A while ago I went to a friends pubs, when they were participating in a Twitter event, the theme of which was Saison. Basically the pub was selling bottles of Saison Dupont served with a caffetiere and a selection of hops and herbs to infuse into the beer. At the end of the night I was given a spare 100g of hops, which have sat in the back of my freezer.
The hops are labeled as being from the National Hop Collection and are called Nonsuch. The internet returns no information on these, other than that they'll be a resurrected, heritage variety.
Does anyone have any knowledge they can shed on these hops?
Nonsuch (mystery variety)
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Dr. Dextrin
Re: Nonsuch (mystery variety)
Not sure if it has any connection to the hops, but Nonesuch was a renowned hunting lodge built by Henry VIII and occupied by various royals and nobles before being demolished in the late 1600s.
It was near Epsom in Surrey and there's still a Nonesuch Park in the area.
It was near Epsom in Surrey and there's still a Nonesuch Park in the area.
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scuppeteer
- Under the Table
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Re: Nonsuch (mystery variety)
Yes a heritage variety no longer commercially grown, originally released in 1940. With the decline of hop growing in the UK only the more popular varieties were left in any number. Many wonderful hops were grubbed because they may have been low yielding, not particularly disease resistant or were too "American" in flavour. I did try a single hop brew a couple of years ago and as I recall it was a reasonable beer. I've got about 8 varieties from the collection, which by next year they should be big enough to brew with. 
I would just brew a smash with them and see what you think. Have you got the AA% for them?
I would just brew a smash with them and see what you think. Have you got the AA% for them?
Dave Berry
Can't be arsed to keep changing this bit, so, drinking some beer and wanting to brew many more!
Sir, you are drunk! Yes madam, and you are ugly, but in the morning I shall be sober! - WSC
Can't be arsed to keep changing this bit, so, drinking some beer and wanting to brew many more!
Sir, you are drunk! Yes madam, and you are ugly, but in the morning I shall be sober! - WSC
Re: Nonsuch (mystery variety)
Thanks, scuppeteer. Dug them out to investigate Alpha acid (6.42%), it turns out that it is a 50g pack. So it'll have to be a small batch of SMaSH. Although I may split a mash into two boils and do a side by side comparison with a more familiar hop of similar alpha acid, and the same yeast.
I'm new to this brewing malarkey, with only 2 AG brews under my belt. So may save them for a little longer whilst I fine tune my setup.
I'm new to this brewing malarkey, with only 2 AG brews under my belt. So may save them for a little longer whilst I fine tune my setup.
Re: Nonsuch (mystery variety)
Nonsuch update. Brewed with these hops last weekend. Unfortunately didn't have enough of these hops to do a SMaSH brew, but managed to use them for first wort and the majority of flavour and aroma hop additions in the boil.
Had a crafty little slurp of this brew, and it tastes nicely of citrus/tropical fruit, with pineapple being the most prominent flavour. Not a lot going on the nose, but the pineapple is there also. Have have now dry hopped with some cascade which should compliment this, although it will cloud the final assessment of the Nonsuch.
The recipe is outlined in another post.
viewtopic.php?p=704856#p704856
Had a crafty little slurp of this brew, and it tastes nicely of citrus/tropical fruit, with pineapple being the most prominent flavour. Not a lot going on the nose, but the pineapple is there also. Have have now dry hopped with some cascade which should compliment this, although it will cloud the final assessment of the Nonsuch.
The recipe is outlined in another post.
viewtopic.php?p=704856#p704856