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.
Roger
I see this “tea” aroma commented on. Not sure where this comes from since it seems like one person said it and everyone else cut and pasted it. Stone made a Green Tea beer, and that’s maybe part of it. The producer makes a nice spider chart with the aroma qualities and “tea” is not one of them.
http://www.hops-comptoir.com/6-hop-aramis-alsace#ancre2
I don’t get a tea aroma at all. I have actually used it. It has a floral, spice, slightly woodsy, earthy thing. No tea. It a non offensive, easy to incorporate hop for a variety of purposes.
John
Yeah, I am not too sure about the tea aroma/flavor either. That’s why I put it as a maybe. People sense different things. I think I only read that descriptor in one place.
Mark
I just bottled a Saison with 90% aramis hops added at 60M (a little amarillo I had laying around got tossed in at flameout) , and the sample I tasted oozed of tea flavor to me, I totally see it. Very earthy. Tasted good, hope in 2-4 weeks its bubbly and better.
John
Thanks Mark – thanks for letting us know about it. These posts are better when we have experienced comments attached to them.
John
Awesome detail about the Aramis hops in a saison. Tea flavor is apparent…
Peter the 14th
These suck for dry hopping.