Onion bombs - what hop?

[m750]

I think I get it with Galaxy, Summit, and sometimes the CTZ's.
Beers that do it to me; Ghandi Bot, Gubna, Palate Wrecker, HF double Galaxy.
When used in balance, like in Dales Pale, I don't get any of that.
AO

[kswbeer]

The onion character means "bad". There aren't any commercially-successful varieties that feature a reasonably-perceived hint of onion.

You guys that post a lot here have our respect, but I've had single-hop CTZ (Pyramid Thunderhead IPA), single-hop Simcoe (recently, at a McMenamins in OR), and single-hop Summit (Oskar Blues Gubna Imperial IPA). None of them are almost oniony.

If you taste onion, and its not on the label, something is wrong with the beer. My personal opinion is that it is from hops that are funky.

It's not normal.

[spiderwrangler]

The onion character means "bad". There aren't any commercially-successful varieties that feature a reasonably-perceived hint of onion.

You guys that post a lot here have our respect, but I've had single-hop CTZ (Pyramid Thunderhead IPA), single-hop Simcoe (recently, at a McMenamins in OR), and single-hop Summit (Oskar Blues Gubna Imperial IPA). None of them are almost oniony.

If you taste onion, and its not on the label, something is wrong with the beer. My personal opinion is that it is from hops that are funky.

It's not normal.

While it may not be normal or desirable, there are hop varieties that may be more prone to producing those flavors than others... Summit for instance, has onion as a descriptor in Hop Union's variety guide... http://www.hopunion.com/17_HopVarieties.cfm?p3=open

[kswbeer]

Hopunion gets our business, but they don't know what Summit, Mt. Hood, Galena, or Newport smell/taste like in high-quantity amounts. And those are just the single-hop examples I've had, recently.

I really don't think the person who put that book together actually brewed an IPA with each hop before they did their writeup. I see they've copied many "internet baseline" descriptions, found among the Google searches, into their work.

Onion in Summit isn't normal. It might be there, but not in a good harvest. Ever toured a hop farm? You meet "interesting" (read: dumb) employees, on occasion; I bet one of them wrote that book.

[spiderwrangler]

On the other hand, they are in the business of selling them... seems like they wouldn't just put that out there (it's on the packages too) if it was entirely fictional...

[kswbeer]

I'll brew with them again before I push the issue any further. Interesting discussion, though.

[Proclamation]

Sorry to be reviving a year plus thread but just to add on the CTZ front.
I ordered some 2012 Columbus from Yakima Valley hops and did my standard pale ale recipe and used the columbus for everything except the initial bittering charge.
The results: onion-city.
2012 crop. I have a 5 corny full of this which includes a 1 oz 15 minute addition, a 2 oz flameout and 2 oz dryhop.
I think I'm saving this batch for brat boiling. omg it's awful.

[biertourist]

I'll add my $0.02 to the "Summit" pile. -The hops themselves directly smell INTENSELY oniony/garlicy. So much so that I've refused to even try them for dry hop additions. Late kettle /whirlpool/ hot stand additions are quite nice and tropical, though.

Summit is the stinkiest non-old and cheesy hop variety I've ever smelled!


Adam