[Village Taphouse]

I brewed an ESB yesterday... Maris Otter, some Bairds crystal, torrified wheat, 1968.  I used Horizon to bitter and I had a new package of UK Golding that I got from MoreBeer (their Artisan brand) that was in the freezer and had not been opened.  I went to weigh out the hops and the Horizon smelled lovely.  The Goldings... not so much.  They did not smell good at all.  But I measured them out and started the brewday.  Then I started thinking about other times this had happened and I did not take action and the resulting beer had the flavor that I smelled from the hops on brewday.  About halfway through the mash I went through my hop inventory:  Magnum, Northern Brewer, Mt. Hood, Citra, Simcoe, C148, Edelweiss, Amarillo, Glacier, Sterling, Ultra, Santiam, Tettnanger, Hallertau, Spalt and... Loral.  I did not want to bring any citrusy character to an ESB so I checked the parentage of Loral again:  Nugget, Glacier and a hop from Eastern France.  I opened the vac-sealed package and gave them a whiff... beautiful... night and day compared to the Goldings.  I had three ounces of late hops in this recipe so I measured them out and tossed the Goldings.  Question 1:  What do you think of late Loral in an ESB?  Do you find yourself doing this where hops do not seem ready for action on brewday?  We had a conversation about how "fresh untraditional hops are better than stale/mishandled traditional hops every time" so that's what made me change my mind.  You can't make great beer without great ingredients. 

[Oiscout]

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[denny]

In my experience, Local is fairly fruity.  Maybe not what you expect in an ESB, but I agree that hops that are out of style but in good condition are always preferable to in style but in poor condition.

[erockrph]

I don't have hands-on experience with Loral, but I honestly think that even some citrusy/fruity hops play nice in an ESB. I agree that you are better off using known good hops rather than suspect ones, but I will also add that I've had hops that didn't smell like much of anything that made wonderful beers. Not every good hop has a potent aroma from the unused pellets/cones right out of the freezer.

Of course, if you picked up any kind of "off" aroma in your hops, then you 100% made the right move.

[Village Taphouse]

In my experience, Local is fairly fruity.  Maybe not what you expect in an ESB, but I agree that hops that are out of style but in good condition are always preferable to in style but in poor condition.

Fruity has not been my experience with Loral.  I thought I remember somewhere seeing that they were described as "SUPER SAAZ" but Saaz is not part of its lineage.  I happen to really like Nugget and Glacier so that helped me.  I also wanted something 'neutral' and NOT citrusy so hopefully I do NOT get fruit from them.  On one of my boards, a pro brewer made a Munich Dunkel that was all Loral.  He said it came out amazing.  The other part of this is that trying to determine the condition of the hops is not going to be an automatic YES or NO.  Hops can be 95% of what they were when they were fresh... 75%, 65%, etc. so it would be up to the brewer to decide what's what.  These Goldings looked okay but their aroma was not good.  They were darker green than the Horizon and Loral... both of those were kind of a lighter, paler green but I'm not sure color should really be an indicator.  I had some Tettnanger pellets that smelled like stinky gym socks.  I kept smelling them during the boil and shaking my head but I used them anyway.  What did I get?  Stinky Gym Sock lager!   

[Village Taphouse]

I don't have hands-on experience with Loral, but I honestly think that even some citrusy/fruity hops play nice in an ESB. I agree that you are better off using known good hops rather than suspect ones, but I will also add that I've had hops that didn't smell like much of anything that made wonderful beers. Not every good hop has a potent aroma from the unused pellets/cones right out of the freezer.

Of course, if you picked up any kind of "off" aroma in your hops, then you 100% made the right move.

I took one of the pellets and crushed it so I could get a better feel for the condition of the hops.  The aroma got worse!    I had some very nice US Goldings a few years ago and I probably should have ordered those... these were UK Goldings. 

[RC]

I always smell hops before using them. If there are any unusual aromas, I throw them away without hesitation. I keep a stock of a dozen+ of different hop varieties on hand in case I need to call an audible on brew day and substitute for one that doesn't smell right. It doesn't happen often, but it happens.

I get strong floral notes from loral, to the point of being soapy, like lavender hand soap. I don't care of it for this reason--it's personal preference obviously--but you definitely made the right call yesterday.

[Village Taphouse]

I'll also mention this:  All of my hops are stored in vac-sealed bags in the freezer.  I got a cheapie vac sealer a few years ago and it's been great.  The hops are exposed to O2 just long enough for me to measure them out and reseal the bag.  I have had really good hops for YEARS and they have remained very good being stored this way.  I guess this is my way of saying that these hops were doomed from the start.

[denny]

In my experience, Local is fairly fruity.  Maybe not what you expect in an ESB, but I agree that hops that are out of style but in good condition are always preferable to in style but in poor condition.

