[duelerx]

Let's talk about you new hop and malt of this 2016!. I'll start:

Hop: Vic Secret, recently brewed a Pale Ale using this hop and it turned out great!, kind of similar to Galaxy.
Malt: Brown Malt, I've just tried this malt for first time on my English Porter and it really makes a difference, i see why Denny advice using this malt on his Bourbon Imperial Porter.

[Hand of Dom]

Favourite hop - Galaxy.  Never used it until a couple of months ago, but I love the flavour this hop gives beer.

Favourite malt - Rauchmalt.  Was going to go for brown malt too, but decided to plump for this smoked malt.  I'm not a fan of rauchbiers, I find them far too phenolic, but love what this gives to porters.

[HoosierBrew]

If the theme is killer malts and hops not tried before until this year-ish :


Hops - Saphir, Cleopatra, and latter half of last year - Equinox/Ekuanot, Mandarina, Azacca, and Lemon Drop.

Malts - Barke Pils, Barke Vienna, Barke Munich. Just fantastic malts, worth every penny.

[natebrews]

I have old (lame?) tastes, my favorite malts are Maris Otter and Weyermann pilsner.  This year I have also been using a lot of Aurora Styrian / Super Styrian (same hop, different names).  Pretty pungent spicy noble type hop that has been around for along time but doesn't seem to appear anywhere, and with flavor that I find nice.  Yeah...I know, not exciting.

[erockrph]

Every beer I've brewed this year has included either Vic Secret (for hoppy styles) or Kazbek (for styles that normally call for noble hops). Vic Secret is my new Citra, and Kazbek is my new Sterling.

As far as malt goes, Aromatic malt is still my go-to specialty malt, and has been for years. I like how a small amount can just subtly kick up the malt character a notch or two.

Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk

[bayareabrewer]

I have old (lame?) tastes, my favorite malts are Maris Otter and Weyermann pilsner.  This year I have also been using a lot of Aurora Styrian / Super Styrian (same hop, different names).  Pretty pungent spicy noble type hop that has been around for along time but doesn't seem to appear anywhere, and with flavor that I find nice.  Yeah...I know, not exciting.

Where did you get the Aurora. I got a pound and found they taste really muddy.

[bayareabrewer]

favorite hop has been Comet.

[secondbase]

Malt: special B
Hop: Equinox, Galaxy

[Iliff Ave]

Malt - Carafa special
Hop - palisade

[Phil_M]

Malt - Not one malt really, just the concept of blending British base malts instead of just using Maris Otter.

Hop - EKG. Probably always will be. Saaz is runner up.

[Frankenbrew]

Crisp Ale malt and Centennial.

[reverseapachemaster]

I tried making and using torrified wheat for the first time this week and really liked what it delivered. Otherwise I'm not terribly exotic with my grain choices.

I found using a huge amount of nugget in an amber delivered a great peach and woody flavor. I'm obviously several years behind on hop exploration so nothing too exotic there either.

I'm a huge fan of Aurora; it's my secret weapon for a lot of continental styles. I find it has a great balance of spice, floral and fruit notes that work well by itself and in combination with a lot of hops. For me it's the perfect glue in a mix of hops for lagers, saisons, etc. much in the same way people use centennial and simcoe in IPAs and pale ales with other hops. 

[reverseapachemaster]

Where did you get the Aurora. I got a pound and found they taste really muddy.

I don't think Aurora tastes muddy; it's possible you got a poorly handled pound of hops.

OTOH you may just taste the flavor of that particular hop that way. Styrian hops and Fuggles are related. Much in the same way people find Fuggles's earthy flavor to taste like straight dirt, you may find earthy elements of Aurora overwhelming.

[Philbrew]

Malt - Not one malt really, just the concept of blending British base malts instead of just using Maris Otter.

Hop - EKG. Probably always will be. Saaz is runner up.

Phil,   would you share your thoughts on blending British base malts?

[EnkAMania]

Malt - I've been using ESB malt as my base instead of 2 row
Hop - I'm one of those Citra puppets, hate if you must.