? Choosing by hop rather than grape of course.

    I still like and drink a really wide range of beer and styles, but my head is often turned by the flash of a certain hop.
    Last edited by ROBCamra; 26-02-2013 at 11:25.
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    Between pubs sheffield hatter's Avatar
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    I've been avoiding all American and New Zealand hops for a while now. I don't get on with them at all, especially Citra. Funny how our tastes differ. I was at the Luton Beer Festival on Saturday and drank almost exclusively best bitters with English hops.
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    This Space For Hire Aqualung's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by ROBCamra View Post
    I realised recently that I've started to avoid beers called Cascade or ones which say they are brewed with Cascade hops.

    I've found most of these beers to be OK, just not very interesting or even very different from each other.

    So if there's a decent choice on the bar I'll go for something else.

    On the other side of the coin if a beer is called Citra/or brewed with Citra hops or is brewed with New Zealand hops I'll almost always try one.

    Is is just me who seems to be partially taking the wine route? Choosing by hop rather than grape of course.

    I still like and drink a really wide range of beer and styles, but my head is often turned by the flash of a certain hop.
    I remember years ago having a beer called Cascade by I think it was Itchen Valley which I thought tasted pretty horrible, but about a year ago I had a dark one with Cascade in the name that was very nice.

    Brodie's have been doing a series of single hop 5% Pale Ales since last summer, all of which I have enjoyed, some more than others. Needless to say the series hasn't included a Fuggles Pale or a Goldings Pale! I'll try just about anything except sour beers which seem to be fashionable at the moment.

    The Easter Brodie's beer festival promises an 8% Caramel Salt beer. I'm finding it hard to imagine how this could taste anything other than truly vile.

  4. #4
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    I have been in thousands of pubs over the years and have never really noticed any beers with hop names on them and even if they did i would'nt have the faintest idea what that type of hop would do to the taste of the beer.

    I have been going to beer festivals since 1980 and always try to drink real ale when i visit a pub,so i must be walking round with my eyes closed to have not noticed any of these hop beers.

    I do tell a slight lie because i have seen the Marstons single hop range in the last year but that is it.

  5. #5
    Still about Mobyduck's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by ROBCamra View Post
    I realised recently that I've started to avoid beers called Cascade or ones which say they are brewed with Cascade hops.

    I've found most of these beers to be OK, just not very interesting or even very different from each other.

    So if there's a decent choice on the bar I'll go for something else.

    On the other side of the coin if a beer is called Citra/or brewed with Citra hops or is brewed with New Zealand hops I'll almost always try one.

    Is is just me who seems to be partially taking the wine route? Choosing by hop rather than grape of course.

    I still like and drink a really wide range of beer and styles, but my head is often turned by the flash of a certain hop.
    Quote Originally Posted by sheffield hatter View Post
    I've been avoiding all American and New Zealand hops for a while now. I don't get on with them at all, especially Citra. Funny how our tastes differ. I was at the Luton Beer Festival on Saturday and drank almost exclusively best bitters with English hops.
    I personally love Cascade hops as well as Citra, Amirillo, Galaxy , Kiwi the list goes on as long as they are citrusy I like them,to be honest my taste seems to be the opposite of sheffield hatter's , if it is a "Best Beer " I will be inclined to avoid it, to many bland boring brown beers about in my book, but just to buck the trend my local had Kelham Island's Pride of Sheffield, brown/amber in colour , brewed with English Fuggle hops and it tasted wonderful , it was full of flavour, I'm not sure if its classed as a Best Bitter but if more were half as good as this I'd be more keen.
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    I just love these new hoppy beers but find the boring browns with British hops so bland now.Still good brewers can make them interesting so i live in hope but first choice in any pub is a beer with a hop name.

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    This Space For Hire Aqualung's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Al 10000 View Post
    I have been in thousands of pubs over the years and have never really noticed any beers with hop names on them and even if they did i would'nt have the faintest idea what that type of hop would do to the taste of the beer.

    I have been going to beer festivals since 1980 and always try to drink real ale when i visit a pub,so i must be walking round with my eyes closed to have not noticed any of these hop beers.

    I do tell a slight lie because i have seen the Marstons single hop range in the last year but that is it.
    It's a fairly recent thing emanating from the so called "Craft" brewers. I don't keep notes or anything so really couldn't distinguish if a beer had one hop in it or another. In the distant past when I did a bit of brewing myself it was Fuggles, Goldings or one other whose name I've forgotten that was available at the home brew shop. The new brewers seem happy to use any combination of hops from all around the world, which when it works well produces superb results.

    I can't say that I necessarily find brown beers boring as hops are only part of the equation. To me beers are only boring if they are omnipresent (GK IPA, London Pride, Courage etc etc), and that doesn't mean they are bad beers. A bad beer is usually due to it not being kept well, but some of the Brain's beers I've had of late have been very bland. In contrast their St David's Day Ale (which I had last year and hope to also drink this Friday) is actually a very good pale bitter.

  8. #8
    This Space For Hire Wittenden's Avatar
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    Interesting point. I'm probably a Kent hops are best type, but I'm not averse to some new world stuff, as long as the brewer hasn't bunged in a whole shed full of different varieties without pausing to think about it, just because he or she can. I seem to enjoy Aussie or New Zealand type hops, more than those from the good ole US of A. Dark Star's Hophead Galaxy being a case in point.
    However, my main gripe is finding it difficult to ascertain what hops (and malts) are actually used-too many brewers don't disclose.
    Funnily enough, most of our neighbour's Goldings are exported to the "craft beer" scene in America.
    "At that moment I would have given a kingdom, not for champagne or hock and soda, or hot coffee but for a glass of beer" Marquess Curzon of Kedlestone, Viceroy of India.

  9. #9
    Palookaville hondo's Avatar
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    definitely look for specific hops in the beer name
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    This Space For Hire gillhalfpint's Avatar
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    Acorn have had a 5% single hop beer coming out for a few years now and I have tried a few of these. Wish I had kept notes on which ones I liked though as I do not like extremely hoppy beers that are over citrussy. (Never liked lemonade, and don't really want lemon in my beer!).
    Alcohol doesn't solve problems .... but then again, neither does milk.

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