danimalarkey wrote:Half Acre's current seasonal Daisy Cutter continues to impress me. It reminds me a lot of FFF's Alpha King in that it's a hopped-up, well-balanced pale ale but it's overall a bit softer on the palette. It still has a healthy, strong floral aroma but finishes much tamer than Alpha King. Available at the usual beer bars around the city (and at Small Bar, for $4 on Sundays) and in 22oz. bombers.

Not that it will help those searching for bottles, but Goose Island (Clybourn) presently (at least as of yesterday) has Daisy Cutter as one of its guest taps.

Matt wrote:

danimalarkey wrote:Half Acre's current seasonal Daisy Cutter continues to impress me. It reminds me a lot of FFF's Alpha King in that it's a hopped-up, well-balanced pale ale but it's overall a bit softer on the palette. It still has a healthy, strong floral aroma but finishes much tamer than Alpha King. Available at the usual beer bars around the city (and at Small Bar, for $4 on Sundays) and in 22oz. bombers.

Not that it will help those searching for bottles, but Goose Island (Clybourn) presently (at least as of yesterday) has Daisy Cutter as one of its guest taps.

The Bad Apple has Daisy Cutter on tap too, which it should since Half Acre is right across the street. 4 bucks a pint. This is just about the platonic ideal of a beer for me.

I got an email from Half Acre today saying that they are still brewing Daisy Cutter and, while most all stores are out right now, they are bottling a new batch this week and will post some details on their blog.

Be on the lookout!

Did anybody check out Quenchers during their hop fest? They had some punch card with a listing of beers according to the type of hops used. There were five different beers under each type of hop listed; after buying the first four you get the fifth for free. I was delighted to see Surly on tap.

The Quenchers IPA month was awesome. They had a bunch of hard to find IPAs on tap, my favorites were the Surly and the Rogue I2PA.

Speaking of Quencher's and Daisy Cutter, they had it on tap at Quencher's about a week ago. Very interesting brew. I liked it because there was very little unfermented maltose, making a very "dry" ale, which was a perfect vehicle for straight-up hops flavor. The hops flavoring itself was also quite unusual. Does anybody know which hops are used? Perhaps they use Simcoe? At any rate, it was a nice change from most of the heavily Cascade laden pale ales out there.

I believe the Daisy Cutter is actually made with a blend of five different hops.

When different types of hops are mixed together, do they taste like a blend, or do they create something new? Blue and yellow pigment makes green, right? We don't perceive it as a combination of two hues, we perceive it as its own thang. Is this the case with some combinations of hops?

garcho wrote:When different types of hops are mixed together, do they taste like a blend, or do they create something new? Blue and yellow pigment makes green, right? We don't perceive it as a combination of two hues, we perceive it as its own thang. Is this the case with some combinations of hops?

Hops are just a bitter flower..They are used so to balance the sweetness of the malt..They are all pretty much all the same really..In my opinion.

Silas Jayne wrote:

garcho wrote:When different types of hops are mixed together, do they taste like a blend, or do they create something new? Blue and yellow pigment makes green, right? We don't perceive it as a combination of two hues, we perceive it as its own thang. Is this the case with some combinations of hops?

Hops are just a bitter flower..They are used so to balance the sweetness of the malt..They are all pretty much all the same really..In my opinion.

Silas Jayne wrote:Hops are just a bitter flower..They are used so to balance the sweetness of the malt..They are all pretty much all the same really..In my opinion.

Uh, sure.

Cascade and related American hops are usually described as having a citrus-y flavor and aroma. It's easy to pick up that flavor in many American IPAs. Saaz, the hop most associated with true pilsners (i.e. Pilsner Urquell) is usually described as having a cinnamon-y, earthy taste. Most of the noble English hops (Fuggles, Kent Goldings, et al) have floral and resin-y sweet notes. Noble German hops (e.g. Hallertau, Tettnang) tend to be a bit more on the spicy side.

Balancing the flavors of the different hops is a true art ... most beers use at least a couple of different hops. And, of course, the impact of the hops depends upon when they're added to the beer ... at the beginning of the boil, it's all about the bitterness; mid-boil, you get the flavor, and very late additions, or even dry-hopping contribute primarily to aroma.

I don't think the analogy to yellow and blue make green is particularly appropriate; it's more like cinnamon and nutmeg can compliment each other in your apple pie.

Then, there's a really great beer produced at The Livery, in Benton Harbor, MI, called Laughing Dragon, made 100% with Chinook hops, which have been described as having a "cat-piss" aroma.

If you want to get a sense of how different hops contribute to beer, check out the new-ish series of beers from Mikkeller I mentioned here. Each one is brewed using only one type of hops, Cascade, Warrior and Simcoe. I tried the first two and yes, there is a big difference in flavor. I've seen these 12 oz. bottles in Sam's and I'm sure Binny's would have them as well.

Some hops are more bitter than others, so you just would use more of the weaker ones to get the same effect..Hops and thier effect on the final outcome are a little overated in my opinion..Take it from a guy who's been brewing beer since 78 and has been growing a wide variety of my own hops for 15 years..Hops are bitter, they don't taste good, they are only used negate over sweetness, thats all they do. Different varities have slightly but usually unpercivable differences in taste, and blending only clouds the issue further

We are gonna pick a couple duffel bags full of Hops tommarow, I'll bring the camera..

These are done
http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/ee13 ... ROX082.jpg

Then why do you think brewers use Noble hops at all, Silas? They're not very bitter, can there be no reason?

