Admiral

The ‘Admiral’ is a hop that certainly lives up to its name. Bold, strong and in command. With alpha acids up to 16%, there’s no messing around when it comes to using this hop as a bittering addition. Some brewers have gone as far as calling this the only ‘super-alpha’ hop coming out of England, a country not typically associated with high alpha hops.

The aromas it can generate are subtle, so brewers will use it in conjunction with adding other varieties later in the boil. It is often substituted for Target, which is a popular English bittering hop. The flavours best associated with Admiral are a citrusy bitterness, so it lends itself well to strong IPAs and Pale Ales.

Breeding Admiral was released in 1996 by Horticulture Research International (HRI) at Wye College in the UK and derived from Northdown and Challenger breeding lines. britishhops.org.uk

At Brook House Hops we had our first harvest of Admiral in 2019, the alpha came in at 13% and we are eagerly awaiting feedback from brewers on how they have been using it. It’ll soon be going into our own pilot brew kit along with some finer aroma hops and some quality malt.

Additional information