The Hop Chronicles | Amarillo (2016) Pale Ale

Author: Marshall Schott

Discovered accidentally by Virgil Gamache Farms in Washington State’s Yakima Valley, Amarillo is one of the most popularly used American varieties for its noted ability to impart orange and grapefruit characteristics along with floral and spicy notes. A standard in many of the commercial recipes that put IPA and Pale Ale on the map, Amarillo has certainly earned its stripes as a classic American hop and remains highly sought after by brewers around the world.

Alpha: 7 – 11%
Beta: 5.5 – 8%
Cohumulone: 20 – 24% of alpha acids
Total Oil: 1 – 2.3 mL/100g
Myrcene: 40 – 50%
Humulene: 19 – 24%
Caryophyllene: 7 – 10%
Farnesene: 6 – 9%
Linalool: 0.5 – 0.8%
Geraniol: 0.1%
ß-Pinene: 0.4 – 0.8%
Parentage: wild

I’ve used Amarillo in umpteen beers over the years, most often as late kettle and dry hop additions, and always in conjunction with other hops. With its moderate alpha acid level and relatively low cohumulone, I was excited to see how blind tasters would experience a beer hopped only with Amarillo for this edition of The Hop Chronicles!

| MAKING THE BEER |

The recipe for this beer was designed with The Hop Chronicles purpose in mind– simple grist, lots of hops!

Amarillo Pale Ale

A couple days before brewing, I made a starter of Imperial Organic G03 Dieter yeast, a clean fermenting Kölsch strain.

The following night, I collected the full volume of brewing liquor and adjusted it to my desire profile in preparation for the following morning.

While the water was being filtered, I weighed out and milled the grains.

I set my heat stick timer to kick on a couple hours before my planned start time and awoke to strike water that was barely shy of my target temperature.

With strike temperature reached a few minutes later, I mashed in.

After stirring gently for a couple minutes, I checked to make sure I’d hit my target mash temperature.

A pH reading 15 minutes later showed the mash was right where I wanted it to be.

While the mash was resting, I weighed out the hops.

Once the 60 minute mash was complete, I collected the sweet wort.

The wort was transferred to my kettle and boiled for an hour with hops added per the recipe.

At the end of the 60 minute boil, I quickly chilled the wort to slightly warmer than my groundwater temperature.

A refractometer measurement at this point revealed I’d hit the my planned OG.

I proceeded to rack 5.5 gallons/21 liters of chilled wort to a Brew Bucket, which I placed in a chamber controlled to my desired fermentation temperature of 65°F/18°C. With the wort stabilized at this temperature 4 hours later, I pitched the yeast. Airlock activity was noticed just a few hours later and progressed as expected. With signs of fermentation dwindling 4 days later, I raised the temperature to 72˚F/23˚C to encourage complete attenuation. After another 3 days, I took a hydrometer measurement that indicated FG had been reached then tossed in the dry hop charge.

The beer was left alone for 3 more days before I moved forward with cold crashing, fining with gelatin, and kegging.

The filled keg was placed in my cold keezer where it was burst carbonated for 15 hours before I reduced the gas to serving pressure and allowed the beer to condition for another few days before serving it to participants.

| METHOD |

Participants were instructed to focus only on the aromatic qualities of the beer before evaluating the flavor. For each aroma and flavor descriptor, tasters were asked to write-in the perceived strength of that particular characteristic on a 0-9 scale where a rating of 0 meant they did not perceive the character at all and a rating of 9 meant the character was extremely strong. Once the data was collected, the average rating of each aroma and flavor descriptor was compiled and analyzed.

| RESULTS |

A total of 17 people participated in the evaluation of this beer, all blind to the hop variety used until after they completed the survey. The average aroma and flavor ratings for each descriptor were plotted on a radar graph.

Average Ratings of Aroma and Flavor Perceptions

The 3 characteristics endorsed as being most prominent by participants:

The 3 characteristics endorsed as being least prominent by participants:

Participants were then asked to rate the pungency of the overall hop character.

Next, they were instructed to identify beer styles they thought the hop would work well in.

Finally, tasters were asked to rate how much they enjoyed the hop character on a 1 to 10 scale.

My Impressions: Classic. That’s the word that comes to mind when I think about this single-hopped Amarillo Pale Ale, which I thoroughly enjoyed. The bitterness was clean and not too overbearing while still maintaining its assertiveness. I definitely perceived some orange in the aroma, but it was more like orange oil or rind than juice, and it was balanced nicely by pleasant floral notes with a whisper of noble spiciness. The flavor followed the aroma– citrus with hints of spice and floral, clean, sophisticated. I seriously enjoyed drinking this beer, more than I thought I would.

| CONCLUSION |

As exciting as new hop varieties can be, going back to classics, even when they’re not even that old, can be a lot of fun as well. I still remember the first time I ever brewed with Amarillo, back when they were as difficult to come by as Galaxy is today, and was blown away with what then was a hyper-fruity character. Compared to some of the currently popular varieties of the day, Amarillo doesn’t pack quite the punch it used to, but that’s most definitely not a bad thing!

There’s something I find appealing when blind sensory evaluations corroborate existing descriptions, likely because it shows that different varieties impart unique characteristics while also providing demonstrating that the palates of typical beer drinkers may not be all that shitty. In the case of Amarillo, tasters noted strong floral, citrus, and tropical fruit, the very characteristics brewers fell in love when Amarillo first hit the scene. While it’s accepted that hop varieties will differ from crop year to crop year, these results suggest there’s is also a good degree of consistency.

The Amarillo Pale Ale I made for The Hop Chronicles was sort of monotone, but what it lacked in complexity it more than made up for in drinkability. Crisp and dry with balanced floral and fruit characteristics that wasn’t too overwhelming. This beer reminded me of what “hoppy” beer used to be, back when they were expected to taste like more than just a glass of fruit juice (not a complaint).

Amarillo Hops are available now in various package sizes at Yakima Valley Hops, get them while you can! If you have any thoughts on Amarillo hops, please feel free to share them in the comments section below.

Support for The Hop Chronicles comes from Yakima Valley Hops, suppliers of over 40 varieties of hops ranging from classics like Saaz and Cascade to yet-to-be-named experimental options fresh from the source. Offering great prices with reasonable shipping, consider Yakima Valley Hops for your next hop purchase.

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