“In supporting roles, we tend to use a good amount of El Dorado,” says Sean Buchan of Cerebral Brewing, “but in small amounts—10–20 percent of the hops bill. It can get excessively sweet on you really quick, especially if you combine it with other hops that have that perceived sweetness, so we tend to use it in conjunction with other hops that will tame that back a bit.
In Rare Trait, we use El Dorado, Mosaic, and Citra, but we also have Azacca in there, which brings a bit of the piney fruity note and doesn’t let it just get straight fruit.
“We’ve been using a lot more Huell Melon and Hallertau Blanc in IPAs, and the Huell Melon/Galaxy combo has worked really well for us. It tends to bring out more of the melon notes already there in Galaxy, and we get more pineapple and honeydew melon. Similarly, Hallertau Blanc and Motueka work well together to complement bright hops, and we use it with Citra, Mosaic, and Galaxy as well.