I think the bad tagline for this hop would incorporate something about them being “out of this world.” See, I told you it was bad. 

Anyway, Galaxy hops were bred in 1994 by Hop Products Australia.  This company owns a hop garden called Rostrevor in North Eastern Victoria where they were grown for the first time.  It’s now grown in both Victoria and Tasmania.

It is a cross between an Australian female and a male Perle hop. Here are the stats for Galaxy hops:

Origin: Australia

Aroma/Flavor: Pleasant, Citrus, Passionfruit

Alpha Acid: 13.0 - 14.8%

Typical Usage: Mostly bittering, although noted as a dual purpose.  Could be used as flavoring hop as well.

Beer Styles: I didn’t see any clear indications in my research about beer styles. My opinion is that they would do well in American Pales and IPAs.

Another rip roarin’ hop profile from the Brew Dudes.  We took a look at Cluster hops last time, which have wild American roots.  This time, it’s another North American/British hybrid hop by way of Canada:  Brewer’s Gold.

The parent of Brewer’s Gold hops was a wild hop name BB1 that was found growing in Manitoba.  It was collected in 1916 by a guy named Macoun who was working as a professor at Wye College in England.  By 1919, Professor E.S. Salmon had bred BB1 with some native UK varieties to make Brewer’s Gold.

Brewing trials were conducted by local breweries in 1933 and 1934 to test out the new hop variety.   The official release year of this hop in 1934.

From my research and looking at the other profiles we have done on this blog, Brewer’s Gold is a parent of many of the new high alpha acid hop varieties.

Many modern high alpha hops were developed from Brewer’s Gold. Has a resiny, spicy aroma/flavor with hints of black currant.

Origin: UK by way of the Great White North

Aroma/Flavor: Resiny, Spicy, fruity, hints of black currant.

Alpha Acid: 8 - 10%

Typical Usage: Bittering mostly.

Beer Styles: English and German ales. Works nicely with the noble varieties. I believe Pete’s Wicked uses Brewer’s Gold.

I used Cluster hops for my first cream ale a long time ago but didn’t write up a profile for them. I am glad I didn’t at the time since Cluster hops are a variety rich in history…American history.

I needed to take time to research and get the facts straight.

They appear to be a hybrid of the North American wild hop and European varieties brought over by the English and the Dutch in the 1600s. Specifically, the Massachusetts Company brought hops to grow in America in 1629 and 17 years later, they were cultivating hops commercially. During this time, Cluster hops became the first American variety.

Not sure if this is true, but up until the 1970s, Cluster hops were only of a few American varieties being grown commercially here in America. From the data gathered in my other hop profiles, I am guessing this statement is correct. Viva the homebrewing revolution!

Origin: USA

Aroma/Flavor: Spicy, some say “catty”…I guess that means like catnip? Well balanced aromas.

Alpha Acid: 5.5 - 8.5%

Typical Usage: General purpose with an emphasis on bittering

Beer Styles: All American ale and lagers. Good for dark beers with roasty, chocolatey flavors.

I have been looking through our hop profiles and found that we have not written about East Kent Goldings (or any Goldings hops) yet.  This variety is Mike’s “go-to” English hop.  He uses these in his Ordinary Bitters and other English style ales.

Goldings is an Old English hop variety that was cultivated from a wild variety named Canterbury Whitebine.  There are other Goldings (Kent, Whitbread) but the ones grown in East Kent are the premier version.   Note: Styrian Goldings hops were bred from Fuggles, but that’s another post.

Origin: As noted above, East Kent Goldings hops are grown specifically in the area in the Southeastern part of England known as East Kent.

Aroma/Flavor: Sweet, Smooth, Citrus/Lemon, Floral.  One source stated Violets and Apricot.

Alpha Acid: 4 - 5.5%

Typical Usage: Aroma - Good for dry hopping.

Beer Styles: All English style ales.  Some Belgian styles too.

Continuing with the hop profiling, here is one on Warrior hops.

It was bred on the Yakima Chief Ranches and the name Warrior is a trademark of that company.  It appears that a before market name for the variety was YCR005.

On the Yakima Chief website, they state that the hop is of “recent origin”.  I did some digging in an independent hop harvesting report and the first year Warrior hops were harvested was 2001.

Warrior hops’ lineage is unknown to the general public…at least from what I read.

They are another one of these low cohumulone varieties that make for a pleasing bitterness.

Origin: Washington State

Aroma/Flavor: Grapefruity and lemony, some piney notes.  Also saw pineapple as a descriptor

Alpha Acid: 15.0-17.0%

Typical Usage: Bittering

Beer Styles: Pale Ale, IPA

Yeah, I am on the Citra hops bandwagon.  I don’t even know that there is a bandwagon…

I read in BYO magazine that Sierra Nevada is using this new hop variety in their Torpedo Extra IPA.   Of course, I want to get my hands on some.   I don’t think that they are widely available for homebrewers just yet, but here is a compilation of the information that is out there about Citra hops:

Hybrid of a number of different hops.  The breakdown is as follows:

50% Hallertauer Mittelfrüh

25% U.S. Tettnanger

25% East Kent Golding, Bavarian, Brewers Gold, and other unknown hops.

Origin: USA!  USA!  Presented at the World Brewing Congress in August of 2008.

Aroma/Flavor: Lots of descriptors out there:  Citrus, peach, apricot, passion fruit, grapefruit, lime, melon, gooseberry, lychee fruit, pineapple, mango, papaya and other tropical fruit flavors and aromas.  So, ah, fruity.

Alpha Acid: 10 to 12%

Typical Usage: I wouldn’t say there is a typical usage yet, but Sierra Nevada is dry hopping them in their Torpedo Extra IPA.  Walla Walla Brewers made a  fresh hop beer with all Citra
hops from Hop Union.   It appears that Hop Union also had them at their table at the Philly Craft Beer Fest.

Beer Styles: So far, IPAs. Looks like the Washington Homebrewers Association got there hands on some in late ‘08 and they were brewing up some strong American and Belgian ales with them

From what I have read, there will be more Citra hops available after this year’s harvest.  Let me know if you see any.

The last of the noble hops series is the Tettnang Hops profile.

The original hop variety comes from Tettnang which is a small town in the German state of Baden-Württemberg.

The first mention of hops growing in the Tettnang region is 1150 A.D….so a long time ago.  They were first grown for commercial purposes in 1844. 

One source stated that they are so closely related to Saaz hops that they cannot be distinguished from each other.

There are hops that are grown in different places around the world that use the Tettnang name.   Hops with the label of Tettnang Tettnanger should be the authentic variety, but check to make sure.

Here’s the breakdown for Tettnang Hops:

Origin: Germany (more details above)

Aroma/Flavor: Rich, flowery, spicy

Alpha Acid: 3.5% to 5.0%

Typical Usage: All purpose - Bittering/Flavoring/Aroma

Beer Styles: German Wheat and American Lagers