Southern Cross
Posted by Jared Birbeck on Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Southern Cross has a lot of appeal. It is a high alpha acid hop with low cohumulone said to give a European flavour. I used the hop in a big IPA. Southern Cross add a lot of flavour to the beer. It is a pleasant sweet lemony flavour that can dominate over the malt if you over do it, but the flavour is so pleasant that it won't matter too much. I added around 0.5 to 1g per litre for flavour and aroma and its stronger than you'd expect but not dominating.
The bitterness you get from Southern Cross is as smooth as anything I have come across. The IPA was bittered to 70 IBU and it has none of the harshness or astringency that you can often get bittering at that level. It is one of my favourite bittering hops because of that smoothness but it has a lot to add as a late addition. I think I'll try it in a Saison where a hint of lemon would work well.
The bitterness you get from Southern Cross is as smooth as anything I have come across. The IPA was bittered to 70 IBU and it has none of the harshness or astringency that you can often get bittering at that level. It is one of my favourite bittering hops because of that smoothness but it has a lot to add as a late addition. I think I'll try it in a Saison where a hint of lemon would work well.