Here at John I. Haas and the Barth-Haas Group, we work closely with the HBC to identify “elite” hop varieties that perform well in all criteria, but have not yet been commercialized. What we need now is invaluable input from brewers like you—to help us brew with these new varieties in order to better understand how they taste, how they perform, and how commercially viable they might be—so that we can bring some of the most interesting and desirable flavors to market.
Here are some of the elite varieties we are currently exploring:
HBC 353 is a dual-purpose hop for bittering and aroma additions. It delivers a clean, low- to medium-hop flavor that is well suited for hot side additions in lager-like beers. It’s similar to Willamette hops, with notes of herbal, floral, woody, green tea, and grassy, and it works nicely in American Lager, Helles, Pilsner, Kolsch, Cream Ale, and Golden Ale styles.
HBC 472 is an aroma hop for whirlpool and dry hopping additions. HBC 472 has a special hop aroma that synergizes well with both hop and malt flavors. Its flavor has been described as woody, oak-barrel, whiskey, vanilla, cream, coconut, orange, and dill. It is well suited for Cream Ale, Amber Ale, Brown Ale, Porter, Stout, Pale Ale, India Pale Lager, India Pale Ale, Session IPA, New England IPA, and Imperial IPA styles.
HBC 586 is an aroma hop for whirlpool and dry hopping additions. It features intense notes of tropical fruit, mango, guava, citrus, herbal, and sulfur that are well suited for IPAs and hop-forward beers, including Wheat Ale, Golden Ale, American Lager, Pale Ales, India Pale Lager, India Pale Ale, Session IPA, New England IPA, and Imperial IPA styles.
HBC 692 is an aroma hop for whirlpool and dry hopping additions as well, and it delivers a high intensity of hop aroma well suited for IPAs and hop-forward beers. HBC 692 exhibits grapefruit, floral, stone fruit, potpourri, woody, cream, pine, and resinous notes that are great for lots of beer styles: Wheat Ale, Golden Ale, American Lager, Pale Ales, India Pale Lager, India Pale Ale, Session IPA, New England IPA, and Imperial IPA.
