El Dorado is a baby among some of the other hop varieties. Born and bred in Moxee Valley, CLS Farms developed El Dorado in 2008 and released it for sale in 2010. Still, there are three reasons why El Dorado is pulling serious weight in the craft beer scene. First, it’s all about the aroma in El Dorado — a bold, fruity aroma. Second, despite its strong aroma that elicits notes of citrus, apricots, and even Jolly Rancher candy, El Dorado has a remarkably strong alpha acid content, making it a good dual-purpose hop for bittering. Last, El Dorado has become a bit of a “hop du jour” for craft breweries; breweries are adding El Dorado to its pale ales for a tropical twist, or using it for single-hopping. The result? Big, fruity punches in our beer sample flight today: Craft Beer Crosscut 5.20.17: A Flight of El Dorado.
Walking Man Trespasser NE Style IPA
6.5% ABV, 50 IBU
For the uninitiated, Walking Man Brewing’s IPA grabbed second place in the Peaks and Pints’ Tournament of Beer: Washington State IPAs last month. A couple weeks ago, we dropped by the Stevenson, Washington, brewery for another round of congratulations. Head brewer James Landers and his assistant, Emily Albaugh, gave us a tour of the extremely efficient operation — although Albaugh was speed walking through a batch of her Trespasser NE Style IPA. She loaded up in the whirlpool with Mosaic, Citra and El Dorado hops and then dry hopped twice with Mosaic and El Dorado, Trespasser is a juicy, fruit-forward pint of deliciousness with a pleasantly unique hop character. Brewing with oats makes for a smooth, Northeast version IPA.
No-Li Big Juicy
6.15% ABV, 55 IBU
At 55 IBUs and 6.15 percent ABV, No-Li Brewhouse’s Big Juicy is practically sessionable compared to traditional West Coast IPAs. Featuring the nectarous symphony of Citra, El Dorado, Azacca and Belma Hops, Big Juicy is just dripping with citrus and tropical flavors. Belma? Indeed — one of the newest varieties punches up the flavor with sweet orange, nectarous pineapple and rare hints of vine-ripe strawberries. Azacca represent with a tropical storm of spicy mango and juicy tangerine, adding in a touch of piney bitter. El Dorado and Citra push the nose to fruity extremes. No-Li Brewhouse won a silver medal for its Big Juicy IPA at the 2017 Australian International Beer Awards.
Sierra Nevada Tropical Torpedo
6.7% ABV, 55 IBU
Sierra Nevada fired up its hop torpedo — a device the brewery designed to dry-hop beer through one or more torpedoes slowly for four days, ensuring that all the desired oils are extracted from the whole hops — and added a little hula. The Chico, California brewery took its Torpedo Extra IPA, named for the device, and Comet, Citra, Mosaic and El Dorado add drops of trop with passionfruit and mango aromas and flavor (we taste pine and grapefruit rind too) with a sexy bitter finish, thanks to our friend Amarillo.
Fortside Orange Whip IPA
5.9% ABV, 60 IBU
“We think this IPA predicates juiciness, even though there is no ‘juice’ in it,” states Fortside Brewing Company in its Orange Whip IPA hype. The Vancouver, Washington brewery goes on to explain the juiciness arrives via heaps of El Dorado and Mosaic hops, which gives Orange Whip its orange, tangerine and grapefruit aromas and flavors. Some may classify this foamy, orange-tasting, cloudy IPA as a New England IPA. Fortside would prefer it be called a “Hazy IPA.”
Stone Delicious IPA
7.7% ABV, 80 IBU
Stone Brewing‘s Delicious IPA features Lemondrop and El Dorado hops that showcase vibrant citrus flavors, and is notable for what the brewers have removed from the brew: much of the gluten. An enzymatic process developed by White Labs (producers of myriad yeast strains used by craft brewers) breaks down the gluten proteins, and the results is a nearly gluten-free beer that avoids the pitfalls (like the off-putting mouthfeel) often seen in gluten-free brews. But the reduced gluten levels are not the defining feature of Delicious IPA. Living up to the name, the IPA demonstrates a terrific volume of complex hop flavors. With a curiously light yet still tongue-coating body, each sip explodes with flavor — lemon zest, lemon grass, Lemon Pledge — before the bitter bite cascades across the palate, where it lingers stubbornly but never becomes acrid.
