I see Hopsdirect has a weekend sale buy one get one free for imported WGV pellets. I've used their US Goldings and am out of them and liked them a lot, but wondering if these compare well to them. Sounds like a decent deal but am wondering how they compare. Just a weaker cousin so use more? They say it's good for Pale ale and wheat, why not Barleywine? Or should I just get their US Goldings which I really like. Beautiful hop Goldings is. http://www.hopsdirect.com/mlk-day-coupon/
Probably not a true Goldings but a very nice hop regardless.The gold standard is EKG but there aren't many acres of this in production. http://www.willingham-nurseries.co.uk/hops/wgv.html
Next weekend (I hope) I'll brew a single hopped bitter that features these. It's the first time I'll be using them. I selected them because they were described by several sources as fruitier than Kent Goldings. Sounded interesting. The ones that I have are rated towards the high end of the alpha acid range, 7.1%. I'm not sure if that is generally true of the current crop or not.
7.1% is pretty high for a Goldings; the ones I used were around 5.3%. Not all "Goldings" by the way are actually Goldings. Styrian Goldings are effectively Fuggles.Still a good hop though, Timothy Taylor's uses them in Landlord
There's all kinds of room for variation in a hop variety's profile depending on the conditions under which it was grown. The site that you listed above lists 5.5-7.5% as a typical range for Whitbread Goldings, so these are within that range, but higher than any Kent Golding or North American Golding that I have used. I've used Styrian Goldings in English-styled and Belgian-styled ales. I've never had a bad experience with them. Fuggles, too, for that matter. But this time, I wanted to try Whitbread Goldings. It's mostly just malt, hops, yeast, and water, but within those four ingredients, there are endless variations to try.
EKG are surely simply Goldings which are grown in East Kent ? As opposed to (just) Kent Goldings and Worcester Goldings which are all the genuine article.Priced accordingly with EKG being the dearest.
I have used the Whitbred Goldings. They are a little spicier then EKG. An excellent choice for any Ale!
No, it turns out EKG are a whole load of varieties. They all come from East Kent, but aren't necessarily Goldings.
In the US you can buy "hallertau" that can be H. Gold or H Tradition or whatever. If I want H Mittelfrueh the package needs to state that. Homebrew shop sourced, commercial might be better.
I love WGVs...they make superb single hop bitters. To me they taste slightly more lemon-y herbal tea like compared to EKG.
I use them in almost all my bitters as well. I perfer them mixed with First Gold or EKG for finishing and use them for bittering almost exclusively. Never tried them as a single hop.
