Galaxy Hops
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.
on February 9th, 2010 at 11:56 pm
sounds like another hop variety we don’t really need. Too much like the well established centennial hops.
on February 10th, 2010 at 4:40 pm
chemgeek – it would be very hard to really appreciate the flavors/aromas of the hops until you have them in a beer. Flavor descriptors are usually very generalized and never do the true experience justice.
Has anyone ever seen these in the US market? It might be worthwhile brewing a single-hop beer with Galaxy and compare it against, say, a Centenial single-hop beer. Or roll it into a homebrew club activity so everyone can try it – the club event we are in the middle of is linked below (excuse the self-promotion).
http://www.lugwrenchbrewing.com/2010/01/single-hop-beer-experiment.html
Best of luck.
-JW
on May 18th, 2010 at 11:11 pm
Brewed a single-hop IPA with galaxy about 2 months ago and cracked the first few bottles a day ago. I haven’t used a hop before that has such an upfront fruity aroma before, like sticking your nose in fresh passionfruit. The passionfruit taste came through in a nice way too, not subtle but not overwhelming. While I think it’s great for bittering, late additions of galaxy add fantastic fruity aromas and flavors and is where I think it really shines.
on November 19th, 2010 at 9:28 am
Galaxy is fantastic! Not really like Centennial at all. Give it a go in small amounts in an APA….Bittering, flavouring and dry hopping…..simply beautiful.
on March 28th, 2011 at 4:42 pm
Just got a sample from Widmer Bros for their new Galaxy-Hopped Barleywine! Hope this isn’t a year late and an Australian dollar short.
on March 28th, 2011 at 9:53 pm
Cool Brian. Sounds like a great beer.
on April 11th, 2011 at 8:40 am
[...] edge of the Pacific Ocean, the Pacific Ale is brewed using Australian wheat and barley and using Galaxy hops. The beer is dry-hopped at the end of fermentation and they don’t remove the yeast so it [...]
on September 30th, 2011 at 11:25 am
Hill Farmstead in Greensboro, VT brews a DIPA with only galaxy hops that is (hyperbole aside) only of the finest tasting brews I’ve ever had. It has a wonderful citrusy aroma, a crisp bitterness up front & an incredibly smooth finish… all in all I’m a big fan of galaxy hops & hope more brewers start using them…