The Hop Chronicles | Hallertau Blanc (2018) Pale Ale

Author: Paul Amico

As hops go, Germany is perhaps best known for producing classic noble varieties such as Hallertau Mittelfrüh, Tettnang, and Spalt, all of which impart varying degrees of spice and floral character to beer. More recently, presumably to keep up with the production of modern American hops, German hop growers have been releasing new varieties that impart more unique fruity characters to beer. One such example, released by The Hop Research Center Hüll in 2012, in Hallertau Blanc, which is said to contribute not only fruity characteristics, but qualities reminiscent of Sauvignon Blanc wine.

Alpha: 9 – 12%
Beta: 4.5 – 6%
Cohumulone: 22 – 26% of alpha acids
Total Oil: 0.8 – 1.5 mL/100g
Myrcene: 50 – 75%
Humulene: 0 – 3%
Caryophyllene: 0 – 2%
Farnesene: 0 – 3.5%
Linalool: 0.2 – 0.5%
ß-Pinene: unknown
Parentage: Daughter of Cascade

I’d heard of Hallertau Blanc when they first hit the market a few years ago, and though they sounded interesting, the inspiration to use them in my own brewing never really struck. When the opportunity to test them out in a single variety beer for The Hop Chronicles, I jumped on it and looked forward to what I might learn about this relative newcomer!

| MAKING THE BEER |

The recipe for this beer was the same used for past Hop Chronicles batches with small tweaks made to the hop schedule to adjust for bitterness.

Hallertau Blanc Lager

After filtering the full volume of water in my kettle and lighting the flame beneath it, I weighed out and milled the grains directly into my fabric filter.

When strike temperature was reached, I dropped the grains into the water and stirred to incorporate before leaving it at 152°F/67°C for an hour.

At the completion of the mash rest, I hoisted the grain bag out of the kettle and let it drip while the wort was heated.

While awaiting the boil, I measured out the kettle hop additions.

The wort was boiled for 60 minutes with hops added at the times listed in the recipe.

At the end of the boil, I quickly chilled the wort with my classic JaDed Hydra IC.

A refractometer reading showed the OG was right on the nose.

I then transferred the chilled wort to a sanitized Brew Bucket.

After placing the filled fermentor in my chamber, I made a vitality starter of Imperial Yeast L28 Urkel with 500 mL of leftover wort.

I let the starter spin on a stir plate for 4 hours before pitching it into the wort. Activity was apparent just a few hours later and the beer was left to ferment at 66°F/19°C for 4 days before the dry hop charge was added. With signs of fermentation absent a few days later, I took a hydrometer measurement showing FG had been reached.

At this point, beer was racked to a CO2 purged keg.

The filled keg was placed in my kegerator and burst carbonated overnight. I let the beer condition another week at serving pressure before serving it to blind tasters.

| 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 9 rating 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 43 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:

When asked to rate the pungency/strength of the hop, most tasters perceived it as being mildly to moderately pungent.

Tasters were then instructed to identify beer styles they thought the hop would work well in.

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

My Impressions: Having never used Hallertau Blanc, I did a little research before brewing this single hop beer and found the aroma of the freshly opened bag of pellets aligned with existing descriptors, namely tropical fruit. To my perception, this definitely came through in the aroma of the finished beer, as did a unique characteristic that really was reminiscent of white wine, hints of apple and fresh pear. This wasn’t the case in terms of flavor, which I felt had a noticeably less pungent hop character. This was not a bad thing at all, I really enjoyed the beer.

| CONCLUSION |

Like I imagine is true for many brewers, when I think of German hops, my mind immediately goes to the characteristics associated with the classic noble varieties– spice, floral, and earthy. Said to impart characteristics of tropical fruit, stone fruit, and citrus, Hallertau Blanc seems like it’d fit in well with a clique of modern American hops. Indeed, blind evaluations of a beer hopped solely with this relatively new variety corroborate many of these existing descriptors, namely citrus and tropical fruit. Moreover, tasters noted a fairly strong apple/pear aroma, which may very well speak to the purported wine-like aspects of Hallertau Blanc that inspired its name.

Pale lager was the most common beer styles tasters felt this variety would work well in, which isn’t surprising considering its origin as well as the consensus on its generally mild to moderate pungency. In conversations with tasters following completion of the survey, many agreed that the aromatic qualities imparted by Hallertau Blanc would likely work great in combination with other varieties as a late addition or dry hop in hoppier styles.

Personally, I really loved what Hallertau Blanc brought to the party in terms of aroma, though agreed with tasters that the flavor was lacking a bit given how much of the hop was used. It seemed to me this variety would be ideal for a more modern version of Pilsner that presents with a slightly more hop-forward aroma while giving way to a maltier flavor profile. So I brewed one up using stylistically common hopping rates, all Hallertau Blanc, and the results were fantastic! Consider me a fan of this variety, I’ll definitely be picking more up and look forward to seeing how it plays with other styles.

Hallertau Blanc hops are available now at Yakima Valley Hops, get them while you can! If you have any thoughts on this variety, please feel free to share them in the comments section below.

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