Single Hop Experiment

So a while back, the Rhode Island Fermentation Technicians (RIFT) decided to do a brewing experiment. We would all brew the same Pale Ale, but each of us would use a different hop. These would be single hop brews; one hop varietal would be used for bittering, flavor, aroma, and dry hopping. The goal was to allow the club to taste the differences between individual hops and learn some things about how they perform at the different stages of the boil or fermentation.

The volume of hops used for bittering would vary for each brewer, so that they each would end up with the same number of International Bittering Units (IBUs). There would be fixed amounts of hop used at the flavor (.5 ounces per 5 gallons), aroma (.5 ounces) and dry hopping (1 ounce).

Here's the run down on which hops were used, the typical alpha acid range for the hop and the brewer:

Hop Variety	Alpha Acid	Brewer
Willamette	4%	Chris B.
US Goldings	4-5%	Jeff H. (aka "Good Jeff")
Northern Brewer	7-10%	Jeff W. (aka "Evil Jeff")
Cascade	4.5-7%	Andy
Amarillo	8-11%	Brendan
Centennial	9.5-11.5%	Bil
Summit	16%	Tom H. (aka "Evil Tom")

We decided to taste these in ascending order of alpha acid strength, to reduce any risk of blowing out our taste buds. Here are the tasting notes along with a one word summary for each brew:

Willamette - "Inoffensive"

Bitterness: Not discernable

Flavor: Like flowers

Aroma: No real aroma

Overall: Session beer

US Goldings - "Tea- Like"

Bitterness: Not discernable

Flavor: Tea-like flavors

Aroma: Tea and floral aromas

Overall: Another good session beer

Northern Brewer - "Evil"

(What can I say Jeff? You weren't here and made us work!)

Bitterness: Some bitterness, the most so far.

Flavor: Crisp

Aroma: Minty

Overall: Tastes like an Anchor Steam

Cascade - "American"

Bitterness: The bitterness pops up in the finish

Flavor: Oranges, some Ivory soap in the finish

Aroma: Caramel (this ale was darker than the others), Cascade

Overall: Well integrated, balanced, what you think an American Ale should taste like

Amarillo - "Citrusy"

Bitterness: Clean bitter finish

Flavor: Grapefruit, some Orange, Tropical Fruits, Mangoes

Aroma: Subtle

Overall: First 'hop forward' beer of the bunch, a little more carbonated, nice

Centennial - "Coppery"

Bitterness: Smooth

Flavor: Subtle evergreen, earthy, piney,

Aroma: Malty, subtle

Overall: Nicely integrated, copper ale type notes

Summit - "Wow"

Bitterness: Pronounced bitterness

Flavor: Strong Piney Flavor

Aroma: Big Piney nose,

Overall: Bordering on IPA, hop forward taste with a big hoppy finish.

Stuff we learned:

Well...there's a reason that we don't tend to use lower alpha acid hops for bittering. Even at the same IBU levels, we weren't picking up on bitterness in the hops under 5% alpha. Of course, this might be exactly what you are after with some styles.

We will probably need to do some research on the other elements inside of a hop to determine why some have more prominent aromas than others.

Overall, we all found this a great way to understand the tastes and aromas that the individual hops contribute to a beer.