Galaxy hops in stout

[Rusty Shacklefood]

Hey all, I plan to make a hop-heavy stout in celebration of the launch of the James Webb Space Telescope on Dec 22. I love hoppy stouts, but would Galaxy be too much?

Thanks

 

[Megary]

I'm thinking yes, too much. My personal opinion is that those citrusy hops clash with the roast from the Stout. YMMV.

How about Aurora or Phoenix?

I've never used either of these personally, but at least they meet the "space" requirement.

Good luck! I'm sure it will be great whatever you decide.

 

[Mark Farrall]

I've tried to do something similar in the past and given up. With the heavier stouts the hop flavours were disappearing just as the stout started getting better. There wasn't a time where both elements meshed well. May work better in a sweeter, 6-7% ABV stout though. Something more like a tropical stout.

 

[Semper Sitientem]

My response would be “maybe”. On occasion, I do a black IPA with heavy roasted grains and some traditional IPA hops: Amarillo, Mosaic and Citra. The taste definitely isn’t for everyone and I would advise doing a small test batch first before going all in.

 

[J A]

I second Phoenix if you can find it. It has orangey/minty/chocolatey qualities that really go nicely with a dark roast. Admiral is another go-to. Heavy quantities of Wilamette can give intense orange/floral hops that work with anything that's heavily bittered. And Nugget can be surprisingly vibrant in whirlpool and dry hop additions. Magnum is a killer in a hoppy dark beer.
I'd personally stay away from the dank/tropical or piney varieties and stick with floral/spicy/citrus.

 

[Rusty Shacklefood]

I second Phoenix if you can find it. It has orangey/minty/chocolatey qualities that really go nicely with a dark roast. Admiral is another go-to. Heavy quantities of Wilamette can give intense orange/floral hops that work with anything that's heavily bittered. And Nugget can be surprisingly vibrant in whirlpool and dry hop additions. Magnum is a killer in a hoppy dark beer.
I'd personally stay away from the dank/tropical or piney varieties and stick with floral/spicy/citrus.

How about Amarillo for the orange notes?

 

[J A]

How about Amarillo for the orange notes?

I was thinking of that, too. I think Amarillo is a little heavy and is a perfect "background" hop for combining with more bright-flavored hops. I think it would be really nice as a main hop in a big stout. I think I might do something like bitter substantially with Magnum and then do a big hit of Amarillo at 20 and then finish off with a solid dose of Willamette or Cascade at 5 minutes.
It's hard to get subtle hop flavors to play nice with heavy roasty notes but those should give you a fighting chance.