Fruity has not been my experience with Loral.  I thought I remember somewhere seeing that they were described as "SUPER SAAZ" but Saaz is not part of its lineage.  I happen to really like Nugget and Glacier so that helped me.  I also wanted something 'neutral' and NOT citrusy so hopefully I do NOT get fruit from them.  On one of my boards, a pro brewer made a Munich Dunkel that was all Loral.  He said it came out amazing.  The other part of this is that trying to determine the condition of the hops is not going to be an automatic YES or NO.  Hops can be 95% of what they were when they were fresh... 75%, 65%, etc. so it would be up to the brewer to decide what's what.  These Goldings looked okay but their aroma was not good.  They were darker green than the Horizon and Loral... both of those were kind of a lighter, paler green but I'm not sure color should really be an indicator.  I had some Tettnanger pellets that smelled like stinky gym socks.  I kept smelling them during the boil and shaking my head but I used them anyway.  What did I get?  Stinky Gym Sock lager!   

From YCH...Dark Fruit, Floral, Lemon-Citrus, Pepper.  Matches my experience with them

[Village Taphouse]

I found this yesterday on YVH:

Loral™, formerly known as HBC 291, provides a more traditional yet unique hop character, providing the floral and herbal notes one would expect from a fine noble aroma hop. Its mother is the U.S. developed aroma variety Glacier; the grandmother being the long-established European noble aroma variety known as Tardif de Bourgogne originating in the Bourgogne region of Eastern France. The father is a son of the U.S. developed Nugget variety. Loral™ is characterized by having numerous small, dense cones with moderate alpha acids.

AROMA PROFILE
The aroma profile of Loral™ has been described as a “super noble hop” with its wonderful floral and herbal notes followed by a backdrop of citrus and earthy character. A touch of sweet fruity aroma rounds out this well-balanced hop. In beer, the floral notes are accentuated yet complemented nicely by fruity and citrus with just a hint of herbal. Don’t expect an in-your-face fruity character with Loral™ as seen with some recent U.S. variety releases - this hop is approachable and balanced. Great for distinctive IPAs and pale ales but perfect for sessionable and lager-style beers.

I suppose this is how bonds are formed between brewers and suppliers.  I have some Tettnanger that I also got from MoreBeer (Artisan brand) that smelled a little questionable but I used them anyway.  I just went and sampled that beer (from the fermenter) and it's hard to say because the beer was only brewed 10 days ago but the hops were not in the best shape.  Yakima Valley has been my best source for excellent hops.  I can't comment on Hop Heaven because I just started using their hops but my guess is that they would be another great source.  The C148s are nice for pale ales and the Edelweiss has been nice so far but I have more beers made with MORE Edelweiss so the taste tests are upcoming. 

[BrewBama]

I always thought Loral was Lemon + Floral — Loral.

I like to order hops from companies that sell specific harvest years. That way you know they’re fresh. When the repackaged hops come from large homebrew shops you never know what year you’re getting. They could be several years old by the time you get them. 

Having said that, I have ordered hops from MoreBeer with great success.  I’ve read this reply when asked what crop year their hops are from:

“Generally we are unable to provide a crop year for any of our hops packages since it does change so frequently. We are currently working on better systems to communicate with you all about what year of hops are in each package. It may be the case that the same hops sold in different size packages could have come from different crop years or different bundles from the farms. Hopefully we will be able to better communicate this important information soon.”

[Village Taphouse]

I'll be interested to see how much fruit/citrus/lemon I get.  I have used these hops before and did not get any fruit from them.  Will be interesting to see. 

[Richard]

I bought some hops from a company that I don't usually purchase from. They had something I wanted that nobody else had, so I added some hops to the order to get free shipping. When they arrived and I opened the box I  immediately smelled hops. I put the little sealed bags in the fridge, and the fridge smelled like hops until I realized that this was a bad sign. It means that they aren't sealed up well enough and are losing their aroma. I don't have a vacuum sealer so I double-bagged them in zip-locs and plan to use them ASAP.

[Village Taphouse]

I bought some hops from a company that I don't usually purchase from. They had something I wanted that nobody else had, so I added some hops to the order to get free shipping. When they arrived and I opened the box I  immediately smelled hops. I put the little sealed bags in the fridge, and the fridge smelled like hops until I realized that this was a bad sign. It means that they aren't sealed up well enough and are losing their aroma. I don't have a vacuum sealer so I double-bagged them in zip-locs and plan to use them ASAP.

What you're describing (with the order) is something I have done a lot of... buying this or that and hey, throw some hops in.  I should stop doing that and make my purchases from either YVH or Hop Heaven.   I could benefit from being a little more selective about my hops.  I am always mindful of the aroma of the hops but I could tighten that up a little bit.  Those scenes we all see where a master brewer is in the brewhouse scooping up whole hops in his hands and rubbing them all together... that's what we need.  I need to be more confident in my hops before I drop them into my wort. 

[Cliffs]

I don't have hands-on experience with Loral, but I honestly think that even some citrusy/fruity hops play nice in an ESB. I agree that you are better off using known good hops rather than suspect ones, but I will also add that I've had hops that didn't smell like much of anything that made wonderful beers. Not every good hop has a potent aroma from the unused pellets/cones right out of the freezer.

Of course, if you picked up any kind of "off" aroma in your hops, then you 100% made the right move.

I took one of the pellets and crushed it so I could get a better feel for the condition of the hops.  The aroma got worse!    I had some very nice US Goldings a few years ago and I probably should have ordered those... these were UK Goldings.

I love US goldings. Such an underutilized hop.