German hops

[amartin]

Hey all,

Something that's been bugging me, how come you never see beers with ridiculous amounts of German hops? There's no German IPA equivalent, and even their by their standards hoppy beers (pilsnener, altbier, dortmunder export), they're not hoppy the same way that American, and to a lesser extant English beers sometimes are. Is this just tradition for them, or do their hops not taste good when there's too much of them?

[Keith]

I just brewed a IPA using the German Mandavarian Bavarian hop and quite enjoy it, as why there isn't a style, fuck knows, but i'm happy with this beer.

[amartin]

What's it like?

I probably should have specified noble hops, Germany has been breeding some new hops lately. Mandarina Bavaria is a daughter of Cascade, so I expect it would be more of a citrusy, American type hop.

[Keith]

It's really nice. I'm not the best to describe the flavor, however it's not a WC IPA flavor by no means. I'd have to say it has some characteristics of tangerine but still has that german hop characteristic if that makes any sense.

[gm-]

The germans are a bit conservative bunch with their reinheitsgebot and all that jazz so they might be reluctant to try new things.

I've made a two beers with large amounts of german hops, one was pretty good while the other one was unbalanced. The good one was an india cream ale with decent amounts (IPA amounts) of tettnanger and it turned out good, like a strong hoppy pilsner. The other one was a belgian ipa with large amounts of saaz, that was just too spicy, the noble hop spiciness and the cloves from the belgian yeast were not a good mix.

[evanisnor]

Picaroons had an Imperial Pils on tap at Stillwell like a year ago... did anyone get a chance to try it? Sounds like it should be noble hopped to the gills.

[RossBee]

Reinheitsgebot has nothing to do with it, German beers are made for the local population, rather than exporting to the colonies. As we all know, hops are a preservative along with ABV, i.e. IPA, IIPA, IIIPA, the longer it travelled the more preservative, see Imperial Stout/Porter. The Reinheitsgebot was introduced to ensure that only pure ingredients, i.e. local, are used in the product. Great tradition, I'm a bit bias though!!

[gm-]

I think it has something to do with it here, as it promotes tradition over experimentation, or maybe it is just the German conservatism kicking in. Just compare the beer styles of Germany vs Belgium or the UK. When I visited Germany I found it hard to find a beer that had not been made the same way for 100 years at least, while in Belgium, even the abbey monks had something new and exciting on the go in addition to what they had made for the last decades

[RossBee]

I think it has something to do with it here, as it promotes tradition over experimentation, or maybe it is just the German conservatism kicking in. Just compare the beer styles of Germany vs Belgium or the UK. When I visited Germany I found it hard to find a beer that had not been made the same way for 100 years at least, while in Belgium, even the abbey monks had something new and exciting on the go in addition to what they had made for the last decades

Hey now, are you saying we're not innovative but stale, lol. Have you met a German, talk about set in their ways (a bit of self-reflection). But you are right, things have not changed much over the course of time, primarily I think (just my opinion), because there hasn't been a call for it.

[gm-]

Hah, perhaps not stale, but a bit fixed on your great classic beer styles Maybe a "if it ain't broken why fix it mentality". Know a lot of Germans and have spent several months there, and some are a bit stubborn

[mr x]

...or do their hops not taste good when there's too much of them?

This beer was excellent:

http://www.brewnosers.org/forums/viewto ... 01&p=20777" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[RossBee]

Hah, perhaps not stale, but a bit fixed on your great classic beer styles Maybe a "if it ain't broken why fix it mentality". Know a lot of Germans and have spent several months there, and some are a bit stubborn

Stubborn, what ya talking about Willis.

[GuingesRock]

The Reinheitsgebot was introduced to ensure that only pure ingredients, i.e. local, are used in the product.

I don't think that's right Steffen. I read all kinds of history before, including it came about because barley and hops were taxed, and was to force brewers to use them. The original ingredients were water, barley and hops. They didn't know about yeast back then. The evolution of Reinheitsgebot and the history behind it is quite complicated. Wiki has one version: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reinheitsgebot" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;