All right, it’s time to tackle the final frontier of hop profiles: Noble Hops

Look – I waited until we had 2 years of blogging under our belt.  You can’t say we’re some Johnny-come-latelys…

We have built some credibility.  We have built some trust.  We hope you will enjoy our 4 part noble hop profile series.

The first profile: Spalt Hops

Spalt hops originate from a town in Bavaria called Spalt.  This is a traditional hop that is known as a landrace variety.  It became a variety because of the environment it grew in…and not because of human tinkering.

I am not sure if Spalt Hops are widely available to homebrewers.  I have read that it is hard to grow the traditional hop and there isn’t a large enough volume to distribute around the globe.  A variation of this hop named Spalt Select is more readily available.  It was released in the 1980s as a replacement for the traditional hop, but it important to note that the Select version is not a descendant of Spalt but bred using the Hallertauer Mittelfrüh variety.

Here are more details:

Origin: Germany

Aroma/Flavor: Spicy, Pungent, low bitterness

Alpha Acid: 4% to 5.5%

Typical Usage: Flavoring/Finishing.

Beer Styles: Bocks, Alts, Munich Helles, Pilsners

Other Noble hops include: