Aurora hops are also known as Super Stryrian hops and appear to be one variety of four that were Slovenian bred higher alpha acid varieties.   In the early 1970s, Dr. Tone Wagner crossed Northern Brewer hops with a wild male variety that grew near the Hop Research Institute in Zalec, Yugoslavia.  Although it carries the moniker of Super Stryrian, it does not share heritage of the other well-known  Slovenian hop Stryrian Goldings.

There are some conflicting reports on their aroma.  Some sources stated that they were similar to Styrian while others claimed it was a common misperception and the name association is based on the hops’ origin rather than its flavor or aroma properties.

This writer is also confused by the name Aurora.  I don’t have the story of why they decided to choose that name to identify this variety since it doesn’t seem to have an attachment to its Slavic roots but rather a city in Illinois.

It’s all marketing to me.  Here are the stats for Aurora hops:

Origin: Slovenia (formerly Yugoslavia)

Aroma/Flavor:  Like Northern Brewer, which I would define as woody.  Most sources said pleasant and hoppy.  There weren’t many good descriptions but I would think there would be a nice earthy spice to these hops.

Alpha Acid: 7 – 9%

Typical Usage: Dual Purpose.  You could use this variety throughout the boil and it would probably play well with other hops.

Beer Styles: American, Belgian and dark English ales.

I could see you using these hops in recipes that call for Northern Brewer – maybe a California Common beer – to put a different spin on that style.  I think Aurora hops would be good to use in beers that use Saaz for aroma to give them a little punch of hoppiness.

Mike and I were putting together the conclusion of the kegging video series last night and I sampled the last gasp of his Falconer’s Flight IPA. Sipping it, I remembered there are other hop pellet blends available to try in your next IPA or APA. Another popular hop blend is Zythos hops.

With the increased demand of certain varieties like Citra and Simcoe, Hop Union wanted to be able to provide for all brewers looking for hops that best suited their IPA needs. This proprietary blend of American hops is meant to be a substitute for other well known and well used hop varieties.

After Mike used Falconer’s Flight in a IPA, the complexity of that blended hop pellet has me hooked on trying other ones in my own brews. These blends are definitely to be used late in the boil, at flameout, or for a spell of dry hopping after fermentation for the most desired effect.

It is supposedly a blend of the big “C” hops, but I couldn’t find any concrete information on which specific varieties are used.

Check out the rest of the details for the Zythos hop blend pellets:

Origin: USA – Hopunion

Aroma/Flavor:  Like Amarillo.  Not much grapefruit flavor.  More tropical fruit flavors

Alpha Acid: 9 – 11%

Typical Usage: Dual Purpose

Beer Styles: IPA.  American pale ales.

For homebrewers, I think that these hop blends are great for experimentation.  They are sort of like malt extracts where you do not control the blend of what is in them, but at the same time the measurements are all done for you.  Just throw them into your next brew and go!  There is no need to sweat out the measurements.

If you are will to try something new, I think that the Zythos hop blend would be a good choice for your next India Pale Ale.

The Czech Republic has been breeding and releasing new hop varieties over the past 20 years. No longer is Saaz the only variety cultivated in the country. In 1994, new varieties have been made available and many of them were derived from the Saaz hop.

One of those varieties is Kazbek hops. The heritage of Kazbek includes Saaz and wild hops from the Caucasus Mountains. Some sources said they were related to Cascade hops but I couldn’t find anything conclusive to support that notion.

Here are more details of Kazbek hops:

Origin: Czech Republic – Registered in 2008 and released in 2009

Aroma: Spicy like Saaz but more so. Also earthy and wild. Saaz with a little more kick?

Alpha Acid: 5.0 – 8.0%

Typical Usage: Flavor / Aroma hop

Beer Styles: Pilsners, Lagers, Belgian Ales

There are a few other Czech varieties that I would like to check out for their spiciness. This summer, I think there is going to be a Saison throwdown of some sort and I am looking for varieties that will add to the spiciness of the beer. You get a lot of spicy flavors from the yeast especially with the warm fermentation temperatures. Rather than add black pepper or other spices to the recipe, I want to get as much flavor as I can out of the typical beer ingredients. New hop varieties can help in this quest.

If you are looking to buy these hops, there are a few homebrew shops that have them available at posting. There are commercial beers being brewed with these hops as well. Seek them out to get a sense of how they will perform in your beer.

The end of winter to us is when the homegrown hops start to shoot out of the ground. The Magnum hop plant is my most mature one.  It is entering its fourth year of growth.

