Naked: Columbus & Tasting Session

This is a ongoing "Naked:" hop experiment using Russian Rivers Row 2 Hill 56 base grain. 

Columbus was the first modern hop downfall.  Columbus, being such a high alpha hop, was grown to excess though the late 2000's. Creating thousands of pounds siting outside the palletizing factories.  Farmers, unwilling to spend more money on palletizing this hop and enter it into a flooded market, sat in inventory for years.  Due to this oversaturation, Columbus had a low price point.  Almost to low to sustain.  Causing farmers to change over to different, more profitable varieties.  Homebrewers who knew a good deal picked this hop up by the pounds.  By then, the damage was done.  Homebrewers didn't want to spend much over the faux low price point on this hop they became accustomed to.  It also gave the hop a bad name to some newer homebrewers. Who looked at Columbus as a low cost, subpar hop.  The reality is, Columbus is a beautiful hop, very closely profile wise to Chinook and Galena (In my experience) which is why I chose to include Columbus into this hop experiment.

The parameters are the same.  The grains would stay the same as the Russian River, Row 2 Hill 56 Pale ale recipe.  The IBU's would be adjusted to stay the same as the original recipe.  The dry hopping would stay at 2 ounces.  The brew day was uneventful.  All the numbers hit spot on.

 
Aroma: Mr. Clean-ish, showing a little pine chemical nose to it.  Maybe even closer to Pinesol.  Big hints of a resinous dank character, only a big classic American hop can provide.

Appearance:  Amazing clarity.  (No finings)  The most brilliant golden sunshine yellow liquid makes this appear quaffable.  Carbonation bubbles were still running up the side of the glass as I wrote this. The head as the smallest bubbles I've seen using this base recipe.  Solid white head at about half an inch when poured correctly.  The head tends to linger for the duration of the tasting.  Which, appearance wise is awesome. 

Naked: Chinook & Tasting Session

This is a ongoing "Naked:" hop experiment using Russian Rivers Row 2 Hill 56 base grain. 

When starting this Naked: series I knew it would be an awesome hop showcase (want to know why?  Start at the beginning) Simplicity is the key, as in anything Pale Ale related.  That what makes this experiment so exciting as a homebrewer.  Using this grain base has really elevated my brewing and I am only on the 4th batch of this experiment.  

Chinook started as my go to IPA hop back in the early 2000's.  It was cheap, available and tasty as a bittering or an aroma addition.  Using Chinook as a single hop in a Pale Ale or even a small IPA isn't a new idea to me (or most anyone else) I just haven't been able to pinpoint a recipe worth creating in my mind.  Thoughts of 100% Vienna or Maris Otter bounced back and forth until this recipe base was settled on.

The taste profile for Chinook is classically American.  Big grapefruit, sometimes pungent suggestions of mountain pine and resin (especially as a dry hop) with citrus and fragrant dried herb in the background.  This hop is classically American and has seen a resurgence with the influence of homebrewers turning into professional brewers over the last couple of years.  At one point it even became harder and harder to find.  This is along the same lines as Centennial.  Both these hops have a deep history tied in with the rise of Homebrewers becoming professionals.



Aroma: Sweet dried herbs, similar to dried flowers or potpourri.  A resinous pine character at the end.  

Appearance:  Pilsner like, amazing clarity.  The picture above doesn't do this clarity justice.  Brite white head with larger than normal carbonation bubbles.  A little on the over carbed side.  Which creates a nice cascading bubbling effect form the bottom of the glass. 

Naked: Simcoe vs Azacca Hop Experiment & Tasting Session

Russian Rivers' all Simcoe Row 2 Hill 56 Pale Ale might be the perfect Pale Ale.  To understand how well put together this beer is you don't need to be a hop head or a beer nerd.  Its perfectly balanced against the simple hop bill.  Tossing Simcoe on top of Simcoe to create a ubber drinkable Pale Ale.  Russian River has out done itself showcasing how beautifully Simcoe can stand alone in a recipe. But is this recipe built around Simcoe?  Or is this recipe build around a malt base that just works?  Personally, I think this recipe so well crafted that almost any hop will work within it's grain bill.  So I chose to put it to the test. 

The recipes are based off HomebrewTalk's.com Row 2 Hill 56 (R2H56) clone. (The recipe seems/tastes spot to the original.)  Then brewing another beer with Azacca Hops (same grains and expected IUB's) with all Azacca hops to test out the sturdiness of the recipe for a planned "Naked:" Single Hop Pale Ale Experiment using my personal favorite hop varietals. 

Azacca is a new highly talked about hop formally known as Experimental Hop #483.  This hop is going for the nitch IPA market.  With keywords of grapefruit, fresh citrus, orange, tropical, pineapple and fresh. Which, just about every hop is using now days.  Making the selection of a new hop very difficult for a homebrewer. 

Copying these 2 beers is the key, ensuring a spot on comparison by brewing them back to back in the same fermentation chamber.  Comparing the pros and cons of each single hopped beer paired together with the same base grain, hopefully better educating myself with this new hop "Azacca".

As you can see from the above picture, Simcoe (above left) has a small amount of chill haze compared to the Azacca (above right) which is much clearer. But the numbers and colors are spot on to each other, but how do they stack up?

Naked: Azacca Pale, Tasting Notes:

Aroma:  Big bunches of grapefruit pith (white meat), much more than the zest I smelled when opening the bag of  hops.  Somehow some orange and something resembling cascade are showing up in the backround.