Beer Forum

Hi I was wondering if anyone could tell me if tropical flavors from hops are out of style for american ipa's and apa's.

Hops like Australian Galaxy, Nelson Sauvin, Citra can sometimes give this sort of flavor imho.

I'd love to hear from a bjcp judge about this?

I would say that tropical flavors probably be fine. For 10A, the style guidelines say something like "often showcasing american varieties, but any variety may be used", but for 14B, the guidlines give less leeway.

My thoughts, being a BJCP judge (National), If I had two kickass 10a or 14b examples (and had to pick one for 1st) and the only difference was that one had a prominent grapefruity character where the other had a prominent guava character, I'd probably go with the grapefruit as that is more central to the style guidelines. That being said, I would certainly not take points off from a guava-scented IPA just for the guava aspect. For a well-executed beer that nails everything else for the style, the hop selection is going to be something that the judge would have to interpret. Me, I'd say that it's a brewer using new ingredients that might not have been available when the guidelines were last updated. The key thing is balance (for style) and overall harmony as far as your ingredients are concerned. Let's face it - just about all of the "american" styles are newer interpretations of existing ones (pale ale, stout, etc), with "more" stuff, most notably, hops. In that spirit, I'd say that using any hop that isn't classic of the 'original' style is fair game.

Hope that helps!

+1 to what Don said. I think the important word for 14B is "OR", so while there is a little less wiggle room, there is still quite a bit:

Aroma: "...A prominent to intense hop aroma with a citrusy, floral, perfume-like, resinous, piney, and/OR fruity character derived from American hops."
Flavor: "....Hop flavor is medium to high, and should reflect an American hop character with citrusy, floral, resinous, piney OR fruity aspects"

Like Don, I'm not going to dock a well made beer in those styles for fruitier hop profile. A well made beer that fits the criteria will score well. When it comes to BOS, the subtleties are what make the winners stand out. Balance is usually king. All the "parts" of the beer should work together.

All that said, keep in mind that fruity flavors, particularly lighter, tropical fruits, lend an overall increased perception of sweetness. In other words, residual sweetness is usually magnified when there are increased fruit flavors, and can send a beer out of balance. What I'm getting at here, is that you'll want to attenuate it really well, using a clean yeast strain, and maybe even plus up on the bittering a little bit (just a few extra ibu's) to help maintain balance against the increased fruit flavors. A tiny bit of acidity to keep the beer slightly tart in the finish will help too.

HTH-

BDawg-
(BJCP Master Judge)

Thanks for the updates, this clears it up in my mind at least. I guess Judging is subjective and interpretation is subjective though so it's not a guarantee.