Why have farmers, brewers, and monasteries been growing specific species of hops for almost a thousand years?

Perhaps it's a mass delusion? The Emperor's New Hops?

Silas Jayne wrote:Some hops are more bitter than others, so you just would use more of the weaker ones to get the same effect..Hops and thier effect on the final outcome are a little overated in my opinion..Take it from a guy who's been brewing beer since 78 and has been growing a wide variety of my own hops for 15 years..Hops are bitter, they don't taste good, they are only used negate over sweetness, thats all they do. Different varities have slightly but usually unpercivable differences in taste, and blending only clouds the issue further

That's a very curious statement coming from someone with your experience and self-described refined palate. Perhaps you've never noticed much of a difference at what types of hops you add at the beginning of the boil (bittering hops stage), but mid-boil, end-boil, and dry-hopping, your choice of hops makes quite a difference in a beer. I basically tend to make IPAs and my hop pairs are usually Centennial & Cascade or Kent Goldings & Fuggles. I've made beers with the same grain bill with the only difference being the hop pair used for bittering, flavoring, and dry-hopping, and (yes, balanced for equivalent IBUs [HBUs, actually, to be precise]), it makes quite a difference. The American hops have a grapefruity-citrus-y nose to the point that I swear I taste grapefruit in the ales. The English hops do not have this flavor at all. It's more of a floral, spicy, herbally type of taste and smell.

Binko wrote:That's a very curious statement coming from someone with your experience and self-described refined palate.

More curious still that this statement comes from someone who grows "6 varieties" of hops, regularly drinks uber-hoppy beers, and aspires to make beers that are even hoppier than uber-hoppy.

Speaking generally, one would think that a person who drinks beers that are like "slicinging into a juicy hop nugget"[sic] would do so because of an appreciation for hops and their various aromas & flavor nuances.
Or because that person thinks it's what bigshots are supposed to drink.

I love hops, but I can't tell the difference most of the time..All the flavor in the beer/ale comes from the sugars..I'm usually using 20-40 pounds of grain and many times just a few ounces of hops..They are all just slight variations of bitter and bitter is a very narrow band of flavor..Bitter is bitter..

Silas Jayne wrote:I love hops, but I can't tell the difference most of the time..All the flavor in the beer/ale comes from the sugars..I'm usually using 20-40 pounds of grain and many times just a few ounces of hops..They are all just slight variations of bitter and bitter is a very narrow band of flavor..Bitter is bitter..

I've been taking most of Silas's posts with a big grain of salt, but it's just making less and less sense to me.

Just wait till you see my latest pics of the latest brew being brewed guys..Continually hopped for 130 minutes

What do you mean by "continually hopped?" I make hop additions, typically at least three or four times during the boil. Are you adding hops every 30 seconds? More frequently? Really, continuously? Are you dry hopping, too?

And I dare not ask what hop varieties you're using, since I know all hops taste basically the same to you. My "pallet" hasn't evolved enough to be able to not distinguish between the flavors of various hop varieties.

Silas is obviously not a real person, but seriously someone should drink a DIPA made with Tettnang (HopSoulution) and then a DIPA with American Hops (Hop Slam) and then try to tell anyone that hops do not contribute to flavor. Laughable!

Silas Jayne wrote:These are done
http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/ee13 ... ROX082.jpg

How are you curing/drying your hops? What are you using for an oast?

Were fresh hopping every minute for 130 minutes this weeklend and I have a little oast house on the property..I slow dry, then vacume seal and refridgerate...You wanna buy some? I can ship in about 5 days

Who would buy, well, anything from someone who says it all tastes the same?!

And I'll tell you what. If you drink very hoppy beer simply because you like bitterness and can't tell any difference anyway, I suggest developing an India Bitter Melon habit. It's healthier.

Silas Jayne wrote:Were fresh hopping every minute for 130 minutes this weeklend and I have a little oast house on the property..I slow dry, then vacume seal and refridgerate...You wanna buy some? I can ship in about 5 days

I can tell the difference between hop varieties and I prefer to buy hops from people who also can tell the difference.

Silas Jayne wrote:..I slow dry, then vacume seal and refridgerate...You wanna buy some? I can ship in about 5 days

Thanks - but I have plenty. Just curious about the different methods people use for curing them.

We walked down to the river on my property this morning and picked 4 varities of hops for a wicked high alcohol IPA, last night we made a Golden Lite Kashmire Ale..These are for the upcoming football season. I documented the hop process. We used 40 pounds of grain on this IPA- You can see the sugar. Wow, when our very own culutred High Mountain Colorado Super Yeast™ eats all sugar that I expect a 21% to 25% Alcohol by volume elixer

These are in chronological order- Those are buffalo burgers BTW
http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/ee13 ... /010-3.jpg
http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/ee13 ... /025-1.jpg
http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/ee13 ... s3/041.jpg
http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/ee13 ... s3/087.jpg
http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/ee13 ... s3/106.jpg
http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/ee13 ... s3/101.jpg
http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/ee13 ... s3/114.jpg
http://i230.photobucket.com/albums/ee13 ... s3/111.jpg

Attrill wrote:

Silas Jayne wrote:..I slow dry, then vacume seal and refridgerate...You wanna buy some? I can ship in about 5 days

Thanks - but I have plenty. Just curious about the different methods people use for curing them.

Ah...Where are the hops?