Brew Dudes

Hey! We’re back with another entry in our never-ending SMaSH (Single Malt and Single Hop) beer series. This time, we’re diving into a New Zealand variety that’s new to our lineup: Wai-iti hops.

I’ve stayed away from New Zealand hops for a while. Not because of the flavor, but because, frankly, I struggle to pronounce their names. But we are back to drink beer and say it wrong.

Wai-iti brings some interesting lineage to the table, with Liberty and Hallertau in its parentage. It’s a lower-alpha variety, so we were curious how it would hold up in our standard testing format.

Brew Day Details

For this SMaSH beer, we followed our usual method: a one-gallon batch with two pounds of grain and two gallons of water. Here’s the hop schedule we used:

Wai-iti Hops SMaSH Beer Recipe

Grain Bill: 2 pounds of Pale Malt
Water Volume: 2 gallons
Boil Time: 60 minutes

Hop Schedule:
7 grams at 60 minutes
14 grams whirlpool additions at 180 °F (82°C) for 10 mintues
7 grams dry hop for 1 day post-fermentation

Fermentation: 7 days at room temperature

Cold Crash: 1 day

Yeast: US-05

These hop pellets came from Yakima Valley Hops’ 2024 crop and clocked in at just 3% alpha acids. We gave it a bit of a push to coax out as much bitterness as possible.

What Is Wai-iti All About?

Right from the pour, the aroma was punchy, fruit-forward, and lively. We picked up Juicy Fruit notes before we even brought the glass to our noses. There were definite hints of green melon, cantaloupe, and a bit of citrus zest. What stood out to me was a subtle creamy vanilla vibe, which made the whole experience really pleasant and slightly unexpected. Mike mentioned lime zest and even a bit of a “zippy” bitterness, which was more noticeable than in many of our recent SMaSH tests.

Wai-iti isn’t resinous or dank; instead, it brings a clean bitterness and a bright, fruity profile. I could totally see this being a standout hop in a cream ale, a wheat beer, or even a blend with something like Simcoe or Citra to boost fruit character in the late additions. It’s a hop that pulls its weight in aroma, flavor, and clean bitterness

So if you’re looking for something refreshing and a bit unique for your next brew, Wai-iti might be worth tossing into the boil.

BREW ON!

Sometimes you think you know a hop, and then it surprises you. That’s exactly what happened when Mike and I finally brewed up a SMaSH (Single Malt And Single Hop) beer with Simcoe hops. We’d somehow skipped over it in our series even though we’ve used Simcoe in many IPAs over the years. Thanks to a few viewers who called us out (you know who you are), we circled back and gave this classic hop its own spotlight.

Simcoe Hops SMaSH Beer Recipe

As always with our SMASH experiments, we kept it simple so the hop could shine on its own. Here’s how we brewed it:

Batch Size: 1 gallon
Malt: 2 lbs Pale Malt
Water Volume: 2 gallons
Hops: 1 oz (28g) of Simcoe hops

3.5g @ 60 minutes (bittering addition)
17.5g @ whirlpool (10 minutes at 180°F)
7g dry hop (after cold crashing for a day)

We fermented as usual and gave it a quick crash before packaging.

The Tasting Notes

Well, Mike was surprised and pleasantly so. He expected Simcoe to be more resinous, dank, maybe even a little diesel-y. Those West Coast IPAs from 10 – 15 years ago had those flavors.

What we got instead was a subtle, sweet, fruity character. The aroma had a muted, candied pineapple vibe. It was like dried pineapple or a pineapple hard candy. On the flavor side, there were hints of underripe white peach and citrus peel, but nothing overly sharp or tart. Just a nice, mellow profile with soft bitterness and a really clean finish.

This particular lot (2024 harvest from Yakima Valley Hops, 14.4% AA) felt more refined than we remember. It makes me think this hop really shines when used as a late addition or dry hop. It’s less of a bittering workhorse and more as a flavor booster.

We would use it again – We’re putting it it on our list of go-to hops for building a balanced IPA base.

BREW ON!