Author: Marshall Schott

Hop Breeding Company (HBC) is known for breeding some of the most lauded and sought after hop varieties in existence today including Citra and Mosaic. Taking a slight turn away from the over-the-top pungent fruitiness of the aforementioned, HBC recently released Loral, which is purported to balance the earthy and floral characteristics of noble varieties with elements more common among popular new world hops.

Alpha: 11.3 – 12.2%

Beta: 4.9 – 5.3%

Cohumulone: 21 – 24% of alpha acids

Total Oil: 1.8 – 2.9 mL/100g

Myrcene: 52 – 58%

Humulene: 17.8 – 17.9%

Caryophyllene: 5 – 5.7%

Farnesene: <1%

Linalool: 1 – 1.1%

Geraniol: 0.2 – 0.3%

ß-Pinene: 0.6 – 0.7%

Parentage: Glacier (mother) and son of the U.S. developed Nugget variety (father)

Credit where it’s due– while I’d heard of this new hop awhile before brewing this batch, it wasn’t until my buddy Matt Vaught shared an IPA he made using only Loral that I decided to pick some up for The Hop Chronicles. To my taste buds, his beer had a distinct floral aroma with a whisper of earthiness that balanced a subtle fresh (not overripe) fruit basket character well. I really liked it and was stoked to see how blind tasters would evaluate this exciting new variety!

| MAKING THE BEER |

I designed this beer to be simple enough to allow the Loral hop character to take centerstage while also not being so boring that I’d get sick of drinking the leftovers.

Loral Pale Ale

Recipe Details Batch Size Boil Time IBU SRM Est. OG Est. FG ABV 5.5 gal 60 min 33.5 IBUs 5.1 SRM 1.054 1.013 5.4 % Actuals 1.054 1.012 5.5 % Fermentables Name Amount % Pale Malt (2 Row), Rahr 10 lbs 85.56 Vienna Malt 1.187 lbs 10.16 Victory Malt 8 oz 4.28 Hops Name Amount Time Use Form Alpha % Loral 14 g 60 min First Wort Pellet 9.2 Loral 14 g 20 min Boil Pellet 9.2 Loral 30 g 5 min Boil Pellet 9.2 Loral 30 g 3 days Dry Hop Pellet 9.2 Yeast Name Lab Attenuation Temperature California Ale (WLP001) White Labs 77% 68°F - 73°F

Two days prior to brewing, I made a large starter of WLP001 California Ale yeast, about half of which was slated for a mason jar for later use.

After collecting the full volume of water and adjusting it to my desire profile the night before brewing, I weighed out and milled the simple grain bill.

I awoke early the next morning and immediately began heating the liquor.

Once it was a tad warmer than the strike temperature suggested by BeerSmith, I transferred the full volume of water to my mash tun, let it sit for a brief preheat, then stirred the grains in to hit my target mash temperature.

As has become my norm, this was a no sparge batch.

I took a pH reading 15 minutes into the mash showing I was right within the acceptable range, though higher than desired due to a change in municipal water that I learned about later this brew day.

The mash was left alone for a 60 minute rest with only brief stirs every 20 minutes to encourage complete conversion.

At the end of the mash step, I collected the wort, transferred it to my kettle, and began heating it up. While waiting to reach a boil, I measured out the kettle hop additions.

The wort boiled for an hour with hops added per the recipe.

When the timer indicated the 60 minute boil was finished, I quickly chilled the wort to my target fermentation temperature of 66˚F/19˚C.

A refractometer measurement at this point confirmed I’d hit the THC target of 1.054 OG.

I racked 5.5 gallons/21 liters of chilled wort to a Brew Bucket, moved it to a temperature controlled chamber, and pitched the yeast. I noted activity in the airlock 6 hours later, though things were really kicking the following afternoon. After 4 days of active fermentation, I raised the temperature to 71˚F/22˚C to promote complete attenuation. After 2 more days, activity had slowed drastically so I took a preliminary hydrometer measurement that suggested FG had been reached. I added the dry hop charge then took another hydrometer measurement 2 days later that matched the first.

At this point, I cold crashed the beer overnight, fined with gelatin, then proceeded with kegging.

The keg was placed in my cold keezer where it was burst carbonated for 18 hours before I reduced the CO2 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 16 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:

Aroma Flavor Tropical Fruit Resinous Stone Fruit Tropical Fruit Citrus Spicy/Herbal

The 3 characteristics endorsed as being least prominent by participants:

Aroma Flavor Onion/Garlic Onion/Garlic Dank/Catty Berry Resinous Dank/Catty

Participants were asked to the pungency of the hop the hop character.

They were then 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: This hop is killer! To my incredibly biased palate, the description offered by Hop Breeding Company of Loral as sort of straddling the line of noble and new world characteristics was pretty spot on. Fruity without being saturated, spicy without coming off as phenolic, earthy without tasting like dirt, and floral without smelling like grandma’s perfume. Fruity Pebbles cereal is probably the best way I have of describing the most prominent character I got from this beer, which I have to believe was at least somewhat a function of the fact Victory malt was used as a portion of the grist. Good stuff, indeed!

| CONCLUSION |

In a world where pungency is king, it’s nice when a new hop variety dials it down a bit while still providing a unique and tasty option. This is exactly how I view Loral, a well-rounded hop that’s equally as good when used in high doses for hoppy American styles as I’m guessing it’d be in lower doses for other styles. I recently designed an IPA for an upcoming xBmt that will feature Loral as a late kettle and dry hop addition in combination with other more pungent varieties, my hope being to balance the overripe fruitiness of the latter with Loral’s pleasant noble qualities. Given my limited experience brewing with this variety, any thoughts as to how it might work with styles other than American Pale Ale are wholly presumptuous, but it seems to me Loral would make for a great Swiss Army hop for those who brew a wide range of beers.

This beer was evaluated by the crew on The Brewing Network’s The Session radio show, listen to the February 28, 2017 show to hear their feedback and a discussion with me about The Hop Chronicles series. Cheers!

If you have any thoughts on Loral hops, please feel free to share them in the comments section below!

Support for The Hop Chronicles came 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. Offering great prices with reasonable shipping, consider Yakima Valley Hops for your next hop purchase.

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