Last year, they started to shoot through the ground on March 1st. This year, an early April is more ordinary and more welcome. Now I have to figure out how I am going to cut back on some of these shoots.

My 2012 experiment to leave them alone didn’t produce as many hop cones as the previous years. I will be cutting back this year – just don’t know which ones.

My Cascade hop bines are starting to sprout too. They are in their second year of growth and I am hoping to get some cones out of them this year.

They look healthy so far – not as robust as the Magnum plant but strong for year two. I wish I could say the same for the Willamette hop plant. I don’t see anything from its plot yet.

I love growing hops and I love brewing with the cones at harvest time. I know great number of brewers will tell you about the unpredictability of homegrown hops in terms of alpha acids and you can’t expect to brew excellent beers with them.

I can type this fact with all the honesty I can muster: two of the beers I have brewed with homegrown hops have placed in competition. Were they hop focused styles? No. One was a blonde and one was an alt but they both tasted fantastic. If you know how to use your homegrown hops based on what the style calls for and where the hops are needed in the boil, you should have no problems brewing great beers with hops you grow in your backyard.

There aren’t many French hop varieties that I know of. I am not sure how many varieties from France are available here in the States, so it was interesting to see information about another French variety: Aramis Hops.

This variety is bred from Strisselspalt hops, which makes sense since it’s the other French variety I know of, and the English Whitbread Golding Variety (WGV).

Since these hops are particularly new (the first commercial beer I saw brewed with them was released in 2011), there isn’t too much information about them. This variety may be a good one to experiment with.

Origin: France – specifically the Cophoudal company in Alsace, France in 2002. Their parent company is Comptoir Agricole, an agricultural group.  It looks like they are starting to breed a number of new varieties there, which we will probably need to cover in other posts. The Alsace region of France borders Germany and most of the hops grown in the country are grown there.

Aroma: Earthy, woody, floral – Hints of lemongrass, hay, maybe Earl Grey tea.

Alpha Acid: 7.9-8.3 %

Typical Usage: Can be used in all stages of brewing, but I think this would be a good flavor/aroma hop

Beer Styles: Thinking Belgian styles – saison, Belgian Tripel.  I think it might make an interesting IPA.

A commercial beer that uses Aramis hops is the collaboration Baird/Ishii/Stone Japanese Green Tea IPA. Pick up some and taste for a preview of this variety.

Another hop profile for you to get to know before you buy your next new hop variety.

Here is the Mosaic hops profile.

They are a trademarked variety from the Hop Breeding Company, LLC of Yakima, WA. Before they were branded they were known and maybe still known as HBC369.

The parentage of this hop is Simcoe (YCR 14) and a Nugget derived male.

These hops were made available after the 2012 harvest and are just getting some play in homebrewing and craft brewing circles.

These hops have a complex, fruity aroma and flavor. There seems to be a lot going on with them. One source claimed they were Citra on steroids.

Origin: USA

Aroma: Mango, citrus, lemon, pine. Stan Hieronymus states “notably, blueberry” in his book.

Alpha Acid: 11.5-13.5%

Typical Usage: Source claim this hop is a triple threat: Bittering, Flavor, and Aroma. It might be interesting to brew a single hop beer with these. I think I would use these as flavor/aroma addition along with some Magnum hops for the bittering.

Beer Styles: So far – IPA, APA, and American wheat ales

Despite the frigid temps and wind and snow here in the Northeast lately we never stop thinking about spring. My email inbox lately has been getting hammered with notifications of pre-order sales for hop rhizomes.

For those that don’t know a rhizome is a small cutting of root stock from a mature hop plant. These cuttings are usually 3-5 inches long and contain one or two little green buds. You build a mound, dig a hole and put this little piece of root in the ground.

Growing your own hops is an interesting part of the beer brewing hobby. John has a couple plants going himself.

I figured this year might be my year to start a little hop yard.  My wife and I have been in our current house for two years.  Now that I have a feel for how the spring and summer sun rise and set, its time to tear out some bushes, set up some trellis’ and start growing hops.  I was thinking of planting 4 varieties, two rhizomes a piece.  But I might be over stretching, we’ll see.

Maybe in the summer if I can get the project off the ground we’ll shoot some videos from the hop yard!

If you’re interested in getting your own hop plant started try these resources for getting your rhizomes:

MoreBeer
NorthernBrewer
Beer and Wine Hobby

BREW ON!