Best sustitute for EKG?

[Ayla]

What would be the best sub for East Kent Goldings in flavor and AA?

Any ideas?
Thanks!

Connie

[jason.koehler]

Fuggle/Styrian Goldings is ideal and Perle can be used with fairly good success, though Perle usually runs higher on the AA...

I haven't tried it as a sub, but I imagine Brewer's Gold can be used fairly well also.

[Ayla]

Thanks for the suggestions, Jason!
We have some Perle in the freezer! Time to give it a try.

Cheers,
Connie

[drewseslu]

Brewers Gold is a good sub, but maybe a bit harsher. I would blend it with a touch of Fuggles.

[mic_mac]

I'm not trying to be a smart-arse here, but the obvious replacement for EKG would be non-EK-grown Gs - i.e. Goldings grown somewhere other than East Kent, most prob Hereford & Worcester (now a more productive UK hop-growing region than it's more famous cousin).

I've just made this substitution & I doubt we'll notice the difference - not tried the finished beer yet though. Good luck!
MikeMcG
www.betwixt.co.uk

[jason.koehler]

I was going under the assumption that other Goldings were not available, which given the hop situation these days is the likely case.

[mic_mac]

You might well be right, but as I said, Hereford & Worcester now outstrip Kent for hop production & I managed to get hold of some UK Goldings, but yes, I would imagine that getting them outside of the UK might be tricky.

Another UK variety that might be worth a look is First Gold - if memory serves some relation to Goldings.
cheers
MikeMcG
www.betwixt.co.uk

[johnstuart]

I've had good sucess with First Gold & WGV (whitbread golding variety)

[mic_mac]

mmm, yeah, I'd forgot about WGV & my guess about First Gold's parentage was apparently a bit off - it's "a cross-pollination of WGV with a dwarf male" wheras WGV itself is said to be "very similar to Goldings but not quite as delicate, with a hoppier more robust aroma and containing more alpha . . . & is an open pollinated seedling of Bates Brewer that was on a farm at Beltring in Kent, later bought by the Whitbread Beer Company." (I think the farm has since been sold on, as indeed have all of Whitbread's breweries!).

info from UK Hop Merchant, Charles Faram - http://www.wellhopped.co.uk/